Dragon Boo: First Post

My apologizes, I've been absent again.  At least it's not as long as last time.  I got caught up on a few books, then my cable modem died so I had to purchase a new one, then get it set up with my internet provider.

I don't normally do very many seasonal pieces, but then I saw this one, and there are four more.  I thought they were cute.  And looking at the other three that goes with it, Dragon Love, Dragon Noel and Dragon Hoppy, and how small they are, I just couldn't resist.

I first changed the lettering for the "Boo" from regular black to the black high luster.

And so I added in colors that I found in my stash.

Then I had to buy two colors, I ran out of the light green, and I couldn't find my glow in the dark white, yep, the little ghost glows in the dark!

Now I just need to do the back-stitching and I'm not really in the mood to do it, so I'll finish it up next month.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Dragon Boo!
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams & X's & Oh's
Started Stitching: October 5, 2014
Fabric: 28ct. Eek! Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, Kreinik 1 over 2
Percentage: 100% complete, minus back-stitching
Stitches: 1250 out of 1250 complete

The Lion: Third Post - Framed

I framed The Lion a while back, but just forgot to take a picture of it, and post about it.

I'm hoping to be able to frame the rest in a similar fashion.  Which, I will, unless the frame gets discontinued, I guess I should stitch the rest quickly so I can frame them similarly.

Just a short little post, but one project completely finished.

Nocturne: Fifth Post - Complete

I, once again, had the desire to clean up my WIP page.  This time I had some success!  I pulled Nocturne out from it's drawer and within two nights I completed it, makes me wonder why I took so long to finally finish it.

It's always interesting going from 28 ct stitching to 14 ct.  I always feel like the stitches are way too big, especially when I'm doing 14 ct on 28 ct.  I start thinking, maybe I went over three instead of two.  And toward the end I actually did on two stitches, but I caught that before I even crossed them.

And as I've been doing with this piece I've taken a picture one dragon at a time.  First dragon:

Second dragon:

Third dragon (and complete):

So, one off of my to finish list, and one added to my to frame list.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Nocturne
Pattern by: Fire Wing Designs
Started Stitching: May 29, 2013
Finished Stitching: October 3, 2014
Fabric: 28ct. Lunar Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC & Weeks Dye Works 2 over 2
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 8,799 out of 8,799 complete

Faces of Faery 88: Third Post

Look at me go!  I'm trying to be a better blogger.  Or at least write a few more posts than I have so far this year.

So I went onto the greens on the dragon, and her eyes.  Oh, I also stitched the white, which is kind of hard to see.  I decided to take a picture after I doubled the number of colors I had stitched, so here's 20 colors completed:

Then I finished up all the green, and did a random pink when I found I was missing two greens:

I just realized that I took this picture after I had doubled my color count again, now I've stitched 40 colors, and those 30 colors I stitched were only about 4% of the overall design.

I'm going back to fleshy colors, and maybe finishing the colors in her lips, at least until I get tired of fleshy colors and go to purples and blues in the dragon.  The greens are really the only confetti heavy section of the piece, there are a few more spots here and there, but it should be smooth sailing from here.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Faces of Faery 88
Original Artist: Jasmine Becket-Griffith
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: October 4, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. White Evenweave
Floss: DMC 1 over 1
Percentage: 70.60% complete
Colors Stitched: 40 of 89 complete
Stitches: 21,744 out of 30,800 complete

Faces of Faery 88: Second Post

Well, I've gone over the halfway point on Faces of Faery 88, however, I've only stitched 10 colors.  I kept taking pictures meaning to post and then just kept telling myself I'd post when I took the next picture.  I finally am posting.

This is where I hit 50%  More flesh tones.

Then I added one more color, and took a picture.  I decided to take the picture here since I was going to work on a drastically different color.

I added two blues and black.

I'm continuing to work on this mostly.  I've been playing with a few other things that I need to post about.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Faces of Faery 88
Original Artist: Jasmine Becket-Griffith
Pattern by: Heaven and Earth Designs
Started Stitching: October 4, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. White Evenweave
Floss: DMC 1 over 1
Percentage: 66.47% complete
Colors Stitched: 10 of 89 complete
Stitches: 20,474 out of 30,800 complete

Completed Project Add: Cross Stitch - Magnetic Puppies

While I was working at Michaels, the first time, I ran across a cross stitch book with a bunch of puppies in it.  I thought it would be fun to make two Dachshunds for my sister. She had two, a short haired girl (who just recently passed away) on the left and a long haired boy on the right.

There were two problems with my plan.  One, the Dachshund in the book was just brown so I had to change it into a black and tan.  Two, there wasn't a long haired Dachshund pattern, so I took the Cocker Spaniel pattern, shortened the legs, lengthened the body and tail, and changed the color.

And viola, here's the outcome:

I figured it'd be best to make them into magnets.  So I got some cross stitch plastic, stitched them, cut the plastic down, then added a self stick magnetic backing.

I've actually made four sets of these.  Two for my sister, her fridge died and she forgot to take them off and the people who took it away took them with it.  And two for my mother (at the time I originally made them, my nephew wasn't born, so these were her only grandchildren, or grandpuppies), she lost one set, but found it when she moved and gave me back one set, so I now have one set as well.

Original Pattern: An Encyclopedia of Puppies - Modified Dachshund, Pebbles
Pattern by: American School of Needlework
Original Started Stitching: March 2005
Original Finished Stitching: March 2005
Fabric: Darice 14 ct. White Perforated Plastic
Floss: DMC, 3 over 1
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 614 out of 614 complete

Original Pattern: An Encyclopedia of Puppies - Modified Cocker Spaniel, Rocky
Pattern by: American School of Needlework
Original Started Stitching: March 2005
Original Finished Stitching: April 2005
Fabric: Darice 14 ct. White Perforated Plastic
Floss: DMC, 3 over 1
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 985 out of 985 complete

When my mother told me she'd lost the one set I gave her, she told me to just give her the new set as a Christmas present.  I thought, it's kind of boring to know what you're going to get so I decided to make a new magnet for her.  The new magnet I made was an Irish Setter.  Growing up, my eldest "sister" was an Irish Setter.  My parents got her about 4 months before my human elder sister was born.  I didn't like the coloring in the pattern, I thought it looked too light, so I just changed it to darker DMC colors.  I've only made one of these at this point.

Original Pattern: An Encyclopedia of Puppies - Irish Setter, Heidi
Pattern by: American School of Needlework
Started Stitching: November 2009
Finished Stitching: December 2009
Fabric: Darice 14 ct. White Perforated Plastic
Floss: DMC, 3 over 1
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 1,157 out of 1,157 complete

I haven't been able to find a webpage for the company or the book other than used versions, so the link goes to Amazon.com, for now.

The Red Fox: First Post - Complete

This is on the of the projects I started, and completed, during my long absence.  It is the piece that goes with The Lion.

I don't have a whole lot to say about it, except I stitched it on 32ct. Woodland Lugana by Picture This Plus.

The first color:

The rest of the colors in the foxes:

 Then I added in the rocks:

Now some foliage:

And finally the backstitching:

Project Stats:
Pattern: The Red Fox
Pattern by: Gloria & Pat
Started Stitching: April 9, 2014
Finished Stitching: June 28, 2014
Fabric: 32ct. Woodland Lugana
Floss: DMC 2 over 2
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 5,169 out of 5,169 complete

So, that's it.  PTP had their Christmas in July sale, so I finally bought a bit more fabric, including the fabric for The Wolf, which will be the next one of these you see.  Hopefully I'll also have another post of Faces of Faery 88 by the end of the week, and I might also have a completed project add for tomorrow.  Whee!  So much posting after so long.  'Till then!