Wednesday

From the Kitchen: Irish Apple Cake

A Recipe for Slow Afternoons & Remembering

There are days when the kitchen feels like a place to get things done
and then there are days when it becomes something softer.
A place to return to yourself.

Today felt like that.

The light came in gently, not rushed.
The kind of light that doesn’t ask anything of you.
And without really planning to, I found myself reaching for apples.


Not for anything fancy.
Not for a new release or a photo or a launch.
Just…for something warm.

There is something about apples and cinnamon that lives deep in memory.
It feels like wood floors and quiet conversations.
Like something baking while life happens around it.

This Irish Apple Cake is like that.

Simple.
Humble.
The kind of recipe that doesn’t try too hard—
but somehow becomes the one you come back to again and again.



🍰 Irish Apple Cake with Cinnamon Streusel

A soft, tender cake layered with apples and topped with a buttery cinnamon crumble.

Ingredients

For the Cake

  • ½ cup butter, softened

  • ¾ cup brown sugar

  • 2 eggs

  • 1 tbsp vanilla

  • 1¾ cups flour

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • 1 tsp cinnamon

  • Pinch of salt

  • ⅓ cup heavy cream

  • ⅓ cup milk

  • 2–2½ cups apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

For the Streusel

  • 3 tbsp cold butter

  • 3 tbsp flour

  • ¼ cup raw sugar

  • ½ tsp cinnamon

🍂 Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar until soft and light.
Add the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
Slowly add this to the batter, alternating with the milk and heavy cream.

Fold in the apples gently—the batter will be thick.

In a small bowl, work together the cold butter, flour, sugar, and cinnamon until crumbly.

Spread the batter into a prepared pan and scatter the streusel over the top.

Bake for about 45 minutes, until golden and set.

✨ Closing Blessing

May your kitchen be a place of return.
May what you make with your hands soften what you carry in your heart.
May there always be something warm waiting for you—
and someone to share it with when the time is right.

With Love from the Studio,


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Tuesday

The Clover: A Small Thing Holding Great Luck

There are plants that ask to be noticed, tall blooms, bright petals, something showy and full of declaration.

And then there is clover.

It grows low to the ground, tucked into the spaces between.
Underfoot. Along edges. Quietly persistent.

And yet, for centuries—it has carried the weight of luck, protection, and blessing.



☘ The Meaning of Clover

Traditionally, each leaf of the clover holds something sacred:

  • The first for faith

  • The second for hope

  • The third for love

  • And when found… the fourth for luck

But beyond symbolism, clover teaches something softer.

It reminds us that good things rarely arrive loudly.

They come in small, steady ways—
in growth that spreads gently,
in roots that hold fast beneath the surface,
in quiet returns each spring.

✿ A Botanical to Stitch Slowly

This mini clover was designed as a pause.

A small hoop.
A simple pattern.
Just enough stitches to sit with for an afternoon.

Each satin stitch like a breath.
Each knot like a moment held.

On black fabric, the green rises forward—
like something emerging from the dark.
A reminder that even in shadow, something is always growing.

✿ A Creative Almanac Note

Field Note — Early Spring / Clover

Clover appears where the soil has been disturbed.
Where the ground has been turned, walked on, or weathered.

It does not resist this.

It grows anyway.



🌿 Mini Clover Botanical Embroidery

Pattern Details, DMC Colors & Instructions

✿ Finished Size

  • Designed for a 5" embroidery hoop

  • Works beautifully on black linen or cotton

✿ DMC Color Palette

(soft, natural, slightly romantic—just like your stitched version)

Clover Leaves & Stem

  • DMC 3346 – Hunter Green (main leaf fill)

  • DMC 3347 – Yellow Green (highlight/variation)

Clover Blossom

  • DMC 3716 – Dusty Rose (main knots)

  • DMC 761 – Light Salmon Pink (highlight knots)

Decorative Accents

  • DMC 680 – Old Gold (circle stitch)

  • DMC 321 – Red (side star stitches)

✿ Stitch Guide

Clover Leaves

  • Stitch: Satin Stitch

  • Fill each leaf with long stitches radiating outward

  • Optional: blend 3346 + 3347 for subtle dimension

Stem

  • Stitch: Stem Stitch

  • Use 3346, 3 strands

Leaves (side clusters)

  • Stitch: Satin Stitch or Fishbone Stitch

  • Add a central vein with a single straight stitch if desired

Clover Blossom

  • Stitch: French Knots

  • Use 2–3 strands

  • Wrap 2 times for soft, rounded texture

  • Mix 3716 + 761 randomly for a natural look

Circle Border

  • Stitch: Running Stitch

  • Use 680 (gold)

  • Even spacing for that hand-drawn, folk-art feel

Side Stars

  • Stitch: Simple Cross Stitch

  • Use 321 (red)

  • Keep small and delicate

✿ Thread Use

  • 2 strands for most stitches

  • 3 strands for fuller satin stitch if you want more coverage on black fabric

To transfer the design onto black fabric, print the design off onto Solvy and stick to the fabric, stitch and rinse the Solvy away.




OR Use a sheet of white carbon paper.  Place onto the top of the black fabric and place the design on top of the white carbon paper.  Use a pen to trace the design over the printed design and when finished, lift the white carbon paper to see the design on the fabric.  (My favorite way to transfer on dark fabric.)




To finish off the stitch, stretch the fabric and tighten the hoop.  Trim the fabric off a half inch around the hoop.  Make a running stitch around the excess fabric and pull tight, knot off it's finished!  

Go to the Tweetle Dee You Tube Channel to view stitching tutorials.  



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Friday

The Story Quilt Collection

My house is full of these quilts I have collected over the years.

They are draped across chairs, folded at the end of beds, tucked into baskets, and sometimes pulled outside on warm afternoons to sit in the sun. I have always loved the softness of them, the colors, and the quiet beauty of the tiny stitches that run across the cloth like rows of handwriting.

Each one carries a story.



These hand-stitched quilts are traditionally known as Kantha quilts, made by layering cotton cloth and stitching the layers together with thousands of small running stitches. The stitching gives the quilts their beautiful rippled texture and turns simple pieces of cloth into something warm, useful, and lasting.

Over the years I began gathering them slowly - one here, one there - choosing the ones that spoke to me through color, pattern, and the life visible in the cloth.

Some are bright and playful.
Some are quiet and faded.




Some carry small patches or repairs that tell the story of the hands that cared for them before. They have lived in my home for years, but recently I began thinking it might be time to share them.

So I decided to create a small Story Quilt Collection in the shop.

Each quilt is numbered as it enters the collection - Story Quilt No. 001, No. 002, No. 003, and so on—because no two are ever the same. Once a quilt finds its home, that story is complete.

These quilts are lightweight, soft, and wonderfully versatile. They can be folded at the end of a bed, draped over a chair, spread out for a picnic, or even hung as a piece of textile art.



But more than anything, they carry the quiet beauty of handwork.

Thousands of stitches placed slowly by hand.
Layers of cloth that have lived other lives.
Colors that have softened over time.

Cloth like this reminds me that everyday objects can hold meaning.



That simple things like thread, fabric, and patient hands can create something that lasts for generations. I hope these quilts will find homes where they are used, loved, and lived with the way they always have been.

Because every stitch tells a story.




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Thursday

Green Tomato: A New Prairie Paint Color and Garden-Inspired Barn Quilt


There is a quiet moment in the garden before harvest arrives.

The tomatoes are still green on the vine. The leaves are thick and vibrant. Each morning you walk out with hope, wondering if today might be the day the first blush of red appears.

That in-between moment when everything is still growing and becoming, inspired our newest Prairie Paint color: Green Tomato. This rich garden green captures the deep, lively color of tomato leaves and fruit before they ripen. It’s a color that feels fresh, hopeful, and full of possibility.



The Inspiration Behind the Color

Gardeners know that green tomatoes hold a certain magic.

They are the promise of what’s coming next. The stage where the plant is strong and full of life, quietly preparing for the abundance of late summer.

When I began mixing this color, I kept thinking about those mornings walking through the garden rows, brushing past the vines, checking the fruit, feeling the warmth of the sun on the leaves.

Green Tomato became a color that celebrates that moment of growth and anticipation and is now available in our shop for all of your spaces and creative projects. 

The Green Tomato Star Barn Quilt

To introduce the color, I painted a new barn quilt design called the

Green Tomato Star.



This folk-art style star brings together the cheerful colors of a summer garden: Green Tomato -  fresh and vibrant like leaves on the vine, bright tomato red accents and a soft farmhouse white background

Framed in Green Tomato Prairie Paint, the design feels lively and joyful, like a kitchen garden at the height of the season. Barn quilts have always told stories about the land and the people who care for it. This one celebrates the garden and the simple joy of watching things grow.

A Celebration of the Growing Season

Before the baskets fill with tomatoes and the canning jars line the shelves, there is a moment when the garden is simply green and full of promise. That’s the feeling I hoped to capture with Green Tomato Prairie Paint and the Green Tomato Star Barn Quilt.

A color for gardeners.
A design for those who love watching things grow, and a small celebration of the season before harvest.

All orders this week are 20% off with code Spring20. 




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Monday

A Barn Quilt Garden Angel

Sometimes a design arrives quietly.

Not with a big idea or a carefully drawn plan, but with a feeling  - a sense that something simple and meaningful wants to be made.

That is how our new Barn Quilt Garden Angel came to life in the studio.


She is made from weathered wood, warm natural accents, and softly rusted wings that feel like they’ve been part of an old barn or garden for years. At the center of her heart rests a small barn quilt star, hand painted in the traditional style that has long been used to mark farms, welcome travelers, and tell the stories of the land.

Barn quilts have always carried a quiet symbolism.
They were never just decoration.

They were signs of home, belonging, guidance, and protection.

It felt natural to place one in the center of this angel — as if she were holding the story of the countryside close to her heart.

Folk Art That Tells a Story

So much of what we make at Tweetle Dee is rooted in folk art traditions.



The pieces are meant to feel handmade, familiar, and connected to the land - like something you might discover hanging on an old barn, tucked beside a garden gate, or passed down through generations.

This angel holds that spirit.

Simple materials.
Quiet symbolism.
A reminder that handmade things carry stories.


✨ Our Spring Sale is happening now

Enjoy 20% off all orders with code SPRING20

May your gardens grow beautifully this season.

And may the places you love feel watched over.

With love from the studio,

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Friday

Tulip Garden Embroidery Kit

This morning the snow was falling outside the studio window.

Spring still feels far away here in the mountains, but beneath the soil something quiet is already happening. The bulbs are waking, the light is returning, and the first tulips will soon push their way up through the cold earth.

Tulips have always felt like the bravest flowers to me.

They spend the long winter hidden in darkness, gathering the strength to bloom when the days grow longer. They remind us that growth often begins long before we can see it.

That quiet promise of spring inspired this new Tulip Garden Embroidery Kit.


Stitched on black fabric so the colors glow like flowers against the night sky, this simple folk-style design features soft peach petals, a deep red tulip center, sage green leaves, and tiny prairie blue stars. A golden running stitch surrounds the garden like a small ring of sunlight.

It’s a peaceful project—perfect for a quiet afternoon of stitching while we wait for the seasons to turn.

Hand embroidery has always felt a little like gardening to me.
Each stitch is slow and intentional, and little by little something beautiful begins to grow beneath your hands.



Whether you’re new to embroidery or have stitched for years, this design is meant to be simple, relaxing, and joyful to create.

The finished hoop measures approximately 8 inches, making it a lovely piece to hang in your studio, gift to a friend, or tuck into a cozy corner of your home as a reminder that spring is always on its way.

Spring Sale 🌷

To celebrate the changing season, we’re also hosting a Spring Sale in the shop.

Enjoy 20% off your order with the code:

SPRING20

It’s a wonderful time to gather a few creative projects for the weeks ahead—barn quilt kits, embroidery designs, Prairie Paints, and more.

As the snow falls outside today, I’m grateful for these small creative rituals that help carry us from winter into spring.

Sometimes the smallest garden can grow right in our hands.

With love from the studio,

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Wednesday

Blackbird Garden

Every spring, there is a moment when the garden begins to stir again.

The soil softens under the returning sun, the first green shoots push through the earth, and the birds return to the fields and hedgerows. Their songs feel like a small promise, that winter has loosened its grip and color will soon return.

The Blackbird Garden Barn Quilt was born from that feeling.

While painting this design, I kept thinking about the quiet presence of blackbirds in the garden. They are often the first to appear in the early days of spring, hopping through the grass and resting along the fence posts as if they are keeping watch over the changing season.

In many folk traditions, blackbirds symbolize watchfulness, song, and the gentle turning of the year.



Surrounding the blackbird in this design are rows of bright tulips rising like little garden beds along the sides of the quilt. Tulips have long been a symbol of renewal and joy, blooming boldly after the long sleep of winter. Their simple shapes have also appeared in folk art for generations, especially in traditional Scandinavian and Pennsylvania Dutch painting.

Above the garden rows, colorful stars stretch across the sky, echoing the patterns found in classic barn quilts. At the center of the design, a radiant floral star shines, a reminder that even the simplest garden holds its own quiet beauty.

Painting this piece was pure joy. The bright prairie colors, the playful symmetry, and the little blackbird tucked into the meadow made it feel like bringing a small story to life on the board.

The Blackbird Garden Barn Quilt celebrates the beauty of folk art, the rhythm of the seasons, and the simple magic of a garden waking in spring.

It is a design meant to bring a little color and cheer wherever it hangs, on a porch wall, in a studio, on a garden shed, or inside a home where creativity blooms.

Because sometimes the smallest things... a bird, a flower, a patch of sunlight,  are the quiet signs that a new season has begun.





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Monday

The Spring Sale Is Here 🌷

Spring always feels like permission to begin again.

New colors. New light. New ideas waiting to be made.

To celebrate the season, everything in the shop is 20% off with code SPRING20.



Whether you’ve been wanting to:
- start a new barn quilt
- refresh your Prairie Paint collection
- stitch something hopeful
- or registering for a new class...

Now is the time.

The sale won’t last long  and I would truly love to see your 

spaces filling with fresh beginnings.

Let’s welcome spring by making something beautiful.

With love from the studio,



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Friday

Holden Star

On Tuesday night in Salt Lake City, I stood in a room with thousands of people and felt something shift inside me.

We went to see Brandi Carlisle.
I thought we were going to a concert.


Instead, we walked into something that felt holy .

Her voice...clear, strong, impossibly tender, filled the arena in a way that made you forget there were walls. We laughed. We cried. We sang until our throats felt raw and grateful. There were moments when she stepped back from the microphone and the entire place carried the melody for her.

But it was when she began Hold Out Your Hand that something inside me cracked open.

The lights softened.
The rhythm began.
And thousands of strangers started to move together.


We danced.

We lifted our hands.

We sang about hope and forgiveness and loving one another anyway.

For three minutes and thirty seconds, the world felt like it could be mended.

The next morning, I came back to the studio and looked at the new Holden Star leaning against the wall.


Strong lines.
Bold corners.
Light and dark meeting in the center.

It felt different after that night.

The Holden Star isn’t delicate. It doesn’t whisper.
It stands steady.

It feels like the shape of courage.
Like the geometry of community.
Like what happens when we choose to hold out our hands instead of clenching them.

Stars have always symbolized guidance — something steady to look toward when the road feels uncertain. But this one feels more human to me. Less about finding your way alone… more about finding your way together.

Maybe that’s why it needed that song.

Maybe that’s why it was born this week.

Art does this sometimes

A song opens a door.
A painting walks through it.

The Holden Star is now available as a finished barn quilt, a DIY kit, and a pattern   but more than that, it feels like a small offering.

A reminder to:

Stand steady.
Sing loudly.
Dance when you can.
And when the world feels heavy…

Hold out your hand.

With Love from the Studio,



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Thursday

Blue Belle Painted in Windmill Sky & Bluebird Morning

Yesterday I shared a little reel of me painting Blue Belles with soft petals unfolding in shades of Windmill Sky and Bluebird Morning from the Prairie Paint collection.

There is something about blue flowers.

They don’t shout.
They don’t demand.
They simply bloom.


Blue Belle came to life slowly petal by petal like the first quiet stretch of morning when the house is still and the light begins to shift. I’ve been craving that kind of calm lately. The kind that steadies your breath and reminds you that beauty doesn’t have to be loud to be powerful.

The Colors

Windmill Sky carries that soft, open-air feeling, like standing in a field where the horizon stretches wide and nothing feels confined.

Bluebird Morning is brighter. Hopeful. A color that feels like possibility perched on a fence post.

Together, they feel like spring trying to whisper its way in.



When I began brushing them onto the panel, I wasn’t thinking about perfection. I was thinking about rhythm. About allowing my hand to move the way it moves when I’m stitching or writing. Brushstrokes and stitches aren’t so different. Both are small acts repeated with care.

Why Blue?

Blue has always symbolized:

  • Peace

  • Clarity

  • Devotion

  • Trust

  • Open skies and deep water

In folk art traditions, blue often represents protection and spiritual depth. In nature, blue flowers are rare and because they’re rare, they feel sacred.

Blue Belle feels like that to me. A sacred little bloom.

From Barn Quilts to Florals

Many of you know me through barn quilts and stars, geometry, symmetry, story held in structure. But florals are where my breath softens.

Painting Blue Belle felt like stepping into the softer side of Prairie Paints. The colors are the same. The intention is the same. But the expression is freer.

And I think that’s something I’m leaning into this year ...
structure and softness,
roots and bloom,
brushstroke and stitch.

A Quiet Invitation

If you watched the reel on TikTok or Instagram, thank you for being there while she came to life.

If you haven’t yet, go take a peek  - you’ll see the layers build and the petals open.

And maybe today, you’ll find your own version of Blue Belle:

  • a quiet hour at the table

  • a new color mixed on your palette

  • a stitch begun

  • a seed planted

Beauty doesn’t need to be loud.
It just needs to be tended.

And speaking of practice,  the Creative Caravan is getting closer to the road. I’m planning a series of Open Paint Days very soon. No formal class. No pressure. Just tables, Prairie Paint, florals, stars, and time. A place to gather and create at your own pace. If Blue Belle stirred something in you, these open studio days might be your invitation.



More details coming soon.

With love from the studio,



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Friday

The Dutch Girl Cross Stitch Kit & Pattern — A Folk-Art Heirloom in Stitches

Some designs stay with you.

The Dutch Girl is one of mine.


She began as a barn quilt, bold, geometric, grounded in tradition. Inspired by old-world quilt blocks and the women who stitched stories into fabric long before us, the Dutch Girl has always felt like a tribute to heritage and homemaking.

In her barn quilt form, she is architectural. Strong. Rooted.

But in cross stitch… she softens.

Thread transforms her.

On rich black aida cloth, the prairie blues, minty greens, soft whites, and rosy petals glow like stained glass against the night. The geometry remains — the star center, the layered points, the symmetry — but now every shape is built stitch by stitch, one tiny X at a time.



And there is something sacred about that rhythm.

Cross stitch asks us to slow down.
To follow a pattern.
To trust the process.

The Dutch Girl Cross Stitch Kit includes everything needed to bring her to life, carefully selected floss colors, fabric, needle, pattern, and finishing instructions. For those who prefer to pull from their own thread collections, she is also available as a pattern.


Framed in cedar, she becomes a bridge between mediums, barn board and needlework, paint and thread, prairie and parlor.

This piece is for:

  • The heritage stitchers

  • The folk-art lovers

  • The quiet makers who find peace in repetition

  • The women who know that beauty is built slowly

As you stitch her, I hope you feel what I feel when I design these pieces, that we are connected to something older than us. A long line of hands that painted, quilted, stitched, and built homes full of meaning.

The Dutch Girl is available now in the shop.

May she bring steadiness and story to your hands. 🌷

With Love from the Studio,





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