My Turn ~ I'm Hopping Today!

Good Morning Friends & Folk!

I'm so happy once again to be a part in Stacy's

Buttermilk Basin's Summerthyme Blog Hop

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The official start to

Summer is only one day away!

...we have been having extreme heat here in Virginia and mostly rains every afternoon…

not real good for a nice hair-do, but our gardens are loving it!

 Black Eyed Suzy's

Scarlet Bee Balm

 I tend to decorate the farmhouse porch in a quiet, patriotic way ~

by hang in a few flags & buntings.

the shop garden has become a lush, inviting place to be

and welcomes you with a beautiful grape-arbor over the front gate….

Summertime means picnics and gathering with friends ~

this recipe is one my Mom created for her 'famous' Cole Slaw ~

...nothing brings me 'back home' more 

than the taste of this sweet & tangy Summerthyme delight ~

to read a little more about me,

hop on over to

www.buttermilkbasin.blogspot.com

I created a quick little stitch for you this time!

[usually a punch needle design, but I thought I would change it up a bit}

this is

"Picking Posies"

and I finished it into a small scissor-fob ~

I am forever misplacing my scissors, so I tend to tie lots of things to them…

...this will be perfect for my Summerthyme stitching :)

 I stitched mine onto a 4" x 4" piece of my hand dyed 30ct Old Farmhouse Linen

using the DMC threads below

and stitched using one strand of floss over two threads of linen.

the straight stitches on her skirt are done with DMC 611

the straight stitches for the flower stem used DMC 831

To finish into scissor-fob:

Once cross stitching is complete,

lay it on your work surface face down, and using a pencil & ruler,

 measure out 1/4" from the last stitch on all 4 sides of design 

{drawing a measured square around stitched portion}

now place your choice of backing fabric face up on your work surface {I used a brown cotton calico}

& then place your stitched piece face down on top of that ~

...machine or hand stitch completely around on drawn line.

now trim away excess linen/fabric to 1/4" of machine or hand stitching

{I use pinking shears}

make a small slit in the center of the backing fabric, and turn right sides out.

stuff project with cotton, polyfil or wool scraps.
stitch slit closed, add a patch of fabric to cover & you are done :)

you can learn how to make a tassel

HERE

if you'd like to add one to your fob!!

I would LOVE to see photos of your finished fob ;)

Many thanks for HOPPING along with us!

~ Blessings from the Farm ~

 Lori