Thursday, March 26, 2009

"Hearts" Needlebook-PInkeep and more

Honestly I thought that I had finished working on "Hearts" Sewing Set, at least this year. There were some more ideas and sketches left and I wanted to return to them much later. It was Yoyo who first said that the sewing set must also have a needlebook. So I started working on it.
From the beginning I decided that the needlebook must have a heart shape and it must be two in one: a needlebook and a pinkeep ( for pinkeep lovers :-) ). I am not so fast in finishing my stitched pieces, it took me 2 days ( and nights ) to find a pretty and easy way to finish this neddlebook-pinkeep. Here is what I made:
Some of my customers told me that they want to stitch this sewing set as a gift for their friends. So I thought it might be nice to make a gift tag which can be made into a floss tag as well. I finished mine as a gift tag and put a charm on my friend's name to hide it ;-). For those customers who order the complete set the tag design is a gift. Here is the complete "Hearts" sewing set, 10 items now:
After the post about my mother and "A Russian Motif, Spring" design I got so many wonderful e-mails in which readers of my blog told me about their mothers and grandmothers. Vera in Russia ( I do not know if she has a blog) sent me pictures of her mother's works, one of which is almost identical with my mother's work. Jean and Anne R told me how they first learned about Russian and Ukrainian cross stitch. Thank you ladies for the interesting e-mails , it 's so nice to get to know you.

I could not imagine that the little design in Russian style would be such a success. On some blogs I saw you finished stitching but were wondering what to make it into. Well, into anything : a fob, a pinkeep, a floss tag. I made my stitched pieces into biscornus :-). Lately there appeared so many different varieties of biscornues. I made two of them: one is a traditional, the other one has many names. I like two names : a tulip or a lantern biscornu. Here is my lantern, it was stitched on 32ct: I embellished the traditional biscornuit with tassels, they are just right for a Russian design. The biscornu is stitched 1 x 1 on 28 ct. Antique White Linen. To give you an idea of its actual size here is a picture of the biscornu and well-known stork scissors:Here is "A Russian Motif, Spring" Biscornu Set :

If you are interested in buying any of my designs, please contact me.
My e-mail address is in my Profile.

Vee and Marie sent me pictures of my "Purity & Passion" biscornu. Both ladies did a great job on making their biscornues. Aren't their stitching and finishing lovely? Look how creative they were in taking their pictures!
This biscornu was made by Vee:

And this is Marie's biscornu:
Thank you ladies for your work and wonderful pictures of your biscornus.

* * * * * *
I want to show you one more work by my mother. This crotchet shawl I got from my mother a few days ago, just on my birthday. :-) Do you remember I told you what kind of projects my mother likes? Yes, you are right - huge!
Knowing my mother very well I can tell you that that is her own pattern. Will we be able to do something like this when we are 80 years young?

I want to thank Anne R and Theresa for the new awards and today I will break my tradition and pass all the awards I've ever had to the best crafter I've ever known, to the wisest teacher I've ever met to my dear loving mother. :-)
And to finish today's post here are some spring pictures from my garden:
This is a busy bee and that is a Bumble Bee:
But! Have you ever seen a bug like this?
When I saw the bug on my Azaleas I asked a neighbor what bug is that. I was advised to kill it to have a better look at it. Instead I asked the bug to wait a little, brought a camera and took some pictures of it. To my husband I described the bug like " half a Bumble Bee, half a Humming bird , looks like a flying shrimp." We Googled on the bug and found out that it is a Humming bird Moth or Humming bird bug, a rather rare one here.
Thank you for stopping by, special thank you for those who leave comments and send e-mails, this is a great source of inspiration for me!
Happy stitching to everyone!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Hearts" Bourse and more

Our secret project was a great success! My mother asked me to thank everyone for the nice birthday wishes and comments on her works.
Today I will show you some more new designs from my St. Valentine Collection. I wanted to do it yesterday but again Blogger was not too kind to me, I hope it works better tonight.

I added three more pieces to "Hearts" sewing set: "Hearts" Bourse, "Hearts" Tape Measure Cover and "Hearts" Thimble Case.
I have wanted to try these three finishes for such a long time that I decided I'd better try them now or never! :-))It was a great pleasure to make designs for these smalls and then to assemble them.The bourse is not so small as it might look: there is enough space for whole sewing set inside it. Here are some pictures of the bourse when it is closed and open:
Here is "Hearts" Tape Measure Cover:
And here is "Hearts" Thimble Case:
The thimble case has different designs on each side:
And here is what is inside the thimble case:
I am very pleased with how these three pieces turned out. And I will sure make more designs for these finishes. They are so cute and fun to make!
Now the "Hearts" Sewing Set includes 8 items!
If you are interested in buying any of my designs, please contact me.
My e-mail address is in my Profile.

* * * * * *

I also wanted to show a Christmas ornament which I made for February. It is The Prairie Schooler 1996 Santa. I got the leaflet from Angela, my HOE partner. Thank you Angela for the lovely design, I enjoyed stitching it. It was my so-called "car project": I always keep a project in the car to stitch during our trips. I tried to finish this design in a very simple way, no fancy trims or bows this time - PS designs call for something simple, don't they? So I stitched it on hand dyed Aida, 18 ct., made it into a soft hanging ornament with a handle made from the backing fabric and even a couple of jingle bells are tied to the handle with the threads pulled from the Aida. :-))The ornament does not have country or primitive look - I am not good at these styles - but it looks rather old-fashion:











There is no snow for the poor Santa in my yard, only Pop Corn bush is all covered with tiny "snowball":* * * * * * * * *

I want to thank Yana (Яна) for passing me another award. I really appreciate this and traditionally pass it to all my readers: you are my source of inspiration and you are my support.
Thank you everyone for dropping by and leaving comments - I love to read them!

Happy Stitching!

Thank you!

My Dear Blog Friends,
I'd like to thank all of you who congratulated my mother on her 80-th anniversary, thank you for your warm wishes and your kind comments on her works.
We have been keeping this project secret from her as we want to make a pleasant surprise. This weekend my son is coming home from his business trip and we are going to show my mother the post about her and her works, and translate your comments for her. I will also tell her a few words about each of you. I am sure she will be thrilled that so many people congratulated her and saw her works. It is the first show, International show of her works - she will feel like a star! :-)
Thank you!
Спасибо всем моим друзьям по блогу за теплые поздравления моей мамочки с ее юбилеем и за ваши прекрасные, душевные слова о ее работах. Спасибо, девочки!
Now to the second part of this secret project...
To commemorate my mother's birthday and to thank you I created a design which I want to present to you. Probably, it will be an unusual design for most of you. It is based on my memories of the designs which my mother used to stitch years ago. I called the design "A Russian Motif, Spring".
If you would like to get the chart of the design, write an e-mail to me and I will send you the chart in PDF file. My e-mail address is in my Profile.

This offer will last till March, 13 2009!!!!

P.S. for those who are late and missed the offer:
You can purchase "A Russian Motif, Spring" design from me, it is included as the main design into "A Russian Motif, Spring" Biscornu Set. More information and pictures in the next post.
Tomorrow I will post about my new works. Stay tuned!

Happy Stitching to everyone!