Thursday, May 13, 2010

"Spring" Pillow

 It's again been awhile since I posted last. My only excuse is that worrying about my mother makes me feel low. Her new problem is kidney stones and if her health condition allows,  she might have an operation soon. There are a lot of telephone calls, e-mails so it's hard to concentrate on stitching. There were days when I could make just a couple of stitches.  I mostly worked in the garden and did some other crafts, new stuff challenges me more and helps a little forget my problems.
Well, I worked a little more on my "Spring" designs. Here is what I added to the collection:
 I've made a pillow which can be used like a season decoration or a pin pillow for the big projects - that is what I need right now for my Christmas SAL.
"Spring" Pillow:
To match the pillow I've also made two pincushions .
The first one if I am not mistaken is called a flower pincushion:
 And the second one is a sun flower pincushion:
 There is a little story behind the pincushion. About two years ago when Olga and I had a private SAL, Olga suggested that we should make a sunflower pincushion. ( By the way, Olga is very good at making them and has a tutorial on her blog).  I was busy doing something and promised my friend  to make the pincushion later. OLGA, I did it!!! It only took me 2 years to do this but I've kept my word.
My pincushion is not an exact copy of the sunflower one.  I used "Japanese" petals for my pincushion . Some time ago there were many tutorials in the Internet on making these petals. In Japan  this is kind of folk art, they make amazing things with these petals.  I used my own way to assemble the pincushion. Besides, I could not find a lid at home that can be used for the pincushion :-( . A small plastic cup was used instead.
I think my pincushion looks more like Dahlia rather than Sunflower, does it?
To embellish the pillow and the pincushions I used some vintage buttons and made some pins.
Another project was "Spring" necklace, the picture does not do justice to it. In real life the beads are more beautiful .
 I also made some seasonal flower arrangements:
 
and made some coasters:
If you are interested in buying any of my creations: cross stitch patterns, jewelry, pins, etc., please contact me. My e-mail is in my Profile.

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I worked a little on my Christmas SAL project too:
 I really enjoy stitching it , especially after your lovely comments on my work. Thank you for your support and encouragement.
I've never spoken on cooking before. But today I'd like to tell you about the little kitchen tool we bought that we enjoy so much. About a month ago we bought Ninja Master Prep which blends, chops, mixes. I use it to make kind of fruit drinks or desserts. In the heat that we are already having our "drinks" are indispensable. They are really delicious and help me make my husband to eat more fruit - he's already lost some weight.  I took a picture of one of our drinks. It's made of an orange, apple, some strawberries, cranberries,  cubes of ice  and a little of ice-cream. I sometimes add a carrot - you will never taste it in the drink, some honey or cream. I've  tried different combination of fruit and berries, my favorite is pineapple + orange, my husband loves banana + strawberries. In the picture the straw in the glass is blue - that was my husband's drink.
We have discovered another park here, it is Rose Center, they say the biggest in the USA. It is huge, about 114 acres, to see it all will probably take us some days. We spent about 2 hours there and I took some picture for you.
The roses are just gorgeous, there are so many different colors, sizes, shapes. Next time I will show some more pictures from the park.
Enjoy the pictures:
Thank you for stopping by. Special thank you for those who takes time and leaves me comments - I highly appreciate this.
Have a lovely weekend!