Back Home!!!

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

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...

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.
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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

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

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

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!