Tranquil Moments or 2 Olgas' SAL

My friend Olga in UK and I have had SAL this week.
For the SAL project we took "Tranquil Moments" by The Sweetheart Tree. We got interested in this design on different reasons but probably the main idea was to see what the design looks like in real life. If you saw the picture of the design in the ST booklet, you would understand what I mean: the ST picture is dark, you can hardly see the design in it.
I decided to trust the designer and used the colors of the fabric, floss and beads what the design calls for. Olga was experimenting with her own fabric and some other stuff, you can see the results of her SAL on her blog.
Here is the picture of "Tranquil Moments":

I liked these intricate stitches of the design, there are only a few full crosses there! That's the type of stitching I enjoy. In the picture you can see my framed piece.

The second stage of our SAL was to stitch the central part of the design, the star. I made this part into an ornament. A fragment from the outer border was stitchedon the back side of the ornament. Here is my ..."twinkle, twinkle little star" (гори, гори, моя звезда...-ru):

And here is the picture of my whole SAL:

I am satisfied with the results of our SAL. It was a great pleasure to stitch with Olga: we shared ideas and supported each other a lot. Thank you Olga for this wonderful experience.

I am a little sad because our 2 Olgas' SAL came to an end.

But! I am going to stitch another design by ST which is very similar to this one, everything is already ready to start on it.

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I also wanted to show you some pictures of another visitor we had yesterday: it is a tiny turtle which is as "huge" as two small acorns.

Isn't it cute? And I do not have to stitch Quaker turtles, I have real turtles in the yard.

Thank you for stopping by and special thank you for those who leave comments - I love to read them!

Happy stitching to everybody!

Ready For The Halloween!

What I know for sure is that I did not choose this design - it chose me the moment I saw it. I've never stitched fairies before but this one is so charming and captvating I could not resist. I am speaking about Halloween Fairy by Nora Corbett. Here she is :

I stitched it on 32 Natural Linen. Before stitching I painted the fabric to enhance the Moon light on the fairy's face and shoulders and to show the intricate shadows the Moon light casts around the fairy.

I enjoyed stitching my first ever fairy so much and, of course, there will be another one! I already know which but the material list for the pattern is sooo long with some "exotic" ribbons which I have never heard of. . . Well, I do not think I will start the other fairy very soon. Now a happy dance and we are ready to go to the framing shop!

Thank you for stopping by and leaving comments, they are always inspiring. Happy stitching to everyone!

! P.S. ! Pumpkin is organizing Breast Cancer Fighters' RR. Please visit her blog for more detail !

HOE Halloween Exchange

Today I got a wonderful Halloween Exchange package from Nic in UK. She stitched a cute design from San Man Originals and finished it into a tote bag. Nic's stitching is so neat and pretty, and I just love my bag! It already decorates the door of the pantry cabinet and looks great there!

Nic also included some extra goodies ( to spoil me): some fabric, ribbon, Halloween Inflatable decoration, a chocolate bar. In the package there is also a card with a message from Nic and a Cheese Cake recipe which I will certaily try one day. Here is the picture of the whole exchange:Thank you Nic for this really wonderful exchange, you've made my day!

In my previous post I promised to show my finish in the next post and I will do today but in next anothernpost because Blogger does not allow me to upload more images. Stay tuned!

HOE Exchanges and "Autumn Colors"

Today I want to show two pieces which I made for my HOE partners.


The pattern of the first piece is called "Welcome" by The Prairie Schooler, I finished it off as a floss holder+ pinkeep. The pinkeep is soft enough to use it as a pincushion so I also made counting needles to match the piece. The pattern reminded me of old times that is why I "aged" the fabric for an ancient look of the piece... But I do not think my parner liked what I sent her: she did not let me know when she got the package from me and I was worrying that it got lost.
Anyway, here are the pictures of that exchange:






As for me I like this multifunctional piece and will certainly make a couple of them for myself.

The pattern of the second piece called " Snap Happy Halloween" by Bentcreek was stitched for HOE Halloween Exchange. As my partner Joan likes pinkeeps I finished off the pattern into a pinkeep and also made counting needles in matching Halloween colors.

Here are some pictures of the Halloween exchange:

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I got some pleasant news from my new friend Lee Fun. She stitched my "Autumn Colors" Fob design and made it into... a needle book :-). She sent me some pictures of the finished piece - her finishing is so lovely! You can go visit her blog and see more nice pictures of the needle book and many other pretty things she makes. She will be delighted to see new friends on her blog. Lee Fun, thank you for sending me your lovely pictures!

I think next time I will show you the piece I am working on now. It will be something a little bigger than "smalls" :-).

Happy stitching to everyone! And Thank You to those who visited my blog and left a comment on my new design in the previous post.