Olenka's Stitches Blog

Back To Stitching

2011-10-18T03:02:00.001-05:00

Dear readers of my blog,
I know the break was a little too long but it was so much needed. When you come back home after a long trip, you need some time to readjusted to a new pace of life. It is not a simple thing I should say. Those of you who went through this once will understand me better. It is really a strange feeling: you are happy to come back home but there is a lot of sadness in your heart that you have left your family and friends...
It was a very nice visit with my family, which was so nicely extended lately. Catching up with my friends and colleagues was also in my plans but I spent most of the time with my mother and, of course, with my granddaughter Julia. The sweet little girl is happily spoiled by her parents and numerous grandparents and grand-grandparents. My DIL and I took lots of pictures of Julia and when I came back home my husband and I spend 4 hours seeing all the pictures and short videos we had taken.
Julia has already made some achievements, her photo won first place in a photo contest among kids of her age and she was awarded with a toy giraffe - the ugliest thing! - my DIL says :-)) .
When Julia was sleeping, DIL and I did some crafting. My DIL taught me macrame knotting and I taught her to sew and knit, and together we made quite a few little things for Julia.

Before I left for home, I made this box for Julia, it is kind of a memory box, where her parents will keep her bracelets from the hospital, her first shirt, her fist toy, something which she likes now and later it will be interesting for both her parents and her to look through these things and remember the time when Julia was a baby.

Olenka's Stitches Designs "Birth Record Sampler"
Julia was born in the year of Rabbit so I put a rabbit in her sampler. It took me a lot of time to find a pretty silver spoon and when I saw this spoon I thought it was just what I wanted.

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

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When I came back home I finished Ellen Maurer-Stroh "Rose Sampler", one of my oldest UFO-s. It was stitched 1x1 on 22 ct. Hardanger. I am quite pleased with how it turned out.

It was always hard to get true colors of this sampler , the second picture gives better presentation of the sampler:

As I did not feel like stitching these long several months, I punished myself and made me frame the finished pieces. For some of the pieces the mats and frames were already bought, for others - I used frames from my stash and slightly painted them to match the pieces better.

"Mary Wigham Sampler", stitched 1x1 on 26 ct. Evenweave

Bucilla "Wedding Sampler", stitched 2x2 jn 32 ct. Evenweave

"Windmill Landscape" for my husband, stitched 2x2 on 28 ct. Evenweave

Mirabilia "Trick Or Treat Fairy" stitched 2x2 on 32 ct. Linen

I think I have started missing cross stitching and in the next post I will show to you something new.

This year we are having extremely high temperatures with almost no rain - drought. Everything and everybody are suffering from it. When I came home, my garden was in a poor condition and we lost a few of our pet chickens, duck and rabbits due to it - needless to say it was a hard time for me...

I have rescued most of my plants and we began to feed wild animals long before a state of emergency was declared in our parish. At first I used plastic containers from ice cream to give water and food to birds and small animal. But when we learned that the heat will last till November I made a few more attractive bird baths and feeders

I always place a few rocks inside the bowls for small birds. In spite of the still continuous drought there appeared some flowers in my garden and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do:

I'd like to thank everyone who kept coming to my blog, left comments, became followers and e-mailed me , I appreciate this.

Happy stitching to everyone and take care!

Exciting News

2011-04-19T16:08:00.003-05:00

I have an excuse for such a long absence from blogging. About a month ago my first granddaughter was born. We had worried so much about DIL's condition and the baby, now when these worries vanished we can feel our hearts filling with special love to our Julia (Юлька).
I arrived in Russia on the day when DIL and the baby were released from hospital and I can already tell you that I've fulfilled the main task of grandparents - the baby is completely spoiled! with our love.

As far as cross stitch is concerned, I should say that I could not stitch during those months of worries, I only pushed myself into doing this but without much success. I turned to other crafts and started renovations of my stitching room which better kept my mind busy.
Worrying is not the best friend of creativity, I managed to finish only one of my desings. Now the Snowman from"Let It Snow!" has got a girl friend:

Olenka's Stitches Designs "Let It Snow! -2"

I wanted to finish my "Rose Sampler" which I started almost two years ago but I coudn't. I stitched a little more than it is in the picture, a couple more hours of stitching and it will be finished.

I started renovations of my stitching room but did not finish the job either. I gave a second life to some old furniture which my husband wanted to get rid of. He was very kind to help me sand it, then I painted, aged and sealed it.

This chest of draws will serve as a great storage for my craft supplies.

The bookshelf's got some changes and will be used for exhibiting my "smalls", collectibles, and books on crafts.

For the computer table I refinished this box:

I also made two pincushions, one is that round one in a wood frame. It turned out rather pretty and I thought of making something simple so I could stick in pins and needles without any fear. Somehow this "simple" pincushion turned into this charming Rat Lariska (крыска Лариска), now she will be guarding my cross stitch treasures in this box.

I was packing for my trip in a great hurry, my cross stitch program was installed in the new laptop with an error and I do not think I can use it here. I only had time to put a few kits into my suitcase. I started one of them here. This is about one month job:

The kit contained Aida 14, I replaced it for Evenweave 25ct. and I stitch the pattern one over one using full crosses.

My DIL is rather good at some crafts. Since my first day here we began to make some blankets and shirts for the baby. Then we switched to knitting baby booties, hats, jackets, skarves, etc. Baby's little things are so pretty and we enjoy making them for our little girl. The picture on the top of the post and this one show the booties we made. I will post some more pictures next time.

I want to thank all my readers for your patience.Thank you for coming to my blog and a special "thank you " for those who finds time to leave comments, I always appreciate this.

Take care and happy stitching to everyone.

Merry Christmas Designs

2010-12-16T03:51:00.001-06:00

Knowing how busy you can be now, I'd like to thank everyone who left comments on my previous post.
I will try to be short today. First I will show you my new designs.
For a long time I have wanted to make a design with lots of snow in it. Why? Because for me it's hard to imagine winter holidays without snow? When it snows, everything is so beautiful, quiet and romantic. Did you notice that even in a blizzard people walk and smile? Well, you might think I love snow too much. :-)) OK, put on a broad smile on your face and let's take a look at what I've done.

When I showed this design to my friend Olga she wondered what I was going to make it into. The easiest way is make an ornament or to frame it. The design fits well a usual photo frame.

But my initial plan was to make a drawstring bag which can be used either for packing a gift or keeping tools and floss necessary for a project.

"Merry Christmas" Drawstring Bag

The bag is reversible without raw edges. If you can see in the picture, there are no seams on the top and bottom of the bag. It took me a little while to figure out how to do it but I am happy with how it turned out.
I also made two ornaments based on this design to show what the design will look like in other classical combination of colors:

"Merry Christmas" Ornaments

If you are interested in buying my designs, please contact me. My e-mail is in my Profile.
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A few days ago I got a Christmas gift from my dear friend Olga from UK. I told her that this is the most beautiful gift I have ever received. Just take a look at these beauties:

Olga stitched and finished the set so beautifully - I just love every little detail! And look, she sent me 2 baby booties!

She knows I will become a grandmother soon and will need lots of booties and blankets... oh my...
Olga, thank you very much for your generous gift, you have spoiled me so much. Hugs!!!
* * * * * *

Thank you for stopping by and take care.

Gracious Era and more

2010-11-25T03:21:00.000-06:00

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.

* * * * *
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!

Elegant In Blue Biscornu

2010-10-13T18:03:00.020-05:00

It has been long since my lat post and I want to thank you for your patience. My Internet was down all summer and TV signal was scrambled too because our provider is working on high speed Internet in our area. Some of our neighbors have changed the provider but we still think that when the work is done, we will get the best possible Internet. Yesterday the Internet was down only a couple of times, I could not post but I already could visit a few blogs. :-)
On the stitching front I have a few finishes to show to you.
First goes a biscornu which I called "Elegant In Blue".

A slightly asymmetrical intricate design makes the biscornu corners look different. A few beads and pins embellish the biscornu so nicely.

I really love the result: the biscornu looks pretty and elegant.

The next design is "Sunflower" Scissor Stand, which is a little addition to "Sunflower" Collection. The stitched band decorates the wood reel and can also be used for parking needles.

I did not feel good in August, you can't do too much while you have to stay in bed. I read a few novels and was making pincushions: you never have enough pincushions! The Girly Pincushions I created look great on my stitching table and as well as on the dressing table if I forget them there. Now I am working on one more pincushion in this style, I will show it in the next post.

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

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You are probably wondering if I finished my Windmill. I did, long ago! Long enough before my husband's birthday. We bought a frame for it and my husband wants to make a mat himself but he hasn't decided on its color yet. So here is the windmill with my new landscape.

And some detail:

I "planted" some tiny flowers in the most modest colors around the windmill and was allowed to leave them there. ;-)
"Gracious Era" is also almost finished : now I am working on the Back Stitches. I need a couple of days more to finish them and to make a snow storm with French Knots.

* * * * * *
On another note... If I ask you if you know what Easter Bunny is. You will, of course, say that it is the character... but I am speaking of other bunnies. These are the bunnies which appear in your yard a little after Easter. You know, people buy a bunny for their kids for fun but after the holiday nobody wants to take care of it and people let the bunny go. You must have heard such stories too.
A little after Easter there appeared a little black and white rabbit in our back yard. We worried about the little creature because we have hawks and owls in our back yard and the rabbit's coat is so well seen from a long distance. Very soon "our" rabbit brought a friend to our yard and they began to eat my plants and brake flowers in beds. I "arrested" the little fellows and put them into a pen till we found a good family to adopt them. Before we found such a family "our" rabbit gave birth to babies.
That is when all my trouble began. Mother-rabbit was a baby herself and she had not gotten enough food and water during her pregnancy so her babies were born very weak and one by one she refused to feed the little ones. I had to become a baby-rabbits sitter and a nurse. Believe me, it was a heart breaking experience to see the babies gone... And that was when I really got sick because of all the stress...
But I have some pictures for you to show. These are my sweet survivors:

They are about 2 months old. The rabbit on the other side of the pen is not the mother - she never comes close to babies. That is Daddy-rabbit, he likes to watch his babies.
I told you this story to ask you for one thing: next time when you or you friends want to buy an Easter Bunny for the kids, consider of buying a toy, please.
* * * * * *
I also want to show you a little gift I got from my dear friend Mylene.
She knows how to make your day! Mylene, thank you so much for the gift, it is so pretty, I just love it!

A few pictures from my garden - enjoy!

Thank you for visiting my blog and staying with me. I enjoy reading your comments and do appreciate your time and effort to do this.
Tonight I am going to visit your blogs - I've missed this a lot!
Happy stitching!

Cheerful Daisies Collection

2010-07-28T02:32:00.000-05:00

Today I am going to break a bloggers' tradition and to tell you about the gifts of my giveaway before one package is received. I have waited long enough but it seems the post office is not in a great hurry to deliver the package. I do hope the package will be received tomorrow or the next day... I do not even want to imagine that it can be lost, I can deal with this later, am I right?
I will tell you about the stitched gifts without saying to which of my winners the gift was sent to. Does it make any sense? I hope it does. Here is the picture of Cheerful Daisies Collection:

Well, there must be one more piece in the picture because the collection actually started from this:

But you might remember in spring I sent this Scissor and Floss Fob to my friend Yoyo who once called yellow daisies "cheerful" ( I know this is also a phrase from a movie). When I was working on the gift, I thought this could be a good name for a collection. Later I asked you about the color of your cheerful daisies. You named blue and pink and red but nobody mentioned my favorite color of the daisies. Maybe that is why I gave away all the stitched models - they are not in my favorite daisies color.
In the pictures you can see that the design changed from piece to piece, so did the colors of the daisies and the fabric on which I stitched them. But one thing remained unchanged : all the pieces are stitched one over one.
Besides the Scissor and Floss Fob the collection has Box Top:

Pincushion:

Needle Book:

And Altoids Tin Top:

When I was stitching these pieces I saw some pretty fabric in the store and made these pincushions for my giveaway winners . I just love these sewing notions!

I also send RAK to one of my friends. I know she stitched "My Rose Garden" Biscornu. This was my first cross stitch design which I created on June 16 two years ago. So I have been designing for two years! To commemorate this date and to make something for my friend I added one more design to My Rose Garden Collection, A Token Of Friendship:

It can also be finished into a bookmark or a floss tag. I turned a pencil box into a sewing notions box:

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

* * * * * * *

I also made some progress on my WIPs.
One of them is The Windmill. I've got a few questions on it. The original design 'Windmill And Poppies' by Durene Jones was published in The World Of Cross Stitching # 141. How am I going to get rid of poppies? Well, have a look, I've almost finished this part.

My other WIP is Gracious Era which I stitch for Christmas SAL which is run by Yoyo.
Before showing the picture of the progress I want to tell the participants of this SAL that I have some news about Yoyo. She is ill at the moment and she is recovering from a disease. I hope she will be back with us soon. Let us continue stitching the projects, she will be happy to see our progress.

And, of course, the picture of my TU SAL:

Some of my friends asked me to show where and how I keep the floss. In the previous post I wrote that I am making some renovation in my stitching room because I got tired of some of the things. Lately I was making floss organizers for projects. I bought one from an Internet store before but I do not quite like it, it takes time to put the floss through the holes. I made a more convenient (for me!) floss organizer :

It can be placed either on the floor at the chair or on the table. I was thinking if to attach a pincushion on it or not and then decided to make another more complicated organizer.
I started with a pincushion, embroidered it

and then added some places to keep a thimble, scissors, laying tools, pins and there is even some place left for a frog - let it rest here and I will be keeping an eye on it ;-)) .

I love how this organizer turned out, it looks like a portable work station.
* * * * * *
I 'd like to thank Smily for an award and traditionally to pass it to all my readers. Come visit Smily's blog, you'll find a lot of interesting things there.

Thank you very much for your visits and your comments, they are all treasured by me.
Happy stitching to everyone!

The Winner(s) Of The Giveaway

2010-06-25T01:25:00.000-05:00

Good morning my dear readers!

It's time to name the winner, rather winners of my Cheerful Daisies giveaway.
But first I want to thank everyone who is the follower of my blog and who entered the giveaway. I was pleased to get to know new stitchers and it was interesting to visit your blogs.
I guess you are eager to learn the result.
Well, I put 41 names in the List Randomizer ( those of you who fulfilled three requirements got three entries and those who did not - got two entries). And the winners are:
1. Mylene
2. Patty
3. Jules.
Ladies I need your addresses, please. You can find my e-mail in Profile.
Besides, two more ladies from the list will get RAK from me. One package is already on the way to its new home, let it be a little surprise for her.
Patti, your comment is so touching that I just can't leave you without a little prize - I need your address too.
Let's hope the rest of my dear readers are lucky next time. :-)

Happy stitching to everyone!

Redwork Scissor Pocket And More

2010-06-14T03:42:00.001-05:00

Firstly, I'd like to thank those of you who comes to my blog and leaves comments, they all are so precious for me. Secondly, my mother is feeling better , a little bit better but it is so good to have some good news from her - thank you very much for your good wishes.
I have been very busy lately: we were preparing for our wedding anniversary and I have started some renovation of my stitching room - I got tired of looking at the same things from day to day and want some changes. And one more piece of good news - my son is getting married in a few days, I spoke with him yesterday, he sounds very happy.
I have been working hard on the stitching front too. Look what I have prepared for you.

I continued working on Redwork collection and made 3 more designs .
Here is Redwork Scissor Pocket, front and back:

Then goes Redwork Scissor Fob:

And the third item is Redwork Altoids Top:

I set myself the task to make the designs look lacy, I hope I have reached the goal.
If you are interested in buying any of my designs, please contact me. My e-mail is in my Profile.
I also made some more designs in Cheerful Daisies. Today I am presenting Cheerful Pink Daisies. I stitched the pattern one over one and decided to finish it into a box:

I am very happy with the result: the box turned out rather cute.
* * * * * *
I also want to ask you what is the color of your cheerful daisies or what flower is cheerful for you.
There have happened so many good events in my life lately that we need to be celebrate them. There is nothing better in the Blogland than a giveaway. So I'd like to invite you to take part in my giveaway. The winner will get Cheerful Daisies in her/his favorite color stitched and finished by me, and some more stitching goodies.
Does this sound good to you? Let's have fun!
In order to participate in this giveaway you must:
1. be the follower of my blog,
2. tell about this giveaway on your blog,
3. leave a comment after this post.
The giveaway will be closed at 12:00 CT, June 24 and the winner will be announced shortly after that.
* * * * * * *
Oh I almost forgot about my SALs.
Here is my TUSAL box, it's growing!

I enjoyed working on my Christmas SAL piece and even thought to stop other projects and to finish it. But my husband told me (again!) how much he would like to have a picture of a windmill. And I really stopped everything and started a windmill for my husband. It would have been great to finish the picture for our anniversary but no way: I had too little time at my disposal and besides the windmill design which I have is not exactly what my husband wants.

As you can see the original is very feminine, I am very sorry but I have to delete these pretty flowers, though I might leave some. But I was asked to make the windmill more prominent.
I will leave you with some more pictures that I took in the Rose center, enjoy them.
Happy stitching to everyone!

"Spring" Pillow

2010-05-13T19:03:00.000-05:00

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.

* * * * * * *
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!

Redwork Biscornu and more

2010-04-21T05:11:00.003-05:00

The weather stays very nice here and I enjoy seeing the flowers blooming in my garden. Every morning I take a cup of tea and go to the swing to enjoy watching the birds and listening to their beautiful songs. Everything is so pretty now... And cross stitch ? - you ask. Well, I stitch but not as much as I would like to.
Today I will show you two new designs, I finished working on them about a week ago but could not find time to post about them.
I got the idea for the Redwork Biscornu in Russia when my friend Natasha and I were in a fabric store. There I saw pretty buttons and thought I must create a design with these buttons. Here is Redwork Biscornu, pretty in red and white:

I will probably keep my Redwork Biscornu with the collection of my red plates, they look great together.

I also made some counting pins and a scissor fob to match Redwork Biscornu:

Another design is called Cheerful Daisies . I wanted to make something for one of my friends to cheer her up a little. She once told me that yellow daisies looked so cheerful... Well, I made Cheerful Daisies Scissor and Floss Fob for her:

If you are interested in buying my designs, beaded fobs or pins, please e-mail me. My address is in my Profile.

After the previous post I was asked to share a secret of sewing up my scissor fobs. I am afraid there is no secret, it's just practice: I have been sewing since I was about 5 years old. If I saw your fob or pillow, I would probably understand better what your problem is. I can give you some tips:
1. your seams must be straight, 2. clip corners before turning the pillow inside out,
3. do not be in a hurry and enjoy what you are doing. :-)
In the picture above I show a side and a corner of the fob. I first Back stitched and then Whip stitched it using one strand of DMC floss.
* * * * * * * *
My Gracious Era has grown a little more:

This is a pretty piece and I enjoy stitching it.
I am a little late for TUSAL report but I want to show my box anyway. I have a good progress on the SAL thanks to making tassels for the biscornu.

I do not know which birds had used my floss spinets but yesterday I found a nest of Cardinals in my Holy bush which I wanted to trim a little. I saw three tiny chicks inside the nest and thought I'd better work on the bush later. Today I noticed Father-bird and Mother - bird come to feed the babies. I was especially happy to see that father-bird also participates in raising the "kids". :-)
* * * * * * * *
I want to thank Holly for passing me two Blog awards. It's a great honor to get them from such a good stitcher. If you have not visited her blog yet, go and have a look at her amazing works http://indystitch.wordpress.com/.
Last week my husband and I twice visited Norton Art Gallery Park. Just a few days ago we found out that we have a rather pretty park not too far from us. At first we dropped at the park to see if it was worth visiting and in a day we came there again armed with two cameras and spent about 4 hours there. On the way back we also " ran" through the gallery just to have an idea of its exhibits, we will sure visit it again later.
I will leave you with the pictures we took in the park, enjoy them.

I treasure your comments, thank you for stopping by.
Happy stitching to everyone!

"Spring" Pinkeep and more

2010-03-31T21:50:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! Today I'd like to show you my new designs which I gave a very simple name "Spring". The story of the design is simple too. For a new project I needed a pincushion which I wanted to put inside the wood box to keep the threaded needles safe, organized and ready for work. Not a bad idea, isn't it? But when I finished stitching the design I did not want to hide it inside the box and made it into a pinkeep, then followed a Berlingot and a Scissor fob. Now I'd like to present you "Spring" sewing set:

Here is "Spring" Pinkeep:
Its pattern can also be finished into a pincushion or an ornament or a framed picture.
"Spring" Berlingot:

I wanted to make a berlingot a long time ago but I did not like the look of its back, I tried to sew it up in a new way and like the back much better now:
"Spring" Scissor Fob finishes the set now but some more designs from this collection will follow:
If you are interested in buying any of my designs, please contact me. My e-mail is in my Profile.
Last November I joined Christmas SAL which was initiated and organized by Yoyo . I liked the idea to stitch something from the stash and set myself a task to finish "Gracious Era" from Dimensions by December this year. I started stitching it in January and this is where I am now:
I must also report on another SAL organized by Yoyo - TUSAL:
My box is almost empty, it's not because I stitched so little. It is because I gave my snippets to wrens who are building nests now. They are so hard working birds and I love to watch them!
Since I posted last I have been awarded Beautiful Blogger Award by
Carol , Michelle, Jules (Julie) and Sunshine Award by Jules (Julie)again. Thank you very much dear ladies, it's a great honor to get awards from you. As I got 4 awards I can nominate about 50 bloggers, right? It's not hard to do. On the right hand side I have a list of my favorite Blogs and I am passing the awards to all of you - you have deserved it! Your blogs are a great course of inspiration for me.
And to finish this post I've got some pictures from my garden.
Firstly, I wanted to show you a picture of a four-petal shamrock. I noticed it while weeding a flower bed. Does this mean that I am lucky or that I must weed my flower beds more often?
Some wild spring flowers for you
Thank you for stopping by and commenting on my blog - I appreciate this.
Happy stitching to everyone!

Lucky Shamrock Biscornu and more

2010-03-15T22:14:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile (again) since my last post... Thank you for still staying with me. I really appreciate your understanding and your patience. I am still getting lots of questions about my mother's state. I am happy to say she is much better now, she can't walk yet but she is exercising hard to strengthen her legs to be able to walk again. We've made lots of changes in our home so as mother can roll her wheel-chair everywhere and can reach the things she needs from the chair. Our biggest remodeling was in the bathroom, we had to widen the doorway and to install a bath tub with a door in it.
I was already back home when this project was finished, my son sent me some pictures to have a look at the new bathroom.
My journey back home was the worst I've ever had - I got a bad food poisoning and still feel not very well. The air fares are rocketing up and the service - down...
Well, on the stitching front... :-)
In Russia I saw an interesting TV show about Ireland and got an idea of designing Shamrock biscornu, "Lucky Shamrock" Biscornu - everybody needs luck nowadays!

While creating the biscornu I also took the inspiration from my old and very attractive plant - Oxalis Triangularis - a "relative " of Shamrock.
I continued working on "Snowflakes" Collection and added 4 more "smalls" to it. These "Snowflakes are a little brighter - spring is already in the air! and just a few beads add some glitter to them. Here is "Snowflakes" Biscornu:
My friend Natasha and I looked for old big wood spools in all the cross stitch stores, and we asked all our friends to help us in our search but with no results unfortunately. Natasha, I made this scissor stand from the spool that I bought in Hobby Lobby:

Next goes "Snowflakes" Tape Measure Cover:

"Snowflakes" Ornament finishes the collection:
"Snowflakes" Sewing Set:

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

I also want to introduce you to my cross stitch assistant, this is my Man'ka, turning 20 this spring. Of course, she is a member of our family but she is sure she is the head of it. Man'ka was stealing my stitching chair all the time!
When mother got better and I could leave home for a couple of hours my friends took me out, to some exhibitions, shopping and just for walks. Sveta and Natasha, Irina, Al'bina and Nina thank you for your support, your friendly "shoulders", which pushed me to life.
Thanks to you I saw the most beautiful ice sculptures. Our city hosted an International Ice Figure Contest. In the picture you can see artists at work:
In the Art gallery there was an antique exhibition from private collections. This fabulous picture is made of semi-precious stone tiles.
We were allowed to look inside the storage room and there we saw this huge Matryoshka, isn't it pretty!
Thank you for visiting my blog, your comments are always treasured.
Happy stitching and take care!

"Holly" Biscornu And Back To Russia

2010-01-18T02:42:00.000-06:00

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all readers of my blog!

So much has happened since my previous post... My mother broke her hip and I had to go back to Russia to take care of her. From the airport I went straight to hospital and since that time I have not had a proper rest yet. I brought mother home from hospital on the third day after the operation. Mother was in a lot of pain before and after the operation and I spent all the time at mother's bed. Now mother is much better though we still have bad days now and then. The way to recovery at her age is going to be very slow and long…

I want to thank all my friends who have supported my family at this difficult time. I do not know what I would do without you.

I have not been blogging for about 2 months, and have been missing it so much. I am looking forward to reading your blogs and seeing your pretty projects. Since next week I hope I am able to visit your blogs on a more regular basis.

Now I will show you my last creations which I did not have time to post about. I started “Holly” collection way back in November and finished two items: biscornu and bourse before I had to leave for Russia.

Here is “Holly” Biscornu , front:
and its back:

I have long wanted to make a biscornu with some Hardanger . In this design the Hardanger stitches help create delicate frost around the Holly and make the biscornu look so festive.
I had to help my customer to make a bourse (you will see her picture a little later) and I made a "Holly" pattern to match the print which I used for lining the bourse:

If you are interested in buying my designs, please send an e-mail to me. My address is in Profile.
* * * * * *
I also wanted to show my Mary Wigham Sampler. Before I left for Russia it looked like this:
Mary has been such a great companion for me during my long flights and during sleepless nights. This is how it looks now:
The Sampler is stitched on 26 count Evenweave , one over one, with DMC floss.
I've made some changes in the pattern and substituted some floss. I stitched initials of my husband and me , and arranged them in the way the Russian women stitched marriage projects in old times ( birds facing each other, a crown, initials).
Before I left for Russia I finished the third ornament for Find The Cure Auction and mailed the ornaments. Unfortunately, I have not heard if my ornaments reached the destination, I can only hope that they did.
My customers finished some of my designs and I'd like to share their pictures with you.
Brenda from London ( no blog) finished "My Rose Garden" Biscornu and she said she enjoyed working on this project. She's done a great job on the biscornu, hasn't she?
Martina made the "Snowflakes" bourse. You can see more pictures on her blog. She was very creative and made a lovely bourse.
She also asked me to invite the readers of my blog to take part in her PIF. I would take part in it myself, if I had less problems with my mother's health. If you have time, please, visit Martina's blog, a young blogger and a young mother. You might find a good friend there!
Brenda and Martina , thank you very much for your pretty pictures and your pretty work.
Before my rip I got some surprise from my dear friends.
First arrived a package from Olga (UK). She stitched an Angel-Stitcher for me! Olga chose a great pattern for me, it has everything that I love in cross stitch and she finished it so nicely! I just love the ruched edge! The Angel will always sit on my stitching table. Thank you very much for your gift Olga!

The second package was from Mylene, another very pleasant surprise!
I have never seen a more pretty design with Russian dolls Matryoshkas. They are so cheerful, I always smile when look at them. Mylene is so good at making pinkeeps!
I am very happy to have this wonderful gift from you Mylene.
Sorry, no flowers' pictures for you today. I want to show some landscape pictures:
of my home when I left it:
and pictures of my home in Russia when I came here:

I hope you stay safe and warm in these cold winter days.
Thank you for visiting my blog. Your comments are always treasured by me.
Happy Stitching to everyone!

Let It Snow!

2009-11-24T02:16:00.000-06:00

It is getting rather cool here, of course, not so cool as it might snow but cool enough to realize that soon we will celebrate Christmas and New Year and we must be ready for these holidays.
I made some winter designs and you will see some of them today.
One of my new designs is called "Let It Snow!" I finished it off as a pinkeep, the design will also look nice as an ornament or a pincushion:One more finish is this Bourse. I have wanted to make a bourse in winter colors for a long time, when I saw this fabric in the store I thought that was just what I needed. The bourse looks full, doesn't it? Let's open it and see what is there inside .
This is a new Sewing Set called "Snowflakes", it is not complete yet, two more items will be added soon. Today I present you 4 items from the set:
This is what "Snowflake" Bourse looks like inside:Next goes "Snowflakes" Scissor Fob, front:and back:
This is "Snowflakes" Floss Fob or Tag, front:
and back:And this is a little "Snoflakes" Needlework Case, front:
back:
And this is what the needlework case looks like when it is open:
I also made a beaded Scissor fob which I called "First Frost":

If you are interested in buying any of my designs , please contact me through an e-mail. My address is in the profile.
* * * * * *
Last month I did not posted a picture of ORT jar for TUSAL. I just came home from my trip and did not do much stitching. Now I can see that pretty many new snips were added and my jar or box is almost full.
In the previous post I showed you some pictures from my trip and a picture of an ancient cross stitch from the museum. And I also told you that I saw some items there and could not figure out the technique in which they were made. Michelle supposed that it could be Ukrainean Merezhkas. I guess this is something different, have a look at these pictures:
Do you have any idea about the techniques?
I also promise to show the pictures of the kittens who frequent our yard. We call them Tiger and Panther. Mother cat doesn't visit them but she taught them not to trust people. When they are hungry they come to us to beg for food but they do not allow to pat them. :-(It's very Halloween-ish, isn't it?

I made them a little tassel to play with, they tore it to pieces in no time!
Some autumn flowers for you:

Thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog. I appreciate this , read all your comments with great interest and try to visit your blogs too.
Happy stitching to everyone!

"Pumpkins" Needlework Case, Biscornu and Fob

2009-11-05T22:40:00.000-06:00

Oh, it has been so long since I posted last. It's really hard to go back to every day routine, it just takes some time to get used to things which we normally do not notice. And one more important thing happened during this long time of silence - I became a multi-kid-ttens mom. I will tell you about them next time and will take some pictures of my kid-ttens, could not take a single good picture of them because they are wild!
If I did not post, that does not mean that I did not work. I've prepared something to show to you today.
I continued working on "Pumpkins" designs and created the needlework case, scissor fob. I also made some changes in the biscornu pattern and made the back side for it.
Here is "Pumpkins" collection I have been working on.
It looks like a pumpkin patch, doesn't it? I do not know how about you but I love pumpkins! No, not to eat! I love to look at them. No matter how big or small they are - they always make me smile - so cheerful they are! Oh, well, back to "Pumpkins" collection.
This is how "Pumpkins" Biscornu look now:It has two sides and I made a few pins to embellish the biscornu.
Then goes "Pumpkins" Scissor Fob:
Last but not least - "Pumpkins"Needlework Case, its front:
and its back:
It took me a long time to finish it because I could not find the right fabric, ribbon, buttons. After lots of thinking I made the best with what I had. This is the inside of the case:
"Pumpkins" Set includes everything a stitcher needs to work on a project:
If you are interested in buying any of my designs, please contact me. My e-mail is in my Profile.
* * * * * *
If you remember in my previous post I promised a prize for a stitcher who first sends me pictures of the finished "Pumpkins" biscornu. A few days ago Mylene sent me pictures of her work. She made a wonderful job on it, didn't she?
I sent "Pumpkins" beaded fob to Mylene and I also made these pins for her biscornu. Thank you for your pretty work, Mylene!* ** * * *
I made some new beaded scissor fobs, from left to right:
Black Cat, Black Sheep and Frog scissor fobs.
You can also place an order for fobs with me. My e-mail is in my Profile.
* * * * * *
Last time I promised to show you some picture from my trip.
In my town people like to go for walks. The next day when I arrived home my son and his girl friend took me to the Central Park. Here are some pictures from the park. Water always attracts people, it is so tranquil to walk and to look at the water waves and listen to their soft sound.

I also like pretty clouds, especially at sunset...
In the Central Park there is our local History Museum. I took very many pictures of needlework exhibits, so many that I had to change the batteries in my camera.
Most of the works exhibited there are cross stitch, some works have some specialty stitches or crochet lace. But there were some needlework pieces made in the technique unknown for me. They might be kind of hand weaving.
For today I chose a picture of a cross stitch work, I guess it is about 200 years old. What is interesting about these old pieces is that the crosses are rather big and they were not crossed in the same direction.
If this kind of pictures are of any interest for you, let me know please and I will show you some more pictures next time.
Traditionally I finish the post with a flower picture, I took it during the walk in the Central Park.
I want to thank everyone who leaves comments and sends e-mails to me, thank you for your time and kind words. This kind of feedback is so important for me.
Hugs and Happy stitching to you!

Home Sweet Home

2009-10-10T15:59:00.000-05:00

Home sweet home... Well, it's almost two weeks since I came back home and have been fighting jet lag since then. I think most of you will agree with me that when you go back home, the trips do not seem so long and boring especially if you meet pleasant people. Talks helped to make long flights shorter but they did not put too much stitches into Mary Wigham sampler. Next time I will show you my progress on the sampler, now I have so many other things to blog about.
* * * * *
During my stay with the family I could find some time for meeting with my friends, cross stitching, designing and even for blogging a little. If you remember in my first post from Russia, I posted some pictures of my home town and asked you if you could say what part of Russia I am from. I got only one answer to my question. But what an answer it was!
It turned out that H. ( she does not have a blog yet) lives in my home town! And, of course we met ( not once) and exchanged e-mails and telephone calls. We used to live so close to each other for such a long time, we have so much in common but our lives were going parallel to each other. Thanks to my blog we met, at last!
The new designs "Sunflowers" were inspired by H. 's personality.There are already three items in this collection but I can't show them all in one picture because two first items I gave as tokens of our friendship to my new friend. The collection started with this pinkeep:
then followed the Zigouigoui:
and the scissor fob:All three "smalls" can be used as seasonal ornaments, place them somewhere at your computer table, in the kitchen or in your car - they will sure bring a smile on your face.

The camera does not do justice to the pieces - the weather has been so rainy here. The colors are more true to life in the scissor fob pictures. I will replace the pictures when I get better light conditions.

The design for this ornament was inspired by Quaker patterns. At first I wanted to make it blue to match the "Snowflake" ornaments which I had made before but being so far from my stitching room I could not find the right shade of Blue and stitched the ornament in Red. To my mind it looks very festive in this color:
All the "smalls" that I designed and stitched in Russia stayed there. I gave them to my friends; and my mother loved this ornament - now it is in her room.
If you are interested in buying any of my designs, please contact me.
My e-mail address is in my Profile.
* * * * *
Lately I've made some beaded Scissor Fobs and matching Count Needles. The fob collection which you see in the picture is called Autumn Colors. It includes (from left to right):
"Autumn Leaves" - first two fobs; "Autumn Colors" - next three fobs; "Pumpkin" -the sixth fob; "Halloween" - last two fobs.
You can place an order the fobs and count needles with me. Send an e-mail to me please.
* * * * *
Now to the fun part :-)....
My little frog Froggy is willingly helping me with some more designs.
I'd like to thank my customers and followers of my blog for staying with me.
This is also a good chance for the followers to come out of hiding and say "Hi" :-) . This "Halloween" design is a gift for you. The offer will last till October 24.

The first stitcher who will finish the design as charted and send me pictures of the completely finished project (an ornament, flatfold, pillow, etc.), will get a beaded scissor fob as a reward from me.
In order to get "Halloween" design e-mail me, my address is in my Profile.

* * * * *
"Pumpkins" Biscornu is a complimentary design with purchasing any of my designs in October. The first stitcher, who will finish the design as charted and send me pictures of the complete biscornu, will get a beaded scissor fob as a reward from me.
* * * * *
I also want to show a gift which I recieved from hohla , Olga . Back in April she had a Blogaoniversary give away and I was one of the lucky winners. Look at what I got.
Olga designed and made this very pretty scissor pocket. She is very talented!
The fabric which you see in the picture is hand dyed by her too. I am going to stitch something very special on it.
In the pictures you can see the extras which hohla also sent for me.
Olga, thank you very much for your generous gift, I love them all!

I'd also want to thank Violette for passing me an award. It's a great honor to receive it from this amazing stitcher and such a great artist. I love Violette 's
water-colors very much.
Oh, I know, this is a long post. here are some wild flowers for you to enjoy.
I will show you pictures from my trip in my next post.
Stay tuned!Happy stitching to everyone!

Back Home!!!

2009-09-29T19:17:00.000-05:00

Today I am taking a trip back home. Time flies and two months have passed like one day.
This time was filled with with so many wonderful and unforgotable meetings with my family, friends and colleagues.
I am bringing lots of pictures, new designs and, of course, a lot of pleasant impressions. I will show you pictures and designs later, when I come back home.
Today just a few pictures, I hope you enjoy them.
My Marry grew a little more. You can see that she had been studying Russian crafts and here she is posing with her new friends.My TUSAL jar got some more stuff and looks pretty, doesn't it?I'd like to thank all my readers and followers who still keep coming to my blog. I miss "real blogging" very much and I know I have a lot to catch up with and I am looking forward to visiting your blogs again.
Happy stitching to everyone!
My next post will already be from home :-) .

My First Post From Russia

2009-08-29T20:59:00.000-05:00

My dear friends and readers of my blog,
I want to thank you for the good wishes you sent to me and my mother. We both appreciate this. I promise to answer all e-mails I got from you in a couple of days.

Well, my trip was rather long, about 40 long hours, with three connection flights. One hour delay due to technical reasons was such "a sweet addition" to all the worries I had. The only entertainment I had during the trip was Mary Wigham's Sampler. Mary behaved very well, no frogs visited us! You can see the progress on the sampler a little below.
My mother is doing much better now, actually she already felt better when she learned that I was coming. :-) We had appointments with some doctors and changed her medications - all these brought some good results. I also want to thank my friends who gave me geat advice on taking care of elderly people.
It took me some time to get my laptop hooked up here. I have to share the Internet with my son that is why I can visit only 2-3 blogs a day.
On the stitching front:I made a birthday gift for one of my friends and colleagues. She visited my blog and among the designs she loved was "Hearts" Sewing Set. I bought a box for her and embellished its top with "Hearts" design which includes some specialty stitches and beads. ( If you do not like specialty stitches and beads, there is always an option to put simple crosses instead).
This design can also be made into an ornament.
If you are interested in buying my designs, please contact me. My e-mail is in my Profile.
* * * * *And here is my progress on M. Wigham's Sampler:I enjoy stitching it very much. And while I am here, so far from home and my stitching room this kind of stitching is just what I can do best. Cross stitch is not so popular in Russia. And though there are many cross stitch stores here they mostly sell charts of pictures and cross stitch kits with Aida.
Two years ago I bought a kit here and when my husband had to leave for home and I had to stay here for some more time to finish our paper work, I stitched this still life twice: the first picture went to my father - I never thought my father would like a cross stitch picture but he did! I stitched one more picture and my friend asked for it. It took me 15 days to stitch them both and every time I intended to present it to my husband but it never happened. Maybe one day I will stitch it again :-)) .I am very late with my TUSAL report - I am so sorry. Here is my new container for this important SAL:I also want to show some pictures which I took during walks in my native town:
This is one of the needlework exhibits in our History museum. I took some more pictures of cross stitch, crochet and needlework exhibits. But maybe it's better to show them in my next post.

The museum also has a rich collection of butterflies, crystals, animals and fish, etc.
Traditionally I finish the post with a flower picture. I took a picture of these wild flowers during a walk in the forest last Friday.

I wonder if you can guess which part of Russia I am from.
Happy stitching to everyone!

"Strawberries" Biscornu and more...

2009-07-30T20:05:00.000-05:00

I promised to make "Strawberries " Biscornu design a little while ago and I also intended to try different styles in my "Strawberries" Collection.
Today I am ready to show two designs, they again look like a little set:"Strawberries" Biscornu:And "Strawberries" Scissor Fob. I thought it is a good idea to make the fob in the form of a strawberry:Some more items in this style will follow later.
If you are interested in buying any of my designs, please contact me.
My e-mail is in my Profile.
* * * * * *
One more finish, this is "Flowers Of Olde" by "With My Needle". I stitched it last summer and remember I enjoyed working on it very much. The design has some specialty stitches and over one stitching. Now I finished it into a pinkeep - I needed a birthday gift for someone :-).

Now on a different note...
My mother is not feeling well and is missing me badly so this coming Monday I am flying to Russia. I do not know yet how long I am going to stay there, it can be two months or more...
I am taking a laptop with me, though I do not like laptops, but it will help me to stay connected with all of you and I can continue working with my customers and visiting your Blogs.
Thank you for stopping by. Your comments are always appreciated.
Stay well and happy stitching to everyone.
Some pictures of the flowers for you and I am back to packing.

Strawberries, Queens Of Berries Huck Towel

2009-07-24T01:40:00.000-05:00

I made "Strawberries" design for Huck towels produced by Charles Craft. The idea to stitches strawberries on this kind of towels belongs to Yoyo, she loves to stitch towels for herself and as Christmas presents for her loved ones.
I quite agree with her and Carla that a stitched towel or a jar cover or something else useful can be a great gift.I've already made some more designs for towels with another topic ( guess what?) because I really like how my kitchen and dining room look now with just a few stitchy things from my "Strawberries" Kitchen Set.
Back to the towel, here is a picture of it hanging on the stove:
I finished the towel with some checkered fabric and lace to make it look part of the Kitchen Set (2 towels, a bread cover, a jar cover):
If you are interested in buying any of my designs, please contact me.

My e-mail is in my Profile.

I stitched some more on MW sampler, I enjoy working on this sampler so much!
I try not to think about the mistakes in the pattern, I more think how the young girl managed to make up this big sampler without a computer or any cross stitch software - it's just amazing!
I joined one more SAL, this new SAL does not have any dead lines - it is stress free. The head girl is very hospitable and the SAL group is so pleasant. Well, I am speaking of TUSAL . Once a little glass box appeared on my stitching table and I thought that then I had to join that fun SAL and put my first floss snippets into the box. Here is what I created during the past month:
After the heat which we had this summer there are not many blooming flowers in the garden. I will show you only one flower picture, I love its color.
Today I saw a very big turtle in the garden, it was hot and the turtle was breathing so heavily. I gave her some cucumber and water and she drank some water! I've never seen them drinking before. I went home to take a camera and when I came back - there was no turtle anywhere! And we always think that turtles are very slow - mine was not!
And still I have some more pictures from the garden, look who visited us tonight:She was not alone, there was a baby raccoon with her! Look how shy it is!
Thank you for stopping by! Your comments are always appreciated!
Happy stitching to everyone!

"Strawberries, Queens Of Berries" Breadcover and More

2009-07-12T01:07:00.000-05:00

Today I'd like to show you some more "Strawberries, Queens Of Berries" designs.
I promissed to show some new finishes for me. They are not new for you, many of you like to stitch these things and some of you are stitching them now.
I made a"Strawberries, Queens Of Berries" Kitchen Set which includes a jar cover, towel and breadcover.
For a long time I've wanted to make a jam jar cover. I remember my grandmother's jars looked so lovely with the white caps on them. My jar cover is a little more complicated than my grandmother's but I used almost the same kind of cord to wrap around the jar neck. :-)

Last year I bought several grab bags and in one of them there was a Charles Craft towel. I can't say that I was happy to see the towel in the grab bag and was thinking how to get rid of it.
The towel a year later:

Well, I love it now!

You can go to Yoyo blog and see her towel with my design. For stitching the tendrils she used Whipped Backstitch which made the tendrils look so real!

And one more piece in "Strawberries" Kitchen Set - a Breadcover. I made designs for two opposite corners:

It took a little longer to stitch and finish the towel and the breadcover because they must have a neat back and must able to withstand multiple washing.
The back is not perfect but very close to it. If you want to see a perfect back, you must go to blogs of Brazilian girls, they are so good at stitching towels!

Now I am working on "Strawberries" design for Charles Craft Huck Towels - the idea of which belongs to Yoyo. "Strawberries" Biscornu will go next.

If you are interested in buying any of my designs, please contact me.

My e-mail is in my Profile.

I stitched a little more on Mary Wigham's sampler. It is my car project and the sampler goes with me wherever we go. Everything I need for stitching is in this basket. In the picture you can also see my palette for the sampler.

I wanted very much to keep White in my Palette, I like White on White but it did not show up on my fabric. I frogged the white motif and restitched it in Antique Mauve, now I am quite happy with the substitution.Some pictures of Lilies, they are blooming in my garden now.
I want to thank everyone who left comments on the previous post.

Special, huge thank you to my friends for their support and understanding. Hugs,

Olenka's Stitches

"Strawberries, Queens Of Berries" Collection

2009-06-23T11:24:00.000-05:00

I love all kinds of berries but strawberries have always been my favorites, they are like queens of berries for me. Today I will show you my new collection which is called "Strawberries, Queens Of Berries".I finished my "Strawberries" into a pinkeep and a framed picture:
After taking pictures the pinkeep was put into an envelope and now it is on its way to a new home. The framed picture is in my stitching room.
I plan to continue working on this collection and try to make "Strawberries" designs in different styles and I will make a biscornu and also try some new (for me) finishes. Some of the designs are already done, I only have to stitch them.
If you are interested in buying my designs, please, contact me.
My e-mail is in my Profile.
Now have a look at what I made for my husband for Father's Day. Not long ago my dear friend Mylene sent me Cross Stitcher # 212. When I was first browsing it I knew that one design was a must for me.

It is "Lighthouse" by Joan Elliott.
I enlarged it a little and added a boat and some-gulls. Now the picture sits on my husband's desk and reminds him that it is high time for us to go to the sea.

Now on so many blogs we can see WIPs of Mary Wigham Sampler, you can find more detail here - Needleprint. I have wanted to stitch a Quaker sampler for a long time and seing how pretty Mary's sampler is, I could not resist the temptation and started working on it last Sunday.

As you can see I am very much behind the main group, besides I do not have much free time. I decided to steadily stitch on the sampler when I find some time and at my own pace. I am stitching the sampler 1 x 1 on 26 count of unknown fabric ( got it in a grab bag) , the sampler is going to be less than 12" x 12". I reduced the number of floss colors and on my WIP it is seen that I started some motives just to see how well the colors go together. After I took the picture I frogged the stitching in white.
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I 've got an award! Claudia from casa cuori colori (if you have not visited her blog yet, you must do it, Claudia and her friends are so creative!) is passing "From Russia with Love" award to me:
Thank you very much Claudia, it's a great honor to get this award from you. I am passing this link of friendship in no particular order to:
Hohla Bliss Dany Yoyo Lia. My heartest congratulations ladies!
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I also want to thank you Mylene for this sweet card which we received just on the day of our wedding anniversary. It was such a pleasant surprise, Mylene, thank you!
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Well, on a quite different note...
To celebrate our anniversary I was going to make a giveaway, another gift design. But when I was working on, I found out that my design which I dedicated to my Mother's 80-th birthday, a gift design for a limited time, was abused. Now I am too too much upset to think about giveaways... I will, probably, never want to make another "free" design.
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Some pictures from the garden:

This is our Master Gardener, Friendic (Подружка - ru).

Thank you for visiting my blog, your comments and e-mails are always treasured and appreciated!

Happy stitching!

My Wedding Sampler

2009-06-06T18:21:00.001-05:00

I was not going to stitch a wedding sampler but after we made some renovations in our bedroom we thought that we needed a picture for above the chest of drawers. And the picture must be neither too big nor too small, it can be square or sideways rectangular and ... . So I looked through all my stash and found Bucilla wedding sampler, I do not even remember how it made its way into my stash! But it was not a bad find! I substitued some colors of floss and beads, charted new words for its center. After the personification I like the sampler, my husband likes it too. Now he is glueing the frame for the sampler: we could not find the frame we liked and we decided we would make one ourselves.

I have some more finishes to show today.

So many bloggers stitched "Petites Lettres Rouges" sampler which Alma Allen, Blackbird Designs, offered free on her site. I especially liked the idea of dedicating the work to loved ones. I dedicated the sampler to my mother, made it into a sewing organizer and there I will be keeping some of the tools that my mother gave me. I stitched the sampler one over one and it is rather small but I turned it into a big piece - an organizer with many folds, pockets and other hiding places for notions, floss and charts. I hope it is convenient for trips, it can fit all necessary things for a few small project. I stitched a couple of hearts, it's clear what they symbolize and I stitched a bird - not very much sure what birds mean in samplers, probably, happiness or something else good, right? Anyway, my mother likes birds. And here is the organizer:

One more finish is "Rose", freeby by Niky from Niky's creations. This sweet design is also stitched one over one and I made it into a much smaller organizer ( for shorter trips ;-)) ).
Here I put my initials in the upper coner in front and stitched the funny bird on the back.
Here is the organizer inside and also beaded fobs made for the scissors for both organizers: I finished one more ornament for "Stitching for a Cure" project. It's Breast Cancer Awareness free design by Romy in Austria, Traditions with a Future.
Lia from Brazil and Mylene from the Netherlands stitched my design "A Russian Motif, Spring" and send me pictures of their lovely works. Lia made her ever first pinkeep and Mylene stitched 3 !!!biscornus:

Thank you dear friends for your wonderful work, I am pleased and honored to see my designs stitched by you. Huge hugs to both of you.
And at last some pictures from our garden (for those who are still here):

Does it look like a duck?
Thank you for stopping by, your comments are always treasured and appreciated. :-)

Have a great Sunday and happy stitching!

"Wisteria" designs and more...

2009-05-10T23:33:00.000-05:00

The last two weeks were rather hectic here , besides our Internet did not work properly - now I am behind in reading the blogs. I want to thank those who left wonderful comments on my last post, I will visit your blogs in the next couple of days.

On the stitching front - there was not much time for stitching but I have something to show to you today.

First, I worked on "Wisteria" designs more and made two "Wisteria" Scissor Fobs:

I am pleased with how the fobs turned out and it seems the biscornu looks much happier now.

I participate in Christmas Challenge and decided to make my own design for this month. Here is "Christmas Lantern" Ornament :

If you are interested in buying my designs, please send an e-mail to me. My address is in my Profile

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I have not shown my progress on EMS "Rose Sampler" for a long time. I did not forget about it and keep on stitching on it from time to time.

I have not shown pictures of my dolls for a long time either. I played with two more dolls lately. Unfortunately, I do not know their designers and the names of the dolls are given by me. This one is Annabell, she got a new hair-do and new flowers for the hat and dress.

This is Monique, I also worked on her hair-do a little, still too much hair to my taste, lol

Annabell and Monique are sending "Hello" to their Italian friends from this blog http://passionevera.blogspot.com/2009/02/amici-per-sempre.html .

I was asked not to post new pitures of bugs and to show more flowers. Fine with me as I do not like bugs so much either. I prepared some pictures for you, they can be called "Tears Of Spring" or "A Garden In Red And White" :-)) .

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Thank you for stopping by. Happy stitching to everyone!

Wisteria Designs

2009-04-22T02:10:00.001-05:00

After hard work on "Hearts" Sewing Set I wanted to take a few days off and to read a book and to stitch a little, something from my stash, something by Just Nan to be exact. But everything went a little different.

I started stitching a design but it was not a Just Nan and before I finished stitching it I was asked to make a design with Wisteria (Глициния - ru). Wisteria was very pretty this year here but it did not bloom long : heavy rains and cold killed the blossoms. So I had to look through my last year pictures for some inspiration and here is what I have designed: a little sampler/picture and a biscornu:

"Wisteria" Sampler/ Picture and "Wisteria " Biscornu

I tried to make the picture look delicate like a watercolor and the biscornu is a little brighter with some sparkle.

"Wisteria" Biscornu has Butterfly and Bee sides:

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

And here is what I have stitchinged from my stash:

This is "Lavender Luminescence" by The Sweetheart Tree.

I also finished an ornament for Donna project "Stitching For A Cure":

You, probably, noticed that all my stitching is in purple this time but I did not plan this. Psychology can explain this, well I know what it means.

I also want to thank Yoyo for passing an award to me, it's a great honor to receive it from you. I really appreciate this.

And traditionally some garden pictures for you:

And again a bug... Why do they keep coming to my garden?!

I thought it is a leaf on the fence, when I realized that it is not, I again asked the bug to wait a second, brought my camera and took some pictures of it.

Thank you very much for your comments, it's a pleasure to read them.

Happy stitching to everyone!

"Hearts" Needlebook-PInkeep and more

2009-03-26T16:07:00.000-05:00

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!

Hearts" Bourse and more

2009-03-06T20:42:00.000-06:00

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.

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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!

2009-03-06T01:38:00.000-06:00

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!

Happy Birthday to My Dear Mother!!!

2009-02-17T22:45:00.000-06:00

Today is my mother's 80-th birthday anniversary!
And today's post is devoted to my mother and her cross stitch. I hope it is interesting for you to see what kind of designs stitchers stitched many years ago, what materials and flosses they used.
As long as I remember my mother her hands have never been idle: all the time she was doing something: either sewing, knitting, crocheting, cross stitching or embroidering. When my mother was much younger, she did a lot of cross stitching and embroidery, and her pretty works created a special, very warm atmosphere in our home. Mother decorated our home with her pretty doilies, table cloths, curtains, pillows, oh, and lots of other pretty things . But I think most of all she enjoyed stitching pictures, I mean big pictures! Two of her cross stitched pictures are now hanging in our home.
This one is called "The Castle", it's my favorite. It was stitched three over three on the fabric which is usually used for bedding . If you look at the picture closely you will see how many blended colors were used here. At the time when my mother cross stitched, stitchers widely used two or three different colors for blending.

The other picture is called "Alyenushka", its pattern is based on the picture by a Russian painter V. Vasnetsov. I think the picture was stitched before I was born. Now stitchers "age" their fabric, this picture has aged in a natural way.

Here is one more picture which is older than me. At first mother made it into a newspaper holder, it was kind of a pocket hanging on the wall into which you could put a newspaper. When my son was born, mother made it into a lovely pillow for him. When I brought this piece here I made it into a pillow again. It is like a third life for this piece.

One more piece, the oldest one, it dates back to 1940-s . It is a table cloth which is already falling apart . But I love the pattern so much that I want to make a chart and reproduce this table cloth.

I hope you enjoyed seing my mothers' works.

С Днем Рождения, Мамочка!!!

Мы тебя любим!

St Valentine's Stitching

2009-02-14T20:09:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone is having a wonderful St. Valentine's Day.

Today I will not write too much, I will just show you pictures of my new St. Valentine designs.

I made a sewing set called "Hearts" which includes: a pincusion, a triangle scissors case, a scissors fob, a scissors stand and last but not least a biscornu.

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

And I'd like to show you some more pictures of my daffodils. I have a variety of them in colors, sized and forms and love them all!

Some more little flowers in St. Valentine's colors:

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In my previous post I showed a doll from my doll collection. My friend Passione vera, who is also interested in dolls, has a nice collection of lovely dolls, you can go and have a look at them here: http://passionevera.blogspot.com/2009/02/amici-per-sempre.html . Today one more doll, Irene or Irishka (Иришка) in Russian, is sending her hello and love to her little friends in Italy.

Unfortunately, I do not know anything about this doll. But I love her even if she does not have any papers, she is pretty , isn't she?
* * * * * *
I also want to thank Yana from http://lovekrestik.blogspot.com/ for giving me an award. I am so sorry that I can't pass it to 5 bloggers because I love much more blogs - look at my list of favorite blogs! It would be too stressful to choose only 5 of them, so I am passing it to everyone!

* * * * * * *

I want to thank all my friends who left comments on my work, sent e-mails to me. Thank you very much for your kind words and precious advice. I really appreciate this!

I also want to say that in a few days my mother is having her 80-year anniversary, so the next post will be devoted to her. Stay tuned!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

St. Valentine Biscornu and more

2009-01-31T13:53:00.000-06:00

Dear readers and visitors,

I want to thank you for your comments on my works and e-mails you sent to me. I read all the comments very attentively because your opinion is very important to me. And a great thank you for those who bought my designs, I am very pleased to know that you enjoy stitching my designs.

Today I will show you my new design and some pictures of one of my designs stitched by Sally.

Let's start with a new design first.

Lately I read some history and legends about the origin of St. Valentine's Day, so sweet and pretty stories. It is said that red and white colors are symbolic colors of St. Valentine's Day, red means passion and white - purity. After reading all these stories I got an idea to make a design for a biscornu called"Purity & Passion".

Here it is its front:

and its back:

And here are some wonderful pictures which Sally sent to me. She stitched two designs "Hearts and Snowflakes" Biscornu and Icicle ornament. In the picture you can see how pretty her stitching and finishing are! I was pleased to learn that she enjoyed stitching my designs and like the result. Sally, thank you for the pictures and your great job.

If you want to see more pictures of my designs and other Sally's fabulous pieces, will you visit http://stitchingplace.blogspot.com/.

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

* * * * * *

For those who are still here I will show an ornament which I finished this month. I found it in the book "100 Cross-stitch Christmas Ornaments", the design is called "Gilded Noel". I like how it turned out and will probably make another one for myself : this ornament was already presented to one of our friends.

These days I have been busy organizing and decorating my stitching room. Here is the picture of a shelf with some of my collectible pincushions and dolls.

The doll in the blue dress is Lucinda by Madame Alexander. She already has "friends", Marsha and Lizan'ka, in Italy and she is sending "Hello" to them ;-)). The other doll, the clown, is of unknown origin, I know neither its name nor the name of the designer. :-( I am still "playing" with my dolls trying to find out their names and trying to bring them in order.

Lucinda and her umbrella:

(For those who are interested in making an umbrella,I do not think it is hard to do the umbrella for a doll, look at the picture.)* * * * * * *

I also want to thank Donna for an award she gave me, it's a great honor to get it from this wonderful woman.

Do you remember Donna is organizing an ornament auction to help cancer patients? You still have time to join her group and make a few ornaments for this noble deed. Thank you Donna for doing this for us.

Have a nice weekend and happy stitching to everyone!

"The Lace Of Love"...

2009-01-19T23:41:00.000-06:00

Wow! I really have not been posting for a rather long time and made my friends worry. I am so sorry. But sometimes it takes so much time to publish a post - there is no connection with Blogger. Just now I tried to save a draft and got "Could not contact Blogger.com. Saving and publishing may fail." And I did lose a couple of posts because of this reason. Does anybody else have the same problems?

I have been designing for St.Valentine's Day and today I can show a new design called "The Lace Of Love" . I made it into a little pillow:

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

* * * * * * *

If you remember I have already shown the dragon "Stretch" by T.Wentzler which I stitched for my husband but I have not shown what I made it into yet. My husband wanted a box, you know, men also need trinket boxes to keep their treasures, like coins, stamps, etc. This pattern by Elizabeth's Designs I stitched about a year ago and could not decide what to finish it into. I made some substitutions and finished "Betsy's Butterfly" into a box which was presented to one of our friends.

In the comments on the previous post Nataliya supposed that my favorite finish is a biscornu.

I guess I've already answered the question by my post today. I like biscornus and I love designing them, there is a lot of Geometry in them. But I really love embellishing wood boxes.

I was designing and stitching biscornus to make a biscornu basket to decorate the dining room. Here is my basket:

I found some pictures of the boxes that I have not shown to you yet, I will include some of them into my next post. Today I want to finish the post by my first Daffodil and my favorite Pansies. Aren't they gorgeous?

* * * * * *

I want to thank s crap, quilt and stitch, Cindy F. and

Erna for awarding my blog. Thank you ladies!

Thank you for stopping by and leaving your comments.

Happy stitching !

Some More Christmas Finishes

2008-12-26T20:38:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Christmas filled with moments to treasure...

Well, I have a number of finishes to show to you tonight. It's hard to decide what to begin with, maybe with my favorite designer, Just Nan.

I finished stitching "Peace" by Just Nan and already had it framed. I only forgot to take some pictures of the sampler before framing.

Another design which is called "Christmas Rose" was finished a little while ago but if you look at the pictures attentively, you will notice that these two designs have the same roses and snowflakes - they are good companions. So now they are together:

* * * * * * *

And I also want to show you some of my new designs which I finished a couple of days ago. I continued working on "Christmas Ornaments"and created two more designs which were made into a box top and an Icicle ornament.

"Love" Box Top:

"LOVE" Icicle ornament -it's a little too hard to take good pictures of these Icicles because of their shape. Here is best of what I could do:
And a picture of the whole "Christmas Ornaments" theme:

And two more ornaments to show. I made these "Snowflake" ornaments using the same design for them but stitched them on different colors of the fabric. If you remember I did the same with one of my autumn designs and everybody noted how the background color change the look of the design. Here is the Blue Snowflake ornament:

And here is the White Snowflake ornament :

Both Snowflake ornaments:
Which of the snowflakes looks better? I really do not know, they are like kids for me - I love them both. :-))

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

I was asked if biscornus are my favorite smalls.

- Well, I like them but they are not my favorites. I will, probably, make my next post about my favorite smalls. :-)

Stay tuned!

Thank you everyone for interesting comments, special thank you for the new readers who commented on my works. I really appreciate this.

Happy stitching to everyone!

Christmas Biscornus and more

2008-12-09T14:38:00.000-06:00

Thank you so much for those who stopped by and left comments on my "NOEL Ornaments" and sent me e-mails. It is so interesting to read your messages, they are so inspiring! I did not have much time for visiting blogs - sorry. But I will keep up with reading your blogs and visiting blogs of my new visitors during the next two days.
A special thank you for those who bought my designs. I do hope you enjoy stitching them.
* * * * * * Today I will show you some more Christmas projects which I designed and have been working on for the last two weeks. My husbands wants me to write that he has been helping me very hard :-). He sure has :-). My dear husband is my first and very strict critic, he also has a title of my personal artistic adviser.
Here is the picture of some projects which I stitched up:
The projects belong to two themes: "Love" and "Hearts & Snowflakes". These designs differ in style from "NOEL Ornaments". Besides, there are a few specialty stitches in the new designs, and I used DMC Precious Metal Effects and some Mill Hill beads to add some sparkle to the projects.
Here are some pictures of "Love" Biscornu:
I also made this pattern into an ornament and I have already sent it off to one of my friends:I also made a design for an Icicle ornament in this theme but did not have enough time to stitch it. I will do it later because I think these icicles look great on a Christmas tree.
And here are pictures of "Hearts & Snowflakes" Biscornu:

"Hearts & Snowflakes" Icicle ornament, its top and bottom views:I enjoyed working on these themes: these vibrant colors do create a Christmas spirit, don't they?

* * * * * *

If you are interested in buying any of my designs, send me an e-mail please.

My address is in my profile.

Happy & Merry stitching to everyone!

My "NOEL"Ornaments

2008-11-23T02:40:00.000-06:00

I want to thank everyone who commented on my last work. I was afraid it would be boring to see the second almost identical work - I was wrong. :-) There were many new names among those who left comments, I tried to visit their blogs and found so many interesting blogs and which is more important - so many talented stitchers.

Today I want to show you my new designs which I called "NOEL" Ornaments. There are 4 ornaments of different shape in the collection. I "aged" a little the fabric and stichted the ornaments with only two or three colors of DMC floss. Some parts in the designs are highlighted with DMC Jewel Effects. Here is the picture of the whole collection: A "big" ornament:

A biscornu: :-) A star ornament:
And another ornament, I called it 'an icicle':

I enjoyed working on this collection and I think (rather hope ) they look nice, very soon they will be presented to our family members and friends.

If you are interested in buying any of my designs, please send me an e-mail. My e-mail address is in my profile.
* * * * * * *
A few days ago I got an e-mail from Claire - Gazette 94. Claire sent me some pictures of the "Autumn Colors" Scissor Fob which she stitched using my design. It's a great pleasure to see 'my baby" finished by a wonderfiul stitcher and a talented designer. Claire, thank you for your pretty work!

To see more picture of the fob - go to Claire's blog ! There you can also find lots of lovely designs by Claire.
Happy stitching to everyone!

"Crystalline Grapes"

2008-11-12T17:05:00.000-06:00

Today I want to show to you another little finish. It is a The Sweetheart Tree design called "Crystalline Grapes". The pattern has much similarity with "Tranquil Moments" which I stitched and showed to you a little earlier. When I was buying these two patterns I already had an idea of their finishing and bought identical frames and mats for them.
I made a little modification in the second pattern: substituted one variegated floss to a white one in order to emphasize similarity of the two patterns and to get rid of a motley color effect. Here are some pictures of my "Crystalline Grapes":

I used the central part of the pattern and made another star ornament (front).

Fot the back of the ornament I stitched the same design, only instead of beads I stitched a grape cluster from the border. This design has a lot of over one stitching which I liked a lot.
And here are the pictures of what I made using two The Sweetheart Tree designs.
You probably want to know if I am satisfied with the result. Yes, very much! But it was a little irritating stitching the designs. If you remember after the first design I told you that the picture on the cover page is of very poor quality, you can barely see the design there. I can understand that this is kind of protection from piracy. OK, but why is the print of the designs so poor? There are so many places in the designs where you can't tell if it is a grid line or back stitch! Is this also kind of protection? from customers?
* * * * * *
I also wanted to thank Adriana r. , Donna, Yana (Яна) for passing me Blogger awards. Dear ladies, thank you very much for your appreciation of my work.
* * * * * *
And I 'd like to ask everyone to visit this Donna's blog where she has organized ornament stitching for an auction, November 2009, to raise money to help cancer patients. On Donna's blog you will find all necessary detail. I do hope every stitcher can find some time and make a couple of ornaments ( or more!) and this way help other people in their fight against this terrible disease.
Happy Stitching to everyone!

A new biscornu

2008-11-04T11:16:00.000-06:00

Isn't it time for Christmas stitching? I think it is and today I want to show you "Christmas Biscornu" by Faby Reilly which I have just finished stitching.
The biscornu has vibrant Christmas colors, lots of beads, metallics. It has everything in it to create the holiday spirit.
Now it is time to thank Faby for her hard work and the wonderful design which she presented to me. Enjoy some more pictures :

Happy and Merry Stitching to everyone!

Tranquil Moments or 2 Olgas' SAL

2008-10-23T18:55:00.000-05:00

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.

* * * * *

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!

2008-10-14T19:20:00.000-05:00

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

2008-10-14T18:44:00.000-05:00

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"

2008-10-05T18:08:00.000-05:00

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:

* * * * * *
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.

"Autumn Colors" Scissor Fobs

2008-09-22T21:50:00.000-05:00

On the first official day of autumn (here) I finished my "Autumn Colors" Scissor Fobs. Yes, I made two of them and I made two charts for them as well. The first one is a specialty stitches fob to match the pin cushion which I showed to you in the previous post. Here are the pictures of both sides of the fob:

I also made some little changes in the pin cushion, here is how the set looks like now:
The second scissor fob is a full crosses version. I was curious to see my design on a black background and on a higher count fabrick. Unfortunately, I do not have black linen or evenweave, I found a nice piece of 18 ct. Black Aida. I know some of you will say : Phew! because you do not like Aida. But I was just experimenting with the fabric colors to show you how the design can look different. I also finished this fob in a little different way:

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

Take care and happy autumn stitching!

Prairie Schooler Exchange Received

2008-09-16T20:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I received Prairie Schooler Exchange package from Angela in Canada. I could not post straight away because I was waiting for some sunlight to take good pictures.
Angela made a scissor case and a fob for me. She chose a very interesting chart called "Pins and Needles" , the backing fabric matches PS pattern perfectly well. The Scissor case and fob are nicely stitched and finished, I love them so very much. Here are their pictures, look how bright they are:
Angela spoiled me pretty much including some extra goodies: PS chart, my favorite needles, some DMC floss, pins , beads, a beautiful post card.
She also wrote a short message for me. It is interesting that this was Angela's first exchange with HOE and for me it was the first Prairie Schooler pattern - I have not finished mine for the exchange yet, still a lot of doubts what to finish it into or maybe to stitch something different. Angela says she was nervous to stitch for me! I am stressed out every time I stitch for somebody.
I want to thank Angela for the wonderful exchange, I know how much of herself she invested into it. I really appreciate it. It was nice "meeting" you Angela!
Happy stitching to everybody!

"Autumn Colors"

2008-09-14T20:48:00.000-05:00

We survived one more hurricane! I wonder how many more we are going to have this year?
After the first hurricane my friends asked what hurricanes look like. Well, it's better to see one to understand how terrible they are. This time I took some hurricane pictures and some short movies. But I only remember about the camera when the worst was over, still you can get the impression of this natural disarster. In the picture you can see what the lawn looks like during the hurricane: limbs, big and small, are everywhere!
In the video can can see how much the trees swing, how fast the clouds are and you can hear the noise of the wind. The strongest wind we had this time was 60 miles per hour, in the video it is already not so strong.

Have you ever seen Hurricane Lilies? They are also called Spider Lilies. I have wanted to get them for such a long time and last year I found some bulbs. I was also told that the bulbs are easily shocked and they will not bloom next season. Luckily after the hurricane among all the debris.... I found about two dozens of these stunning blossoms!

While we were waiting for the previous hurricane I was drawing a design which later got the name of "Autumn Colors". The idea of the design was to show that even a grey rainy stormy day in autumn is gorgeous! While I was working on the design I was recallecting poems by a great Russian poet A. Pushkin, he wrote so much about his favorite season .... "унылая пора, очей очарованье " - It is a sad season but pleasant for the eyes. (The translation is mine and I am not a poet).

Yesterday I finished stitching the pattern and at first wanted to make it into a biscornu. Then I thought why a biscornu again! The design looks better if to make it into a pin cushion or a pin keep. Here are the pictures of the pin cushion with funny tassels on the corners .

I also made a design for a scissor fob in two versions ( one has lots of specialty stitches and the other is its simplified version in full crosses with just a few specialty stitches ) to accompany the pin cushion. Next post I will show you pictures of the fob.

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

Thank you for stopping by and happy stitching to everybody!

My Favorite Month

2008-09-03T21:14:00.000-05:00

I want to thank all my stitching friends who worried about us, sent me e-mails wishing good luck on that terrible hurricane Gustav. Everything is fine here. Weather people were wrong again: the hurricane hit to the south from us, you might have heard of the hurracane damages from the news.

* * * * *

I do not know which is your favorite month but mine is August, probably because my son was born in this month. I also had two anniversaries last month. First - it was exactly two years since I started to cross stitch, never thought I would ever get this kind of hobby! And it was so hard for me to start it in a new country, with neither stitching friends nor my mother by my side ( my mother can do everything!). If you want to know why and how I started cross stitch, I will tell you about it in another post, it will be a humorous story.

Another anniversary is .... half a year to my blog! It's hard to believe! Time really flies! On a fine August evening I invited my husband to have an excursion on my blog. After looking through all the posts (mostly pictures), he said he was impressed. And soon I got all these as his present for my anniversaries. I love my new "toys"!

I 've got a pleasant surprise from Cathey , Pumpkin Patch & Co., who passed Brillante Weblog award to me. I 've found Cathey's blog recently and enjoy reading it and looking at the pictures of her beautiful works. As I already have this award, I will add her name to the list of stitchers who nominated me for this award.

And one more award from two wonderful stitchers Holly and Olga, UK. If you have not been to their blogs yet, go now! Look at the picture alboms of their works and you will see that it is they who have deserved all the Blog awards. It is a great honor to be nominated by them. Thank you ladies!

The rules of this award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you have nominated.

Well, and the award goes to.... On the right side I have "Blogs I love" and I think it will be fair if this award goes to all stitchers who are in this list. My heartest congratulations to all of you!

One more stitcher, Bhooma, sent me an e-mail with the picture of "My Rose Garden" Biscornu which she has finished recently. Thank you Bhooma, it is so nice of you . Your biscornu is so bright, I am happy to hear you enjoyed stitching it.

And one more picture for today. In the previous post I told you that I was working on a birthday present. I could not tell you the name because it was a birthday present for my husband. For a long time he has been asking me to stitch him a dragon and the most beautiful dragon designs which I know of are designs by Teresa Wentzler. This is what I stitched up for my husband:

It is "Stretch", the Magic Dragon. And some more detail ( you can see tweeding and fracture crosses in these pictures):

Next time I will show you pictures of what I will make "Stretch" into.

Thank you for stopping by and leaving comments. I love to read your comments!

Happy stitching!

"My Rose Garden" Sewing Set

2008-08-26T20:44:00.000-05:00

Today I want to show you the things which I have been working on and introduce a new blogger.

But before doing this I want to thank all of you have left nice comments on my previous post. Some people were wondering if my new pet tame or not. No, the buck is not tame and he came not alone but with a herd of 5 other deer, they all are young and "stupid". A lot of activities are going on around here and poor animals are displaced and looking for another quiet place to live in. We have not seen them since their last visit and now worry about them : hunting season is very soon... And I want to say to other people who have deer close to their houses - do not try to pet them, we were crazy, I will never try to pet any wild animal again, you never know what is going on in their little brain.

* * * * *

Ok, now presentation of "My Rose Garden" Sewing Set. In the e-mails and comments I was also asked who is the designer of "My Rose Garden" Box . It's me, Olenka's Stitches.
I am planning to make several series of designs, the first is "Romantic" with "My Rose Garden" Sewing Set in it.

Today I am going to show "My Rose Garden" Basket and Pinkeep. I worked a little more on the box design which you saw in the previous post to adapt it better for the basket lid. Here are some pictures of the basket I made:

As you can see the lid of the basket is reversible and the other side of the lid can be used as a pin cushion. The basket can hold a pair of scissors, thimble, threader, needle case, etc. or any other little sewing treasures.

Here is the pinkeep and its detail:

And here is the whole sewing set. Soon I will add a couple of items more to it , but first I need to finish a birthday present( to whom is a secret).

If you are interested in buying my designs, send me an e-mail please. My e-mail address is in my profile.

* * * * *
Now I'd like to introduce you to a new blogger, Olga, my namesake from the United Kingdom. She is new to blogging but not to cross stitching. Do you remember my post "Another "My Rose Garden" Biscornu"? That is she who stitched that biscornu! Please, go visit her blog, I am sure you will enjoy seeing her fabulous cross stitched pieces and some rare collections.

* * * * *
I also want to thank Cenoura who tagged me and according to the rules of this new game I am to name:

* my strongest trait of character - determination

* my weakest trait of character - my fears of bugs, frogs, lizards, snakes.

Happy stitching and take care!

A New Pet and A Little Finish

2008-08-16T23:28:00.000-05:00

Wow, I have not been blogging for such a long time! Well, I can't say that I have not been stitching all this time. But what I was stitching was either presents for my friends or something for exchanges and you know I can't show these pieces before they reach their new homes. Other than that I have been working on my own designs and need just a little more time to finish them all. But I think today I can show you one of them.
I used my own design to make a little birthday present for one of my new cross stitch friends. From the pictures you can easily see that I decided to continue the "Romantic" line started by "My Rose Garden" biscornu which so many people simply call "Romantic".
Ok, here is "My Rose Garden" Box:

I have never made cards before (but did my best ) and here is what I made:

If you are interested in buying any of my designs, send me an e-mail please.

My e-mail address is in my Profile.

* * * * * *

And here is our new pet... if you can call it a pet. It is already the second day in row a little herd of deer visit the back of our back yard. One buck is rather fearless, or I do not know what, he jumps over the fence and let us pet him and feed him - he loves our tomatoes so much! So now there is no time for stitching at all. We keep looking out the windows all the time, then go to meet our visitor, take pictures and movies of him. It is a lifetime experience! Can you imagine to pet a wild deer! He has so pretty eyes and his antlers are so velvet soft and warm, and his "shoes" are always shiny black... I try to add a short deer video so you can have a look at him.

Thank you for stopping by, special thank you for those who leave comments, you know how encouraging they are.
Happy stitching to everybody!

Some News: Awards, HOE and Finishing

2008-07-30T11:37:00.000-05:00

I have been rather busy lately. July is not my most productive month in stitching but I have something to show to you today.

Firstly, another "Oscar"!!!

I have been nominated 3 times for this award by Nina, Mimimira, Hohla. I feel so honored, thank you so much ladies.

The rules for this award:

1. Put the logo on your blog;

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you;

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs;

4. Add links to those blogs on yours;

5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

Now to the next, pleasant but very hard, part of the award - there are so many interesting blogs but the rules are the rules.... I pass this award to :

1. Carol S,

2. Gazette94 ,

3. Gill ,

4. Jennifer ,

5. Hazel ,

6. Nancy ,

7. Stitchhappy .

* * *

Yesterday I got a message from Cathy B. , my HOE Summer Quaker Exchange partner, that she received my parcel so I can show what I stitched for her.

As I am not so good at Quaker designs and sometimes I can't tell which is Quaker and which is not, I chose the design which has the word'Quaker" in its name, just to be on the safe side. I stitched a motif of "A Quaker Seasonal - Summer" and made a sewing set. Here are some pictures:

I also stitched a little motif from the motif (lol) and made a fob:

Then I made a thread counter and a couple of bobbins for ribbons or threads. There is enough space to keep everything inside the box.

Maybe one day I will make the same sewing set for myself, I think it looks not so bad.

There is another small finish to show to you. While chick-sitting, if you remember I have some chicks, who are already 2 months young, I stitched a little biscornu. It is "Sakura" by Alchemy Stitchcraft. I like the design, it is simple, does not require much attention but it is so delicate:

I have also been working on several new designs from "My Rose Garden"and I will show them to you when I finish stitching them.

Thank you for stopping by and leaving comments.

Happy stitching to everybody!

Another "My Rose Garden Biscornu" and Summer Quaker Exchange Received

2008-07-21T17:27:00.000-05:00

On the weekend I got an e-mail from another Olga, a wonderful cross stitcher from Great Britain. She finished stitching my romantic biscornu and sent me some pictures of it so I can share them with you. In her e-mail Olga said she enjoyed stiching the biscornu , the pattern is not so simple and it took her two days to finish it. She made biscornus before and they all were given away as gift to friends. Olga is impressed by this biscornu and is going to keep it for herself. I am happy to hear that! :-) Look at the pictures she sent me. She made some changes, used more metallics and her biscornu looks brighter.

It's a pity Olga does not have a blog and you can't see her other works, which are amazing. But she is thinking of starting a blog in future.

And another piece of good news...

Today I received a parcel from Jill, my HOE Summer Quaker exchange partner. Wowww!!! I absolutely love everything! She stitched "Seasonal Accents Sampler - Summer" by The Needle and I, and finished it as a tin topper. Her over one stitching is so delicate and the finishing is superb! I did not have a tin before, this is my first one. You know, before I thought tin is so cold and noisy, that is something more for men :-)). Jill put some felt on the bottom and I like her idea. Now I might also want to finish a tin.

Jill also made a nice Marking Pin /Thread Counter for me. And she sure read my blog... now I have one chick more! It is a chicken pin cushion! But I will never stick pins into it :-)). Jill also included a pretty pair of scissors( I have not seen such scissors before), some fabric, mini cards with my initial ( where did she manage to find something with my initial!?) and needles and .... I feel very spoiled ....and very happy to get to know another talented stitcher.

Jill, thank you so much for everything, you've made my day! Hugssss to you

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

Another Pleasant Surprise

2008-07-19T01:20:00.000-05:00

Well ...a pleasant surprise today! Jennifer sent this award to me ( my first ever cross stitch award) and I must pass it on with the following rules:

1. The winner may put the logo on her blog.

2. Put a link to the person you got the award from.

3. Nominate 5 blogs.

4. Put links to the blogs.

5. Leave a message for your nominees.

For this wonderful award I'd like first to thank Jennifer and all other talented stitchers whose blogs I visit for ideas and inspiration. I do not know who thought of these rules! I have a far longer list of blogs I love to visit and it is so hard to narrow the list. But rules are rules... I tried to choose creative stitchers from different parts of the world representing different countries and even different continents. Here is my list of winners ( in alphabetical order):

1.Carla- her stitching and finishing are always so pretty,

2. Faby - visit her blog and you will see how talented and creative she is in her stitching and designing,

3. Nataliya - her very pretty blog is in Russian but looking at her pictures you can easily understand how hard she works to create her masterpieces,

4.Margaret- her Hardanger pieces are unique,

5.Susimac- her finishing is always stunning, a great source of inspiration.

Congratulations to the winners and Happy stitching to everybody.

LHN Exchange from Gaby

2008-07-09T21:43:00.000-05:00

Today I got a wonderful package from Gaby with LHN design exchange! Wow!!!

Gaby stitched neccessities sampler on a piece of nice linen and made it into a working bag. She did an amazing job: very pretty stitching and perfect finishing. Inside the bag there are so many pockets where I can keep my small c/s treasures. But most of the pockets have already been filled by Gaby with pieces of linen which she dyed herself, with rose pins also made by her, with overdyed floss and very beautiful ribbons. The bag also has some pages for needles and rings for keeping floss. On the bag you can also see my initials and the year of the exchange. I like my working bag so much, it is pretty and very convenient, it will greatly help me organize my c/s neccessities.
And that is not all! Gaby also included a c/s kit by a German designer - it will be very interesting for me to try to stitch the pattern : a new designer and new floss for me .
I feel terribly spoiled.

You can see how creative Gaby was and how much of an effort and herself she put into this gorgeous exchange. I want to thank Gaby from the bottom of my heart for what she has done for me.
Hugs to Gaby across the miles.

A Pleasant Surprise

2008-07-08T16:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday night I got an e-mail from Cheri (unfortunately she doesn't have a blog) with a picture of "Rose Garden" biscornu which she stitched using my chart. She did a great job on stitching and assembling the biscornu. In the message Cheri said that she changed the colors of the beads because she used some that she had on hand.

I was pleased to learn that she enjoyed working on the biscornu and liked the way it turned out.

Thank you Cheri so much for your work and sending me the picture: I am delighted to see one of the results of my design .

Now I am working on two more items which will continue my "Rose Garden" theme. Stay tuned for further updates.

"How Does Your Garden Grow?" Parts 5 - 6

2008-07-04T21:45:00.000-05:00

I have not been stitching much lately but I finished Parts 5 and 6 of Papillon Creations sampler "How Does Your Garden Grow?" If you remember I wanted to wait a little till Part 6 of the sampler is published. I needed a bigger piece of the sampler done , Part 6 is almost half of the sampler, to decide on the beads.

In these pictures you can see that I experimented a little with the beads and put some in Parts 4-6. I think they look all right and will probably be my final choice.

I like how "my garden grows" and is happy that almost half of it has already been done.

I have had a few kits by Needle & Frame for a rather long time and I either could not find time for them or when I had time I thought they are boring and put them aside - there is not a single cross there but.... there are a lot of beads there! So I decided to try one kit. It is called "Moon Light" Beaded Ribbon Scissor Case Necklace ans Pincushion Scissor Fob. What a name!

Ok, when you finish the kit you will get two pieces: a scissor case and a fob. Of course, I read the instructions very attentively and did everything my way. As a result I got a little piece of the ribbon left which I used to make a pincushion and it turned out so cute. I only had to look for two big beads to finish the pincushion the same way as two other pieces.

Now I know for sure that Needle & Frame kits are rather fun to work on for those who like beads. In their instructions it is shown how to make 'bead lace edging' which is really a great finishing technique. I enjoyed working on this project and will certainly make another one.

Happy holidays to American stitchers!

Happy stitching to everybody!

HOE LHN Exchange and EMS "Rose Sampler" Update

2008-06-27T18:10:00.000-05:00

Early in the morning today I got messages from Simone, my HOE exchange partner, that she got my package with LHN exchange. I could not believe this! I sent her the package on Monday and prepared for a long long wait ... And what? On (my) Friday morning the package reached Simone's place. I think it's an International Post Service record!

From Simone's blog I've learned that she loves birds so I stitched LHN pattern called "Watermelon" with a nice big bird in it and made it into a pin keep. The pattern is stitched on 28 ctMushroom Evenweave with Crescent Colours floss . On the back of the pin keep I made a pocket for a pair of little scissors.

And the picture of other goodies: Simone's favorite DMC dark reds, some bird buttons and charms....

I hope Simone likes what I have made for her.

I wanted to thank those who commented on my "Rose Garden" Biscornu - all your comments are very inspiring and are highly appreciated. I have already sent the chart of my biscornu to everybody who wanted to have it and believe me - it took me some time to do this . lol

Still I managed to stitch a little and finished Part 6 of EMS "Rose Sampler". I am happy because it is already half done!

Thank you for stopping by, special thank you for those who leave comments.

Have a nice weekend and take care,

Olga

"My Rose Garden" Biscornu

2008-06-17T13:40:00.000-05:00

I want to thank those stitchers who congratulated us on our wedding anniversary. Thank you very much my dear friends!

Today I want to show you the biscornu that I designed lately. I called it "My Rose Garden" Biscornu. When I showed it to Nataliya, one of my friends, she called it "romantic". I quite agree with her - the biscornu was created for a romantic event. Here are some pictures of the biscornu:

If you are interested in buying the design, send me an e-mail. My e-mail address is in my profile.

Happy stitching!

Our Wedding Anniversary

2008-06-12T11:35:00.001-05:00

Well... today is our 4-Year Wedding Anniversary!

I made a little present for myself. It is one more Just Nan design, from her tiny designs called Spring Spell. I made it into a scissor fob as I needed a fob in blue colors for a new pair of scissors. I used a scrap of blue Evenweave and DMC floss for it.

On the back side of the fob I stitched my initial, I have never done this before but I did not know what else to stitch here keeping the style of the design.

I am pleased with how it turned out and maybe one day will try another tiny Just Nan design for a fob.

Happy weekend to everybody!