My Patriotic Tree and a Little Rambling

 Good evening, ya'll! It is a beautiful spring day.  Earlier I peeked out the window to see what might be on the bird feeder hoping to see the whole crew feeding happily together- The crew is 2 squirrels- Sandy and Squirrelly  , 2 very bossy Doves ( Dennis and Debra), a Indigo Bunting ( Lindy) , and Alvin my beloved Chipmunk that lives on my front porch. Well, Sandy was there as well as the bossy doves . So I quietly went to the door and eased it open trying to get a good photo. Sandy quickly dashed to the Sweet Gum tree .

 After scampering up the trunk and making a jump from one limb to the next, she soon  perched herself in the nook of the limbs watching warily hoping I would leave soon.

 "Sorry, Sandy. I just wanted a photo". Of course the bossy doves left in a  hateful flutter annoyed that I had bothered their morning meal.

 Well, I was about to go in when these 2 feathered friends  approached and began to have a hissy fit fluttering all about the porch  and landing in the tree limb above me. They were carrying on something awful. 

 It was clear that they were intent on staying put and for me to leave.  "Oh boy, ya'll are beauties. Can I get a few photos?" They politely obliged and then I went in the house so all would be content.  

Later I found out that they are building a nest in my fern. Well this is a dilemma because it is time for the fern's weekly watering. Hmmm I am going to have to figure out what to do. But in the meantime, I wanted to share these beauties. Love the male's coloring.Of course I love anything red and yes even birds!  I think these are House Finches.

 Now what can I name these sweeties ? Maybe Flo and Finley. 

I have been working feverishly on my 2020 Flag Quilt. 

This is the quilt that I pieced last year during the beginning of the pandemic. I was also making masks at the time and my sewing machine tore up during the big mask assembly line production. Oh no! I could not do without a sewing machine - not because I had a great desire to make masks, but I had a quilt going on. So I found a sewing machine online like the one that bit the dust and hustled to the neighboring county to snatch it up at Walmart. That got the quilt blocks back into production, but I was done making masks.  After the 4th of July last year,  I had put this quilt away.  I pulled it back out this month and completed the quilting on Sunday.  Time for the binding and it will be all ready by Memorial Day. 

The little raggedy white tree is all adorned in her patriotic decor. So I thought I would share that today.

             

 It is crammed full of all kinds of stitched pieces as well as red, blue, white and silver balls and stars. 

                  

Many of ya'll know already I am not a minimalist. Lol and I like my tree crammed full.

Say did you spot the kitchen sink in that tree? 😆😃 

 I added a Dollar Tree America sign and Dollar Tree patriotic metal flowers and bows to the top as well.  

                  

One of my favorite stitched pieces on the tree is Little House Needleworks "Stars and Stripes." It is always lovingly placed center stage. 

 There are  number of Lizzie Kate pieces  as well.

 I even pulled out my patriotic Santas .

             

 I stitch one every year . I stitched this Santa last year; it was a design sent to me from my dear friend, Joan . I just love this little guy. 

                       

 I also placed my Red, White and Blue ornament on the tree.  It was an earlier freebie. 

At the bottom of the tree is a vintage  plastic Raggedy Ann and Andy that was my mom's . I have no idea where she got them nor do I remember them as a child but they are always out for display in my home. 

            

I thought  I would leave you with an itty bitty stitch. This is Old Glory, and it is teeny.

 I was going to make mine into a pillow but at the last minute decided to try to make a drum. This was my 1st attempt at drum making. It was fun, and I will try it again

  This will either land in my tiered tray or it may just stay right on the foyer shelf. 

Click here for the chart. 

Boy was I long winded today, but that is ok.  Well thank you so much my sweet  friends for visiting me today.  As always...

Happy stitching, ya'll

Melisa

                                

I love Old Glory long may she wave over America the homeland of the brave. 

 Hugs and Stitches

Sunday Happenings

 Sunday Blessings, ya'll. Can you believe the last week of May is coming upon us? This year is buzzing on by -at least for me it is. This week was a very busy week. The beginning of the week started off with ballgames.  We went to Alabama to watch my youngest daughter play on Monday. I took along my 2020 flag quilt and quilted as I rode. It was great to see her play again and woo hoo she hit 2 homeruns! Of course, I had to stop at the Goodwill and the Walmart in the area. We did not get in till late at night so little stitching was completed. 

On Tuesday I shared my Red, White and Blue ornament . I officially added this little ornament to the patriotic raggedy tree.

  Since it was Tomato Tuesday,  I also completed Needle Bling Designs "Stitching Makes Me Happy" . 

This chart was a gift from my friend , Joan. I used my own floss colors - what I had in my stash.  What a fun stitch. This  was also my Tiny Tuesday Stitch as well. My friend, Christina has started #tinytuesdaycrossstitching  on Instagram to focus on stitching smalls. Tuesdays are always a fun day. 

A new start followed on Wednesday with a summer saltbox,  and yes I did complete it. I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning stitching away, but I will share the finish later. I still need to FFO it which sometimes takes me awhile. 

              

More ballgames on Thursday with a little rest time, and then Friday was the perfect day to do a little FFOing on Little Liberty Manor.  

I had good intentions this week to sneak into the Quilt Nest and do some piecing. I do have 3 quilts brewing in my mind. But alas it was a "no go"  . 

So today my plan is to finish the border on my patriotic flag quilt and have it ready for binding on Monday. 

A new quilt will go into the hoop which will probably be my Chicken Quilt. 

It is way overdue to be in the hoop.  I would like to get at least a row of quilting completed this week.  Can I do it? I don't know ; it just depends how many squirrels I start chasing.

Well I am off to do my Sunday family visits and quilt as I chat. I am so happy you stopped by for a  sweet Sunday visit as well.  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

Lynette at What a Hoot! for BOMs Away Monday

Tish at The Madd Hatter Tish's Adventure in Wonderland  for UFO Busting #145

Frederique at Applique Patchwork Quilting for Patchwork & Quilts #53

Wherever you go , no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine!

   Hugs and Stitches

Little Liberty Manor - A Patriotic Freebie

Happy Saturday, ya'll. Is your weekend off to a great start?  I hope you are getting to spend time doing something that you love. I have been enjoying a little quiet time at home finishing up a little stitch. Later, I do have some quilting to complete in hopes of finishing a border, but we will see. 

Last night, I completed Little Liberty Manor which I thought I would share with you today.  I stitched this way back in January but never got around to FFOing until now. A week before Memorial Day was the perfect time for me to pull it out and finish it. 

               

Little Liberty Manor started out with a random border that I was working on. I then began filling in the middle with a little house  and 3 sweet ewes.  I love willow trees, but hubby does not want one in the yard ( a bit superstitious) so I planted one by my liberty house. When I was growing up, we had one by the creek below the farmhouse. It was the biggest willow tree I have ever seen, but because crops were going to be planted dad cut it down. 

             

This stitch  is a small measuring 63 x 60. I stitched mine on 14 count coffee/ tea dyed aida.  I finished mine on an unfinished Dollar Tree box found in the craft section.

 I painted it a chocolate brown and added a little piece of calico fabric and a a bit of jute twine.

 If you are interested in stitching Little Liberty Manor, please check out the pdfs below .Many of you know , but I always like to leave this little disclaimer.  

I stitch my little designs for fun and to decorate my home. 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 colored chart.  NOTE: Some of the colors on the colored chart are not showing up well because the ink was low.  I apologize for that. 

Click here for the black and white chart. 

I think Little Liberty Manor pairs up nicely with Betsy Ewe. If you missed that little stitch click here. 

I will provide links to some of my previous posts with patriotic stitches. 

Red White and Blue 

Stars, Stripes and Chickens 

Sarah Jane's Saltbox    and  Liberty 

I am so happy you stopped by for a visit today. It is always a delight and deep honor that you spend a few minutes out of your day with me. Have a very blessed weekend and as always...

Happy stitching, ya'll. 

Nothing is more precious than Independence and Liberty. 

Hugs and Stitches, 

Red , White and Blue Freebie

Happy Tuesday, dear friends. I just finished a little quick stitch and thought I would share it with you. 

 This is a simple little stitch with sweet buntings and 2 small houses - one of which is a blue log cabin. 

Now I have to be honest, in my eyes I think the design is cute , but I am not crazy over my stitch. 😒 Why you ask? Well let me tell you. It all started with the fabric. I Rit dyed mine with charcoal gray which usually turns my fabric a dark blackish-brown. But oh no not this time- it was very light. So I added more dye, dipped it again and let it sit. After several minutes, I took it out and rinsed it  ; it wasn't dark, but ok I thought I will go with what I have. 

Since I was anxious to stitch, I rushed to the bedroom to put the fabric under the fan and in about 30 minutes I was ready to go. So I started pulling flosses. Now here comes the 2nd problem I had . Eeek - my blue!  I floss tossed my blues and had so much trouble finding a blue that remotely stood out on my drab and dreary fabric. Lol.  DMC 798 was what I settled on because that's all I had.  

                 

After I had it all stitched up , I thought, "Hmmm , this is not too bad", but then hubby walked in. Now he rarely says anything about my stitching other than "That's pretty", but  as he passed by he said "The blue does not stand out" .  

Aaaah! for him to notice means it really is dull. lol . 😲😀😆After getting over my shock that hubby noticed a detail over my stitching, I decided to go ahead and finish it. This was such a quick stitch that when I get new floss I can always stitch it over.  This was one of the easy finishes because I knew ahead of time that I wanted an ornament for my patriotic tree. I mounted the stitch on batting covered foam board. The finishing fabric is one of hubby's old shirt and the ribbons were from the Dollar Tree. 

                  

If you are interested in this stitch, I would be so delighted for you to check out the pdf's below. This is one where you choose your favorite Red, White and Blue floss and your favorite colored fabric. I did list mine but I strongly encourage you to do a floss toss on your fabric.

Many of you know , but I always like to leave this little disclaimer.  

I stitch my little designs for fun and to decorate my home. 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 colored chart. 

                   

Click here for the black and white chart .

Thank you so much for stopping by to see what I have been up to. I hope that whatever you are doing today, that you are finding joy  and as always...

Happy stitching, ya'll

Melisa

My Patriotic Heart beats for the red, white and blue! 

Hugs and Stitches 

I See Red!

Happy Sunday, my dear friends. I hope you have had a delightful weekend. Mine has been fantastic! My youngest daughter came home  Thursday for a long weekend visit which is always a  joy. I only wish she could stay longer, but she has a busy work week ahead. She did however make her rounds to see family members and was able to relax a bit. 

Yesterday, I hit my first yard sale for the year. I always tell hubby that if he sees  a good yard sale or a church yard sale to call me. Well, he had spotted one on Friday at a little church in a neighboring community. So yesterday around lunch time, I decided to go see if they had anything, but to be honest I thought they would have very little considering how late it was. I was pleasantly surprised to see several vehicles pulled up to the community room, and when I walked in,  there were lots of treasures to explore.  

I began my initial walk through just scanning for items and prices . No, I did not spot any labels or signs with prices. Eeek. I thought; I do like to see prices.  As I wove in and out of the tables, I looked up to scan the room and then I spotted  IT!!! I saw RED!!! With a clickity clack of the speed of my heels. I was across the room in a flash! I just found a BIG RED BEAUTY-  a bow tie handquilted quilt.

 Oh, my mind was racing, but no prices! Aaah! It is going to be expensive I thought. I looked around and no one was near so I walked over and asked one of the ladies how much was the quilt. She  asked "Which on?"  Hmmm. I just saw one maybe she is thinking of the  blankets there too. We walked over , and she picked it up.  She said she would find out. As she was walking she said, "I am sure it is $2.00."  WHAT? I thought. There is no way.  So I followed behind her in complete and utter confusion and when she asked the nice lady who dealt with pricing,  I about fell over when she said yes it was $2.00! I tell you I could not get my money out fast enough!

Oh, this is going to be a great haul I thought!  I went back to shopping and found a number of little odd and end treasures - knitted dish clothes, milk glass, a doll chair,  but  I soon found myself back at the sheets and blankets .  She did say "Which one" I thought so I began rummaging and tucked underneath a pile of blankets was another quilt! Yippee!!!! How can this be I thought. I almost felt a little light headed. lol .  I pulled the quilt out which was made of soft light colored shirtings  and saw that it had a hole, but for $2.00 I could not pass it up. It couldn't be more than that I thought.  And yep I was right. I think I did a little jig right there in front of everybody. Lol I was so excited.  Oh what a fabulous day!!  I ran to the car in glee with 2 quilts and a box of this and that . I have to admit I was on having  "Yard Sale Rush" ! 

After leaving the yard sale,  I visited my mom and had to pull out the Big Red Beauty to show her. Of course she was not as excited as I am , but I was flying high.

 Later I came home to spread it out.

 There are a couple of repairs that I need to make but it is in good condition.

 It was machine pieced and hand quilted.  

The other quilt which I will share after the repair work is done was actually 2 quilts- it is reversible. 

Since I had the quilt all spread out, it was a perfect time to sit in the yard as hubby cooked Kent Rollins Oklahoma's Fried Onion hamburgers.   We could have a little picnic. 

 I was intent on trying to capture photos of a blue indigo bunting on the bird feeder too, but he was sort of skiddish.

 As I sat trying to look inconspicuous to the birdies, I worked on my flag quilt that I pieced last year with all sorts of scraps. 

This quilt is on the fast track to being completed and is a my project for today. I am not going to say that I will get it completed this week, but boy would I be overjoyed if I did. 

Every since Wednesday which was a big day in the Quilt Nest, my stitching has sort of fell down the wayside. Not much has gone on . Today however I hope to remedy that and continue working on Tree of Samplings Beauty and Grace.

 Since I finished Abby Rose Designs " A Joyous Day" this past week, "Beauty and Grace" has moved into its stitchy spot. 

Well that has been my weekend in a nutshell . I sure hope you had something bring you lots of joy, and I am so grateful that you allowed me to share my happenings with you. 

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

Lynette at What a Hoot! for BOMs Away Monday

Tish at The Madd Hatter for UFO Busting #144

Not all who wander are lost, they are looking for good yard sales.

Hugs and Stitches

Stars , Stripes and Chickens - Oh my ! A Patriotic Freebie

Woo Hoo!  They are back! Oh, how I am so excited to share with you my newest stitch of Annie and the gang. So put on your apron and grab a bag of chicken feed and let's go out to the hen house and  check this stitch out!

  Now if you are new to my blog,  you may not be familiar with Annie, but she is a sweet gal who is raising 3 wild and woolly hens, and they are as busy as a moth in a mitten.  Annie is always working whether  tending to bees or  gathering pumpkins , blooms, or eggs . Sometimes she even has to tote her 3 gals , Edna, Dorothy Mae and Alma, around. Now of the 3 hens- Edna is the fiesty one and can be quite the character . Dorothy Mae is a bit more series. Alma is as sweet as a apple pie.  

What is the crew up to in this stitch? Celebrating the red, white and blue. Annie is marching with a flag while the gals are running a muck with stars and flags all around.   

This is a small  measuring 54 x 51 which on 14 count aida would be around 3 7/8" x 3 5/8" .  I finished mine on foam board  and placed it on the little wooden box that I bought at the Goodwill last year. 

          

Each season. I just change the stitch out.  Easy Peasy.  

                      

If you are interested in adding Annie to your stitching , please check out 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 colored chart. 

Click here for the black and white chart. 

If you missed the other charts, I sure hope you click on the links below and check them out. 

  Bees, Blooms and Chickens 

 Cornstalks , Pumpkins and Chickens , 

Snowflakes, Sledding and Chickens  ,  Roses, Hearts and Chickens , and Bunnies, Baskets and Chickens .

I am so grateful that you visited me today. This is one of my favorite little series of stitching that I am working on, and  I am so thrilled to share it with you.  I hope your day is filled with many blessings and   as always ...

Happy stitching, ya'll

Melisa

It is always an honor and a delight to see your stitches. You can always tag me on Instagram and please use #pinkernpunkinquilting. You can also Direct Message or email me. 

Hand on your heart for the stripes and stars. 

Hugs and Stitches