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 :
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?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:
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.
