Completed Project Add: Cross Stitch - Paladin

Here's the finished project add I was referring to in the last post:  A very simple piece, but I think he's striking and wonderful.  Such a proud looking dragon.

Pattern: Paladin
Pattern by: Fire Wing Designs

Started Stitching: June 23, 2010

Finished Stitching: June 25, 2010

Fabric: 28ct. Lava Cashel Linen

Floss: Hand-Dyed Silk 2 over 2

Story about getting this framed:

My sister and I went to the Michael's near her place and went through all the fun of framing this.  When it was ready to pick up we went back, and for some reason our mother was in town and went with us.  Anyway, my sister went to grab something while our mother and I stayed at the counter.  They unwrap it and I'm looking at it thinking, okay, that's the right frame and mats and... hrm... something's not quite right.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's basically correct.

My sister gets back, takes a look at it and instantly says, "Isn't that backwards?"  I look again and, sure enough, he's facing the left!  That's what was so odd, then I look closer and I realize I'm looking at the back of the piece.  They framed it with the back out!  I'm not sure to be beaming with pride that they thought the back of my piece looked so good that it could be mistaken for the front or be annoyed.  I went with the former and shrugged it off.

The framing manager couldn't believe it and was going to give the framer a good talking to.  They fixed it at no charge, of course, and it is how we see it today.  Now I really wish I had taken a picture of it backwards, I would have posted that here as well.

Moving on:
While I was gathering information for this post I went to the website for Fire Wing Designs and found this was part of a whole series of goodies, the Signet Series.  The artist had created ten other patterns in the same style... what can I say, it was love at first sight.

I ended up buying all but two of the ten remaining patterns in the Signet Collection.  One pattern of the eight I purchased is actually 4 different patterns of small 3.5" x 6" pieces that, I think, I could finish each one in a night.  I might end up getting one of the other patterns, but the eleventh is a snake and I'm more into dragons, so I, more than likely, won't purchase that one.

My favorite out of the remaining dragons is Samurai.  He's going to be my next project for me out of the eight I just bought.  Hopefully he'll only take three days like Paladin did.

New project add for this year:
When we were growing up, my sister and I had a black and white bathroom.  So first we started decorating it with black and white things, orcas and the like.  We finally got a pair of black and white comedy and tragedy masks, and after that we started decorating the bathroom with masks.  When our parents moved closer to us my mother kept her "Mask Bathroom".  So I decided to make the two Signet Masks, one with a black background and light thread and one with a light background and dark thread.  Hopefully it will look as good in real life as it does in my head.

And the thread arrived in the mail on Friday so I've already started on it.  I will post progress pictures soon.