Gracious Era and more

Hello my dear friends and readers of my blog, thank you for being patient.
Again it has been a long time since my last post. You are probably tired of reading about my Internet problems and can you imagine how much tired, upset and angry I am because of these never ending problems? A couple of hours ago a cable technician left, they have not replaced the main cable as they had intended to and I am not sure if their "patch work" has fixed the problems. Well, I'd better  start writing  about my cross stitch finishes while the Internet is still working.
"Gracious Era" is finished and is waiting for the frame work now. 

I must say that I've made a few mistakes. You know, I stitched the piece during my trip to Russia and due to poor light on board the planes, in airports and hospitals I mixed up 4 colors, Dark Yellow - Yellow Orange which were used in the big windows on the left, and Pale Yellow - Cream in the cloud to the right from the tree. I noticed this when the picture was almost finished, it was not a great deal to restitch the places but I decided first to complete the picture and then to decide what to do with the mistake. With this kind of pictures it is better to look at them from a distance and when I did this I liked what I saw. My DH, my main critic, said that it is even better , more colors give some more depth to the picture.
One more little thing, I made the picture a little wider. Do you see two little women figures on the left? I kind of like them but they are so close to the edge that they would be covered by a mat.
While stitching faces, some clothes, horses I added some fractional stitches and instead of Back Stitches I mostly used Couching. The most enjoyable part for me was to "make these snowflakes" as I do not mind French Knots, that was something I was looking forward to while stitching the picture.
I have missed my favorite smalls so much that I first treated myself to a little needle book by Just Nan:

After this treat I continued working on my Girly Pincushions.
If you remember I promised to show you one. Well, I've made more than one, some of them will be presented to my friends for their birthdays and Christmas.
When making the pincushions I wanted to check if I still remember how to make roses. My mother taught me to make them years ago.

The last piece of this pretty vintage lace was used for one more round pincushion:

 I over-dyed the ribbon for the rose and made a strawberry scissor fob to match the pincushion.

One more set of pincushions:

I liked the two color scheme, it reminds me of bridal decorations.
I already do not remember who gave me a little vintage doily and said to throw it away if I did not like it. Well, to throw away is very simple, how about to give it a second life?  For the pincushion I used the fabric which can hardly be called traditional for this kind of craft.

Some vintage buttons were used for the pins to embellish the pincushion. I liked how the pincushion turned out and added one more strawberry which looks more girly.

And here is the last pincushion which I want to show to you. Isn't it funny? I have not finished it yet because I am still looking for a better fabric for it. If I do not find what I want, I will leave it as it is.

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To thank my customers and followers of the blog for staying with me, I offer you a complimentary  design which is called "A Russian Motif, Autumn". It is in soft autumn colors and can be used for making different smalls of your choice. It would be nice if you send me pictures of your finished pieces.

The offer will last till November 25. In order to get the design, please e-mail me. My address is in my Profile.Happy Stitching to everyone!
Happy Thanksgiving!