"Spring" Pillow

 It's again been awhile since I posted last. My only excuse is that worrying about my mother makes me feel low. Her new problem is kidney stones and if her health condition allows,  she might have an operation soon. There are a lot of telephone calls, e-mails so it's hard to concentrate on stitching. There were days when I could make just a couple of stitches.  I mostly worked in the garden and did some other crafts, new stuff challenges me more and helps a little forget my problems.
Well, I worked a little more on my "Spring" designs. Here is what I added to the collection:

 I've made a pillow which can be used like a season decoration or a pin pillow for the big projects - that is what I need right now for my Christmas SAL.
"Spring" Pillow:

To match the pillow I've also made two pincushions .
The first one if I am not mistaken is called a flower pincushion:

 And the second one is a sun flower pincushion:

 There is a little story behind the pincushion. About two years ago when Olga and I had a private SAL, Olga suggested that we should make a sunflower pincushion. ( By the way, Olga is very good at making them and has a tutorial on her blog).  I was busy doing something and promised my friend  to make the pincushion later. OLGA, I did it!!! It only took me 2 years to do this but I've kept my word.
My pincushion is not an exact copy of the sunflower one.  I used "Japanese" petals for my pincushion . Some time ago there were many tutorials in the Internet on making these petals. In Japan  this is kind of folk art, they make amazing things with these petals.  I used my own way to assemble the pincushion. Besides, I could not find a lid at home that can be used for the pincushion :-( . A small plastic cup was used instead.

I think my pincushion looks more like Dahlia rather than Sunflower, does it?
To embellish the pillow and the pincushions I used some vintage buttons and made some pins.
Another project was "Spring" necklace, the picture does not do justice to it. In real life the beads are more beautiful .

 I also made some seasonal flower arrangements:

 

and made some coasters:

If you are interested in buying any of my creations: cross stitch patterns, jewelry, pins, etc., please contact me. My e-mail is in my Profile.

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I worked a little on my Christmas SAL project too:

 I really enjoy stitching it , especially after your lovely comments on my work. Thank you for your support and encouragement.
I've never spoken on cooking before. But today I'd like to tell you about the little kitchen tool we bought that we enjoy so much. About a month ago we bought Ninja Master Prep which blends, chops, mixes. I use it to make kind of fruit drinks or desserts. In the heat that we are already having our "drinks" are indispensable. They are really delicious and help me make my husband to eat more fruit - he's already lost some weight.  I took a picture of one of our drinks. It's made of an orange, apple, some strawberries, cranberries,  cubes of ice  and a little of ice-cream. I sometimes add a carrot - you will never taste it in the drink, some honey or cream. I've  tried different combination of fruit and berries, my favorite is pineapple + orange, my husband loves banana + strawberries. In the picture the straw in the glass is blue - that was my husband's drink.

We have discovered another park here, it is Rose Center, they say the biggest in the USA. It is huge, about 114 acres, to see it all will probably take us some days. We spent about 2 hours there and I took some picture for you.
The roses are just gorgeous, there are so many different colors, sizes, shapes. Next time I will show some more pictures from the park.
Enjoy the pictures:

Thank you for stopping by. Special thank you for those who takes time and leaves me comments - I highly appreciate this.
Have a lovely weekend!

Redwork Biscornu and more

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.
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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". :-)
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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

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!