Another cross stitched finish: Dolce Vita (A Cat And A Water-mellon).
Kit by Russian manufacturer PANNA.
Pattern designed by Svetlana Prokopets.

It is not free pattern! Don’t ask me to scan it, please.

Here is the first cross stitch pattern I’ve made from the idea to the stitched piece - Halloween Spook Book.

It was made espesially for Halloween Cross Stitch Exchange which was organized by xstitchexchange Livejournal community and I finished it as recipe book cover. As non-native English speaker I am pretty unsure If those quibbles are appropriate, so if you don’t like them, just stitch the main design only.
My exchange friend was shadowspun, in my previous post I wrote about what she made for me.

Here is the close-up for stitched part:

DOWNLOAD Halloween Spook Book Free Cross Stitch Pattern - 58 Kb, pdf file.

And look, what this design started from :)

As for finishing, I’ve used this idea of stitched book. Just decorated seams with red stitches.

I took part in Halloween Cross Stitch Exchange which was organized by xstitchexchange Livejournal community. It was a big fun!

I am happy to say I’ve just received Halloween exchange parcel from shadowspun! It safely came to Russia, phew! You know, I even had a nightmare once, just after joining that community about receiving a parcel from my new stitching friend. In my nightmare it was ripped and looted. Our post officers sometimes steal things and add junk into packages in order to have correct weight :(
But the package made it’s safe way to me, however it was opened by russian customs. Luckily they haven’t cut cross stitched items to search for drugs…

And what is inside?
Read the rest of this entry »

Here is another temari made by me. The base is the one I’ve shown in the Wrapping Ideas post. It is S16 division.
Absolutely simple kiku. The only one difficulty in pattern is interlocking petals.
But here is another challenge: the threads! They are silky and thinner than ordinary pearl cotton threads. And they are really evil! They got entangled in just one moment! Phew…
However, the result worth the efforts, I think:

As for tutorial for kiku - here is the good one: Watch a Temari be Made Photo Essay.

Here is my new finished project: baby birth record. I am planning to finish it in a frame, but have not decided type and size yet. I’ve changed the font, took one from Cross Stitch And Country Crafts magazine. Since it is in Russian, the name of baby is ANNA, not AHHA ;)

I would never show you my first temari, because it is terrible! But since every my friend who wants to try is afraid to fail, I used to show them my firstie ;)

Here is the story.
I was reading russian community of japanese learners and one member mentioned temari and asked everybody if anyone know how to do it’s base. I wondered, what the hell is temari and why she is asking about it in study japanese community. So I’ve searched the net and discovered the whole world of making this gourgeous japanese toys and best site on temari I’ve ever seen: TemariKai.
It was a great day - 8th of May, 2006. I’ve spended half a day reading TemariKai site and then decided to try to do one. I was eager to start, never read whole detailed instructions, so my first temari came out such a freak :)
I assure you, other’s firsties are much more beautyful, mine is exception. I hope this story will give you inspiration to try!