A Lovely Mother's Day and A Sweet Surprise

Hello, dear friends. I am a bit late on my Sunday Slow Stitching update, but after a lovely Mother's Day I am now ready to settle down for some stitching. 

Mother's Day started out nice, warm, and very windy. I went over to my mom's where most of the family gathered. My sister and her husband cooked a fabulous meal of barbecued chicken and Kentucky Hickory Smoked ham. The ham was amazing as was all of the food. Of course we had sides - potato salad , broccoli casserole, mac and cheese and coleslaw.  Boy, did we all stuff. 

Mom received lots of pretties and of course hugs from the grandkids . It was a great day! We enjoyed the day on the patio watching all of the kids and grandkids. 

My sister gave me the prettiest flowers which normally I put in a vase , but I decided to put these in a little mason jar with a sorghum label on it. 

                     

My oldest daughter surprised me with a patriotic metal truck.  

I think it is time to change out the mantle and put my truck on it. 

                

She also got me the sweetest itty bitty camper. 

By 4:00 p.m. the skies opened up and the rain fell. Time for the party to end. 

I have been hopping back and forth between projects. 

Eyes are being added to the chickens. 

Grass is being filled in on a new stitch. 

Last night I began sewing  flags together in neat little rows.  More sashing will be added soon.

Can I tell you about my sweet surprise? The other day Mr. Pinker  handed me a little envelope after going to the mailbox.  I was brought to tears when I saw the sweetest cross stitch and note from my friend, Karen.  Isn't it precious!

 I adore it Karen; thank you so much.  I can not wait to frame it and display it where I can see and treasure it  everyday. 

She also sent me Deck the Halls by Blackbird Designs. I'm already dreaming of a bowl of Christmas  berries. 

Well I am off to stitch. Have a wonderful week and hope you stay awfully busy in a good way. And as always...  

Happy Quilting and stitching, ya'll

Melisa

I am joining these lovely ladies' link parties. I hope you check them out; they always have so many wonderful projects going on and provide the opportunity for other needle workers to meet.  

                    Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework for Oh Scrap

Beth at Love Laugh Quilt  for Monday Making

Judy at Small Quilts Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

Tish at   The Madd Quilter  for UFO Busting #144

 A mother is like a flower; each one beautiful and unique. 

Hugs and Stitches

Life is Better On A Farm- freebie

 It is an overcast Saturday, here in my neck of the woods, but it feels nice and comfy outside. It is a great day!  Happy Saturday, my dear sweet friends. How are you? 

  I've been sitting by the window, watching the chipmunks , squirrels and birdies frolic and fight among the feeders - quite  a sight to see them all together. Amazingly, the mourning doves are the ones who try to run some of the birds off. And the cardinals could care less, and they do their own thing. 

                        

I thought I would pop in for a quick post with glimpses from the farm and a little simple freebie for those farm lovers . 

Little sheds on the farm hold treasures tucked on the walls. 

Rusty horseshoes unearthed from the ground days long ago. 

An old tractor seat waiting to be repurposed. 

An old weathervane made by my uncle in the early 1980's. 

 A little birdie resting on a muscadine vine. 

 An old corn husker 

The gate heading to the barn. 

The old tobacco barn and corn crib. 

Last night I worked on this little stitch into the wee hours of the morning. This is called "Life is Better On A Farm" . 

 I had an idea on how I wanted to finish it, but that idea fell through. I was wanting to stitch it and attach it to a little blue jean pocket and tuck some flowers in , but my girls' denim pants pockets were too small.

After searching through my finishing stash of this and that, I could not find anything. Sooooo. .. 

I can never go wrong in my eyes by just turning something into a little min quilt. 

The red fabric was from my daughter's red sun dress she wore in the 1st and 2nd grade. Such sweet memories. 

If you are interested in this little stitch , just click on the pdfs below and choose your favorite floss color. I used DMC 498 for mine because I am a red girl. Hubby would have red it in John Deere colors though. lol. 

Click here for the instruction page. 

Click here for the colored chart. 

Click here for the black and white chart. 

I am so delighted you stopped by for a farm visit . I hope you have a very blessed Mother's day weekend and as always...

Happy stitching, ya'll

Melisa

And into the field I go to lose my mind and find my soul!

Hugs and stitches

Ya'll come back , you hear!

And A Ripe Strawberry... Plus a little trifle.

 It's fabulous Friday! Are you ready for an awesome weekend? I sure hope so. Do you have any special plans or projects you are going to be working on?  Nothing really special here, but I will continue  working on my Stitch Maynia projects, and I have a bit of binding to do. 

I have been in scrap heaven - digging down deep into the scrap bins.  This time pulling out reds. No problem with this challenge. 

              Red is a rose, 

             Red is a cherry 

            Red is an apple 

         And a ripe strawberry

Oh, how I love the color red! Of course I love all colors , but red holds a special place in my heart. 

             

So with those red scraps, strips were cut and and pieced willy nilly . 

             

What are those strips going to be?   Strawberries. Yep another strawberry quilt. 

            

Berries are already in the process of being pieced and appliqued. 

             

 This will be a full size quilt. 

I also have a finish.  

              

I finished my Fresh Berries Redwork quilt. 

            

Click here to go to the post with the doodles.  It is a small one but is berry cute. 

Of course, since I  finished  one embroidery project,  that does mean I need to pick up another one. Hmmm, what should it be?🤔 My mind is whirling with ideas. Maybe patriotic - maybe bees. It will come to me in time. 

I am going to leave you with a little cross stitch trifle. This is an itty bitty stitch measuring only 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" . It is called "May Basket". 

I stitched mine into a little fob/ ornament. but I call it a cookie because it looks like a little sugar cookie.  No calories though. 

Click here for the pdf.

I am baking up quite a collection of little cookies. 

They look so precious on this little tray.   If you missed any, click on the names to go to the post of the previous trifles. They are  Love Trifle ,   St. Patty's Day Trifle ,   Sheep Trifle ,   Bunny Trifle ,     Strawberry  Picker  , and    Nesting Bluebird  .  

I am so grateful that you stopped in for a visit. Your visits are always a delight to my soul and heart. Have a super fun weekend, my dear stitchy and quitlty friends. And as always...

        Happy stitching and  quilting, ya'll,

         Melisa 

I am joining these lovely ladies' link parties. I hope you check them out; they always have so many wonderful projects going on and provide the opportunity for other needleworkers to meet. 

Angela of So Scrappy  for Scrap Happy Saturday

Alycia of Alycia's Quilts   For Finished or Not Friday

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict  for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop

Michelle  at From Bolt to Beauty for Beauty Pageant 128

Wendy at Wendy's Quilts for Peacock Party 

Do small things with great love!

YOu are berry special!

Hugs and stitches

Betsy Ewe - A Patriotic Freebie

Good morning, dear friends. It is another beautiful spring day in my neck of the woods. The birdies are fluttering about the feeders and singing the sweetest tunes.

 Flowers are blooming and bees are buzzing.Well at least carpenter bees are.

  I am so happy you stopped by for a visit. I have been working on some patriotic stitches and loving every minute of it. I have gotten so caught up in stitching red , white and blue that I have already started decorating for the patriotic season. 

 Let me introduce you to sweet Betsy Ewe.  She is one of my newest patriotic stitches.  

Betsy is very similar to Erin Ewe which  I shared last month. Betsy is actually Erin's twin. Lol

Erin was in an Irish tweed cap awaiting St. Patrick's Day festivities.  So many sweet stitchers stitched her which warmed my heart. Thank you so much; you really made this gal happy.  

 Betsy sports a little American flag on her back and sits in Uncle Sam's Top Hat. 

 Two stars flank both sides of her. Only 5 floss colors were used in this one . I used DMC  to stitch  Betsy which included, blanc, black, 347, 930, and 782. These were all flosses in my stash. 

 I finished her on this cute Dollar Tree  unfinished plaque found in the craft section. It already had the jute cord; I removed it and painted it white. 

I am quite happy with  how thick the wood is; so this little piece can be hung or stand up on its own.  Pretty cool, hey.  ( It doesn't take much to get me excited - lol) .

 I added a teeny ripped black and white gingham ruffle from an old bed sheet as embellishment around the stitch.  Have I told you before how much I love thrifty quick finishes? 

If you are interested, you can stitch Betsy. Just click on the pdfs below.  Many of you know , but I always like to leave this little disclaimer.  

I feel very blessed by this community and love sharing my little charts, but I am not a professional designer. And I do not have professional software. Thank you for understanding that I  have to put each page on separate pdf downloads because of the devices I use. I apologize for that.  And I am always grateful for your kind encouragement , your visits, and stitching my little designs.  

Click here for the instruction page. 

                                        

Click here for the chart designs. 

Before you leave I wanted to share my newest patriotic buy. 

Can you guess where it is from? You are right!! The Dollar Tree. Lol.  Our DT is getting in a few things which makes me so excited. Now, I needed this sign like I need a hole in the head , but it was too cute to leave behind. Lol.  I am sure I will find a perfect spot for it. 

Thank you so much for visiting me, my dear friends. It is always a delight . As always... 

Happy stitching, ya'll

Melisa 

                       

Where liberty dwells, there is my country- Benjamin Franklin

Hugs and stitches,