Here is the mattress pincushion I made for Joan for the HOE exchange of the same name. I stitched it over one. This is "Nuit d'hiver" by the French designer Tralala.
As usual, my trademark is a piece of fabric stitched to the back :)
I was delighted to hear tonight that Irene received and liked her Prairie Schooler piece. It took around two weeks to reach Canada and I was hoping for a shorter time. I must tell you I had a hard time parting with it, it really was a fav' piece of mine.
Stitched on Silkweaver fabric with my choice of silks and WDW/GAST. Finished with rust-coloured hemp thread and a metal ring (meant for jewelery-making) to which I tied a rafia bow.
I was particularly happy with my choice of colors, but seriously, the fabric was awesome to work on. In reality it is a little more colored, but not much. Alas, I misplaced the little bag so I must do some detective work, I'd love to buy much more of it one day. It is so soft also :)
Here is the back fabric I chose from my Fatquartershop stash...
I also tried my hand at a fall-themed scissor fob... with a brass flower, metal sun(flower), a big wooden bead and others:
... and I enclosed a Victoria Sampler pattern, a little tuck pillow, a piece of Moda fall fabric, solid perfume with the scent of fresh cut grass from one of my favorite etsy sellers and last, a bag of raspberry tea to warm up the colder evenings. Hope Irene and her Mom like it! I was thinking that she could re-use the linen bag for stitching or finishing purposes...
I so love cross-stitched blacbirds... much less the real ones!! When I see a sampler with birds, trees and a house... well, you've heard that already. This one flew to Canada this time :)
I finished this little basket by Homespun Elegance last night. I just love it!! It is already hanging in a different spot near my usual stitching place. It is meant to receive your scissors and stick your pins in the little pillow, and that's what mine does now. I made the pillow a bit narrow but I'll let it stay this way.
Also, I've put the last stitches on this piece by Blackbird Designs. I know it's a big no-no, but today I'm showing it not ironed yet, because I have a lot of work to do.
If you're curious what Warsaw's metro (underground) looks like, here's a short film for you from the last station in the south of the town:
I mean, errrrr, completely? When we went to see the movie Mamma mia this summer, I lost the plot twice because there were gorgeous Greek alphabet samplers on the wall and on the bed. I couldn''t take my eyes off them. Have you noticed these two scenes?
Today, my beloved aunt asked if I wouldn't like to come and stay again with her for, say, a month. I just visited her in September! But the answer is obvious to all who know me. Yes. BUT. Traveling with my laptop (hey, I also work!), some clothes, a dog, a cat, some cosmetics, a ton of stash, all this on a train isn't easy. Doable, but not easy for a 3,5 h train trip plus the transport effort/time to and from the station. So they've set up a whole plan. My cousin will be in Warsaw in ten days and he could pick me up with his wife. Luxury conditions. BUT. There's Christmas in sight. How do I take ALL needed supplies with me TOO?? I wanted to make some Norwegian nisse. I am also unable to decide on the right fabric beforehand, I need to see which colors etc. suit best. Which cording. Which ribbons. I need my glue. My scissors, my cutters. My working surface. My favorite cross-stitch fabric. And several bags of threads. So I said I need to think. I've been constantly on the move since May. I wanted some peace.... some time alone, which you difficultly have when you stay at someone else's place, even if it is your paradise on earth. My aunt's place is my paradise on earth. So, why do I find it hard to decide? Even my two tailed friends will love it there, as usual. Toska could rule over the other female cats and ignore the male one, named after her, a modified version of the name I gave her. She could hiss and strike, bang and terrorize all the company. Happy loves the garden. All so different from being stuck in this small living space. Very downtown, but very small. I need to think! :)
My grandma will be 100 in January. I hope she will. She starts to need a lot more care these days. I could help my aunt a bit. That's an additional argument :)
Now, Nicole tagged me today and Donna before... No more pretext, I will oblige tonight :) Here we go:
THE RULES:
Link to your tagger and list the rules
I ordered them from THIS seller.
Per general request LOL!, I found this bit of info in English on Chocolateandzucchini. Not that I didn't want to describe the taste of the coussin to you, but well, English is my third language and sometimes word fail. Here is a nice description of it. Mind you, there is a very old history tradition and story behind the coussin, but once more, I can't venture into it in English, pout, pout...
Invented in 1960 and solely produced by the chocolate maker Voisin, this sweet confection is shaped like a plump little pillow, in reference to the historical silk manufactures of Lyon. When you bite into it your teeth first meet the slight resistance of a crusty marzipan casing, twinkling with tiny grains of candi sugar (sugar that's been melted into a syrup then slowly crystallized), before they delve into a tender heart of moussy chocolate ganache, subtly flavored with curaçao. I am normally adamantly opposed to liquor in my chocolate, but this one is not at all boozy, and the faint hint of alcohol brings aromatic depth to the overall sweetness.
All I'll add is that it tastes HEAVENLY!! I visited Voisin's webpage this week... oh my, he makes more specialties... Dare I ever mention to Ela the quenelle? I daren't! :) One day, I'd love to try it though. But then I could spend my life, day and night, in a French pâtisserie as well.
I am a food lover and a huge part of the fun when traveling is to discover local goodies. On that topic, local and original sometimes means very good. When I "met" H., he ate no cheese apart the regular yellow hard cheese found in Norway, not that I think it's not tasty, but... I was brought up in a French speaking country and bathed in the French culture since being 4 years old. I was used to the extensive range of cheese you find in francophone countries. During our first period together, H. used to ask "do we have to?..." each time I placed a piece of cheese in the shopping basket. The range of vegetables he ate was also limited... so was alcohol. Soon, he came to visit my family here in Poland and my brother in Switzerland. And stay after stay, he started loving good cheese. I still remember the first after-dinners at my brother's, when H. was sitting at the table with an uneasy look, his eyes begging me to help him avoid the cheese. Now, he surprises me with buying fancy cheese once in a while in Norway :) And then I'll mention a year ago, when I flew back from Geneva after a week's visit at my brother. I asked H. what he'd like me to bring, and he mentioned cheese and wine. So I prepared a little surprise.... I borrowed an extra suitcase from my brother and brought 14 kgs of different Swiss and French cheese. Yup, fourteen kilograms that was. I was only hoping for the best so the customs doesn't ask me to open the suitcase, because if you know these cheeses, you know they can smell outrageously, even though they taste sooooo good. Making H. eat vegetables more is a different story, because in Norway, they are so very expensive and often not of the best quality if you don't know where to buy them, plus he doesn't like a lot of what I like... but I have my victories here as well :)
Have I ever shown this pre-summer finish? I can't remember, but I found it yesterday and thought this should go to the framer in priority. I replaced the Mildred Larson word with H.'s abbreviated address. When I received this Blackbird Designs kit, I wasn't sure I like the color of the fabric, too mustard, I thought. But as it is the case with most BD charts, the thread colors play in an unusual way on the fabric... I love this finish.
As I intend to do more sorting in my stash and a lot of nothing still (Monday might bring its usuall toll of work), I'll leave you with this picture I like revisiting a lot. It is a spot at the end of a frequent doggie walk in Norway. I first walk till the train station, then a side path to a small lake, then a shadowed path in the woods... which ten ends where this picture shows, very close to the train line. Not sure why, but I love 'meeting' the train, which doesn't happen to often, since they circulate about twice an hour during daytime (the local tog, the fast one to Sweden, I am unsure of its timetable). It is also a spot where light plays beautifully on the nature around. Ah, I so miss Norway. Does it miss me?
I believe I never got to post the wonderful goodies I received from Ela before the summer...
As usual, everything was packed with virtuosity...
The little packages contained this pinkeep, which I later copied...
This super cute little box handmade after a Japanese pattern, covered with lovely fabrics...
It contained French threads...
There was also a package of coussins, a specialty from Lyon, which I am now addicted to and Ela knows it so well! :) I'll let you "visualize" the taste!
Then there was this lovely pinkeep...
.... and a piece of gorgeous fabric, and I'm sure something else... Ah, that lady knows how to spoil me rotten!!
I have to confess to you that I did nothing today. After delivering a short job, I fell asleep... and lost contact with the world for most of the afternoon. Ah, I can't even blame myself for that... I noticed that with the days getting so short, the darkness falling so early, I had a tendency to hibernate this week - need to fight it!
I hope my HOE PS exchange partner receives her package very soon now... I know she reads my blog ;-) so all I can show till then is a photo of the stitched piece and of the handmade XXX:
I'm hooked to etsy. Addicted. There's such a wealth of talent to discover, so many great ideas to drool over... I've been treating myself to a little (or bigger, hmmm...) something over the last months and I would love to share some of these goodies with you. If you have some favorite sellers, let me know, I love to discover new crafters :) It find amazing the ideas people have, the techniques they use... Can you resist a smile seeing THIS or THIS? Or THIS?
Here is a package I received last week from Siska, it is a customized stationary set with my blog's address. Next time I'll ask for the address to be put horizontally in the bottom of the page but I like this version a lot too. The color can be described as pink grapefruit. How could I resist it? A tree, a bird, that's what I love in all craft styles, cross-stitch samplers or other beauties. 
Don't you love the little birdie and the shadow on the branch?
Time to head to bed.... Have a nice week-end, everyone!
I am finally settling into my Warsaw routine... work and crafts... no more painting, renovation works, no more pipes, walls and tiles to destroy... till next summer, probably! :) Today my regular Internet connection was finally fixed, turned out it was a part that burned and needed to be replaced in the big cable TV box (which also provides my phone and internet connections) several floors down. After a half hour of testing and sweating, the repair man left me all in smiles :). Ah the joys of a fast connection, ah the joy of limitless browsing... :)
But I digress: today I have the honor of presenting Anna's Bird to you, made by the wonderful Barbara! It's been more than a week since I received it and I'm still feeling the same love as when I opened the package from Barbara... It was a custom order (which means that if you're really, really nice, she might accept to make one for you! LOL, she's one busy mom, wife, crafter and writer so you might have to make your smile very broad! ;-)) and I am just delighted with it.
Don't you just love it?? The colors? The work? The fabrics? Here is how Barbara described it, I couldn't write it better:
Anna's Bird is stitched on a sumptious chocolate brown R&R Reproductions linen using overdyed cotton flosses in colors so deep and so rich you can almost feel them. The double-sided wing is fashioned from Moda's Garden Baskets series and is finished with tiny x stitches to give her a slightly primitive appeal. The floral designs stitched on the linen are inspired by Art Nouveau floral designs and compliment the flowing floral pattern of the wing. The balance of light and dark creates a bit of mystery, while the richness of the colors creates a sense of harmony and home-coming. Anna's Bird celebrates the shift from summer into autumn.
I'm borrowing these photos from Barbara with her authorization... I invite you to browse her sold and available items in her etsy shop, to see the other birds she made before... Mine is the nicest though, I swear I love it to death, see for yourself below!
I am sure Barbara would love to read your comments on Her wonderful work... Me, I couldn't say enough how much I appreciate her talent...
Just look at what I received from Ina! What do you do when you open a big box and you see this? I can tell you - you are breathless!
Ina sent me a big wooden box with the PS stitched piece so nicely incorporated in the lid... Oh I love all sorts of boxes and tins and... Ina, you couldn't make me smile more. I was so surprised that I actually was breathless opening the package, I couldn't believe my eyes! Thank you so much!!
Of course, Ina didn't sent this beautiful box empty, it contained the printed text for "Mary had a little lamb..." (thank you for that, I was not familiar with it and though I knew it must come from something well known to English speakers, I never took the time to investigate), a card from the place she lives (what a great idea!), a memo pad, a pen and a super fun pair of scissors!
THANK YOU so much, Ina!! The box will be put to very good use and will always remind me of you :)
My regular Internet connection is down since Friday so I have a few late updates to post. I've been complaining to H. recently about that mobile connection I have that I don't use (and pay a lot for monthly) but here it comes extremely useful. It made it possible for me to send and receive work and to keep touch with... blogging and all :) Otherwise, it is pretty slow and the amount of data I can send/receive is limited, so I can't use it a lot. The uncompetent repair men (sorry, I have experience with them! LOL) will only come on Wednesday and who knows if they will be able to repair on the spot. There is always a reason they can't ;-)
H. was here a few days and it's been a very lovely time, only that I had a big job coming in and we decided I should take it so I spent most of the time typing and H. relaxing, which means spending time with his laptop on his lap. Ah, men. I didn't even feel to bad about letting him spend time on himself, because he is into a crazy period at work and at home (still lots of painting work outside left to do) so he *really* enjoyed being able to sleep long, have relaxed a breakfast and do a lot of nothing generally. Me, I got up at 4-5 am each day to work and continued throughout the day. But it had good sides, we ate out at out fav' Chinese spot just round the corner every day and managed a longer evening at our favorite Mexican restaurant as well. Oh, happy hours... :)
H. brought both Happy and Toska back to Warsaw. I won't ask them if they are happy about the change after 5 months in pet wonderland (garden, big house, nature...), I know the answer. While Happy accomodated to the change as great as usual, Toska behaved as usual, she immediately returned to her difficult angry self. She soon reminded me of her teeth and claws, but what, I love her anyway and in a little over half a year, she'll return to Norway for the nice season. She's spending time on her own, bangs her paws at me whenever she can and the moments when she's sweet and cuddly are rare but they sweeten the whole experience. You can say I have one model of a characterial cat! :)
H. laughed but said "no pictures, please! i'm relaxing!" :)
I spoiled him as much as I could... (notice the heart, a fav' tea set I once bought in a small gallery in Lillehammer)
Toska relaxed... She's such a traveler! I was amazed when I saw them all at the airport. She didn't seem to care about all the fuss around... It was a busy environment despite the late hour and she was just rolled inside her carrier, both paws rolled under her head. But I know her. She was highly annoyed at all the noise and all and was just waiting for it all to stop, so she could get out. On a different topic, the ^$%^$#%$# luggage handling people delivered her... on the baggage belt!! She was turning with all the bags before a man put her down. H. was waiting for her at the special luggage place, where she should have been handed to him along with Happy. Normally a special man comes with them both. Where do they have their head??? She is a super easy cat to travel with but I can imagine cats who'd get sick and crazy right on! Other Norwegians told H. what happened. I already called the company in charge of handling luggage at our airport and (great thing for them! otherwise I'd have followed on this) the boss was very apologetic, asked for all the details (day, hour, flight etc.) and I believed she would react on that. She seemed very upset with her people.
Happy slept for a couple of days. Can't be an easy thing for a little dog, this plane-thing. I and H. laughed - our two tailed friends don't have a clue about country borders, customs, airspace, pilots, Norway or Poland... We believe they must think that a plane is just a big bus (how can they know it goes up in the air? LOL) that makes a lot of noise and moves in strange ways. I am sure the smells are different in either country and they must know it - Happy gets nuts as soon as we let him do his "things" somewhere in the nature before joining the highway leading to Oslo :)
More updates coming, watch this place :) and in the meantime, have a nice evening!
By the way, I sent my HOE PS exchange late but all I can say to one person reading this is that if you're waiting for this exchange to arrive, it might be from me but it's *on its way*!! Sorry for the delay... really, but I was soooo happy with the result, you will like it, I am sure :) Okay, almost sure!
Here is a photo of the needle roll I made for Shelley who I hear hasn't been feeling fine lately, so I am writing this with warm thoughts for her... Hope things improve fast!
This all started with a freebie from the blog My aunt's attic HERE. I always looked at this pattern and wanted to stitch it, so this was a perfect opportunity. And because I made it at the end of my stay in Norway, I tried to give it a Scandinavian flair, just like with the Santa for Joke :). I choose white and red, which are omnipresent colors in Norway.
It is stitched on R&R fabric with WDW threads. The red is Turkish red, a favorite color of mine for Christmas stitching.
I sewed red and white beads on both extremities and wrapped Kreinik's gold filament around the endings.
I forgot to take pictures of the goodies for Shelley, or I can't find them, but these are really not important :)
A week ago, I received this gorgeous needle roll from Deanne in Canada:
... which Deanne tells me is from a kit by Silkweavers, and stitched on their Heritage linen with Stranded by the Sea Beach Paradise Floss. It is very soft, a real pleasure to keep in my happy hands :) The needleroll contains many different stitches which English names I won't be able to tell. Doesn't it bring thoughts of chocolate or coffee? So perfect to decorate the table when guests ask for a warm drink.
Deanne joined many lovely goodies: organic chocolate which I had never tried before, a super cute agenda already for 2009, a lemon-scented hand-cream (I keep smelling my hands!), a beautiful postcard from Newfoundland and Labrador, a roll of cute ribbon, a magnet... what a great package, thank you so much again, Deanne!
Addendum: H. and I enjoyed the chocolate! It had a very distinct taste I haven't tasted before. Deanne found it funny that I consider her living place exotic but well, some Canadian names of places automatically make me thing of Anne of Green Gables, a favorite childhood book for most little (and grown-up) girls in Poland and elsewhere as well, I think!
