In order to honor my Ukrainian heritage, I want to show Ukrainian embroidered hand towels called rushnyks, which traditionally were used for religious and ceremonial events or hung on the walls as decorations.
I received the two rushnyks below from my aunt as keepsakes when I was leaving Ukraine for America. She cross-stitched them herself when she was young. In the past, many village girls would make rushnyks for their dowry, but this tradition is long gone. Nowadays, rushnyks are occasionally used in ceremonial events (for example, weddings), but very few people would actually hand make them.
This third rushnyk has flat embroidery (I don’t know the proper name of this stitch in English). I received it from my grandparents’ neighbor. A very sweet old lady gave it to me as a present.
Now it is your turn. You can link your posts about handmade items below. If you are joining for the first time, please see the guidelines here.
I am away on vacation, so I have lots of sightseeing to do. But I will check all the entries when I come back on Wednesday. Until then!
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16 comments:
Dearest Olga,
You might want to add what rushnyks actually are; what they are used for... I have no idea!
As for the stitches, have a look here http://bit.ly/7COKH
Those roses are work of art; done lovingly by very talented ladies!
Enjoyed reading this and sending you sunny greetings from Georgia,
MariettesBacktoBasics
Dear Olga,
such a nice needlework of your aunt. It will give you always the feeling to be still in touch with your homecountry, Ukraine.
Have a nice week!
Anja
the rushnyks are just stunning olga! prized possessions, no doubt!
thanks for hosting this party. very sweet of you!
Those are so very lovely.
Dear Olga, these pieces are gorgeous! Many, many hours of work to create such lovely rushnyks! What a treasure.
Good morning Olga, I hope you have been having a very lovely vacation.
The rushnyks you've shared with us today are so beautiful and wonderfully crafted. I very much liked this post and I am going to go do some searching on the Net to find out more about this beautiful Ukrainian tradition.
Thank you so much for sharing your lovely rushnyks with us all,
Susan
http://simplepleasuressimpletreasures.blogspot.com/
Olga......that was such a nice gift that your Aunt gave you.... they are beautiful and the work on those rushnyk's is amazing. I also have my Baba's rushnyk's that I keep and will hand down to my daughter. She sewed them before she got married and her Mother around the 1920's. Thanks you for sharing this post. Have a great day!
Oh Olga...the embroidery is magnificent. Such handiwork! I'm sure you cherish them, they certainly are one of a kind and quite beautiful.
xoxo
Nancy
Красивые рушники, и такие белоснежные, хорошо сохранились,а у моей бабушки есть такой же как и третий, кстати на английском шов гладь называется сrewel )))
Hello Olga,
Your towels are gorgeous, very talented embroidery work there!! My guess on the stitch name is satin stitch (just a guess, if you are interested it would give you a name to compare to).
I hope you are having a wonderful vacation, it is an amzing trip!!
Bella
Olga, these are absolutely beautiful. I know you will treasure them always. I can't imagine all the work that went into them.
Hola Olga, these are the most beautiful embroidered hand towels I have ever seen, in love with all of them!!!
cariños,
maria cecilia
wow! they are gorgeous!
Hi Olga.
My family also comes from the Ukraine and we love these handmade things from there.
Have a great day, Olga.
Hi Olga..
just catching up on some of your previous posts.. I do hope that you had a wonderful holiday in the Ukraine! U kive Ukranian hand stiched work. I have a couple of beautiful hand made and stiched tea table cloths, brought back my Petro and Maria.
I adore these "Rushnycks" how i would love to have some in my guest rooms.
thank you Olga.
val
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