Gracious Era and more

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

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

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

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

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

One more set of pincushions:

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

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

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

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

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

Elegant In Blue Biscornu

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.

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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.
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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!