Here Be Dragons: Third Post - Framed

Here's the second half of Compass Rose Dragon, Here Be Dragons.  So, except for the specialty cut around Compass Rose Dragon, I framed them the same.

And that's all I have for this post.  Much shorter than Compass Rose Dragon.

Compass Rose Dragon: Fourth Post - Framed

So this will be a little bit longer than a single picture with a framed piece.  As most of you know, I worked in framing and many people I framed for don't know about a simple option, so I'm going to show you really quickly.

Most people know when you frame and mat items there's a white 45° bevel on the edge of the mats.  But what most people don't know, is you can make it so the white doesn't show, it's called a reverse bevel.

On this piece I wanted a reverse bevel on my mats, however, the chop shop didn't cut them correctly so I have the two different options to show side by side:

Regular Bevel

Reverse Bevel

I thought the white from the bevel was too bright with this piece, I thought it looked much better without it.  Especially since the mat colors are so dark.  You can't even tell the middle mat is green on the first picture, or, at least, I can't.

And finally it's all put together with the frame:

And that's it from me this post.  I have actually been working on stuff, I just haven't gotten far enough to actually post anything on them.

12 Dragonlets of Christmas: Sixteenth Post - Framed

Here's an oldie.  It was finished in September of 2013.  I'm almost positive I framed it not too long after that.  However, I just recently hung it on my wall.  It was sitting wrapped up because I wasn't sure where I was going to put it.  It actually replaced a different picture, and the other picture found a new home.  I know it's Christmas, but I just don't want it to be hidden for ¾ of the year.

And finally another long overdue post done.  I have a few more in the wings.

Dragon Boo: Second Post - Complete

In keeping with the theme of yesterday's post.  Here's another random finish on something I haven't posted on in a while.  October 30th of last year to be exact.  Not as long ago as Dragon Game, but close enough.

I never added this to the WIP page because all I had left was back stitching and I figured I'd get that done quickly.  However, I had a large aversion to back stitching, I guess, and just never finished it up.  At least until today, or last night, depending on how you look at things.

I had the first dragon done shortly after my last post.  Today (Yesterday) I did the other three.

And finally a very small project that should have taken less than a week is done in a little over a year.

And now it's time for bed.  Good Night!

Project Stats:
Pattern: Dragon Boo!
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams & X's & Oh's
Started Stitching: October 5, 2014
Finished Stitching: October 15, 2015
Fabric: 28ct. Eek! Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, Kreinik 1 over 2
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 1250 out of 1250 complete

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

Compass Rose Dragon: Third Post - Complete

After Rahenna graciously sent me the Kreinick thread I needed I was able to finish stitching Compass Rose Dragon.  Thanks Rahenna!

Here the thread is added in the center of the piece.

And the backstitching is in.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Here Be Dragons - Compass Rose Dragon
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams
Started Stitching: January 26, 2014
Finished Stitching: February 22, 2014
Fabric: 28ct. DMC Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 1,744 out of 1,744 complete

Compass Rose Dragon: Second Post

I got as far as I could on Compass Rose Dragon.

A couple of days ago I finished up the darkest and lightest greens, and did the remainder of the yellow.

Last night I did more of the greens, then finished up with them and the navy blue today.

I still do not know where my vintage gold Kreinik thread is, so I'll put it on hold for now.  Once I find it, I'll finish it off along with the back stitching.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Here Be Dragons - Compass Rose Dragon
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams
Started Stitching: January 26, 2014
Fabric: 28ct. DMC Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 98.52% complete
Stitches: 1,720 out of 1,744 complete

Compass Rose Dragon: First Post

Finally, I started working on the second half of the Here Be Dragons charts, the Compass Rose Dragon.  To see the front page of the chart pack just go to the original post for Here Be Dragons.  I was cleaning up the piles of thread and realized one pile was for this, I decided to stitch it before putting the thread away.

I  actually got quite far today.  I started with the compass part, the blues, and the yellow middle.

Then added the reds and the red of the compass.

And finally the rest of the compass except for the navy blue outer circle since the entire thing is back stitched in navy blue, so I'll do that color last right before I start back stitching.

Now it's time to continue on to the dragon.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Here Be Dragons - Compass Rose Dragon
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams
Started Stitching: January 26, 2014
Fabric: 28ct. DMC Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 57.68% complete
Stitches: 1,006 out of 1,774 complete

You Are My Gift: Third Post

Just a short post today.

My nephew was finally born last Tuesday, November 12, 2013.  Or 11-12-13 as we write it in the states.  I was finally able to finish up the stitching on You Are My Gift, which I did today.

Now I just need to put them together.

You Are My Gift: Second Post

I started working on the second ornament for my sister's Christmas present.  I actually did all of the cross stitches on July 3rd.  However I got derailed shortly after.

I started with the stocking and eggshells:

Followed by all the greens not in the baby dragon:

And this shot is practically the same as the other one, all the cross stitches are done, all that's left is backstitching.

I worked on the backstitching yesterday after I finished Logan's name and finished it up this morning.

I am so glad I'm done with this.  I still really didn't like working on this fabric.  I really like Picture this Plus' fabric, but this weave was just too tight, it was difficult for me to stitch on it, but it looks good.

Project Stats:
Pattern: You Are My Gift, Ornament #2
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams
Started Stitching: July 3, 2013
Finished Stitching: November 4, 2013
Fabric: 40ct. Legacy Newcastle Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2; Kreinik 1 over 2; Fuzzy Stuff 1 strand
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 740 out of 740 complete

As I mentioned before these are going to be ornaments, hopefully ball ornaments, I've seen some really nice ones online, hopefully I can do as good a job as some I've seen.  So, one side will be the cross stitched dragon and dragonlet, on the other side will be my nephews' names and birth dates.

I did the first one on July 1st, it only took an hour or so:

I tried to use the text "You Are My Gift" as a base and make this look like the same font.

Now I just need my second nephew to be born, yes he's still being stubborn, and I can finish the second one.  Oh and I guess I should assemble them, I think it'll be easier to assemble both of them at the same time.

Here Be Dragons: Second Post - Complete

What?  Another completed project?  How did that happen?

So, after my last post on this, back in early August, I did the rest of the cross stitches:

It was going so well and so fast I didn't even add it to my WIP page because I thought I'd have it done in no time...

And then I started on the backstitching and got bored, really, really bored.  There was just so much of it, and it seemed to never end.  So I put it aside and worked on other stuff.  Thursday I finally picked it up again and told myself I wouldn't be able to work on anything until it was done, so I finished up the dragon on the right with the eastern hemisphere this morning:

And tonight, the left dragon and western hemisphere:

I did leave out the 2002 that was at the bottom.  If I had stitched it in 2002 I probably would have kept it, but, since it didn't have any meaning to me, I left it out.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Here Be Dragons
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams
Started Stitching: July 11, 2013
Finished Stitching: September 27, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. DMC Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 2,998 out of 2,998 complete

I have one more little project that I started on and am only lacking the backstitching on it.  My goal is to have that one finished up by the end of the weekend.  Why so long?  I have many plans between now and then and I don't like it when I don't make my own deadlines, not that there are any repercussions, but it's nice to be able to keep a goal.

12 Dragonlets of Christmas: Fifteenth Post - Complete

Yay it's done, it feels good to finish something after such a long time.  So, after many hours of designing borders, deleting things that didn't work, and, of course, the stitching, 12 Dragonlets of Christmas is done.  Are you ready to take a look?

So this is at the bottom, you can see the border above it.  I added two poinsettias which I slightly modified from the library on my stitching program, and I added some words between them, can you read them without the backstitching?

Well, it might have been easy to guess, just look at the post title.  But here's the backstitching added:

Normally I take the picture before I "sign" it, but I specifically left a space for my signature when I designed it, so I figured I should put it in.

And here it is in all it's glory:

It really is complete.  I haven't designed anything I like for the drum face, so I'm probably not going to add anything after all.  Who knows, something might show up there by the time I frame it.

Project Stats:
Pattern: 12 Dragonlets of 2012
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams Facebook Page
Started Stitching: September 6, 2013
Finished Stitching: September 25, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. Legacy Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC & ThreadworX 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 100% complete
Stitches: 4,175 out of 4,175 complete

Well, I hope you enjoyed watching this take shape.  I don't know why, but I really thought this was going to take much longer to stitch.  I even had a stint last weekend of no stitching since I was out of town.  And now it's about time to start focusing on Christmas presents.  It'll be here before I know it, that's usually what happens.  See you next post!

12 Dragonlets of Christmas: Fourteenth Post

It's been a while, hasn't it.  After getting almost a post a day from me did you miss me?  Yeah, probably not.  But I have one more part of my dragons done.

First up, I stitched the main color of the main border, I kind of think it looks like little dragon prints, but, unfortunately, that wasn't what I was going for.  But it has given me an idea on a possible future project.

Next I did the other green and red.  Okay, much better, at least now it looks like holly, which was my plan.

And some backstitching for the stems, I guess, of the holly.  And the corners have red snowflakes, yes red, white wouldn't show up.

Nope, still not done :D  You might see the final version in the next post for this project.

Project Stats:
Pattern: 12 Dragonlets of 2012
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams Facebook Page
Started Stitching: September 6, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. Legacy Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC & ThreadworX 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 91.35% complete
Stitches: 3,814 out of 4,175 complete

12 Dragonlets of Christmas: Thirteenth Post

Are you ready for the layout?  Here's how everything looked after I finished #10 earlier tonight:

I find it interesting that when I put them on my WIP page they ended up in the same layout by pure chance just due to the width of the pictures and the width of my blog space.

I next added in some borders to separate each dragonlet of Christmas.  It took me a while to come up with something to go there.  I was trying to decide if I wanted to do just backstitching or single cross stitches, but that seemed too boring.  After quite a bit of playing around I decided to go with a stitch I originally stitched on two previous Dragon Dreams charts, Lost Dragon Sampler and Tales of Wonder, called a herringbone stitch.  I decided to use a variegated thread by ThreadworX called Christmas Candy, and here's how it turned out:

I had purchased three skeins of the thread, but I didn't even use half of one, oh well, I'm sure I'll find something else one day to use it on.  I was kind of hoping that the border would be a little bit more random, but I think it looks nice the way it is.  Actually I probably don't need to do anything else but frame it, but... where's the fun in that?

Project Stats:
Pattern: 12 Dragonlets of 2012
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams Facebook Page
Started Stitching: September 6, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. Legacy Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC & ThreadworX 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 70.75% complete
Stitches: 2,954 out of 4,175 complete

You may notice no change in the stats, that's because I really don't know how to count backstitching as stitches, also when I added these to the program I made them as backstitches, and the program counts backstitching in inches, not stitches, it was 99.79" or 8.3' (2.5m) if you're curious.

So on with the next bit, it's going to take a bit longer than this bit.  I have no idea how long, so I'll just say I'll be back when I'm back.

12 Dragonlets of Christmas: Twelfth Post

They're done!!  All 12 dragonlets have been stitched with #10 Dragons Leaping being the last one completed.  And it is the least involved with stitching.  But really, with a leaping dragon what can you add?

I was originally not going to take three pictures of this one since there were so few colors, but I figured I might as well keep the posts the same, so here he is with all the greens... really most of the piece:

And the 15 stitches that weren't in the previous picture:

And he's done!

Project Stats:
Pattern: 12 Dragonlets of 2012
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams Facebook Page
Started Stitching: September 6, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. Legacy Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 70.75% complete
Stitches: 2,954 out of 4,175 complete

I'll show you a picture of the layout in the next post where I'll be adding some borders.  You can see I still have almost 30% of the piece left to do so there's still much more to come!

12 Draognlets of Christmas: Eleventh Post

This is going to be my last post today.  My elbow is hurting me due to a case of tennis elbow that I've been ignoring.  Not my smartest move.

Anyway, here's the second to last dragon, #11 Dragons Piping.

As per usual, the greens of the dragon are first.

Followed by everything else:

Tons and tons of backstitching.  Lots of colors, but it looks really nice completed.

He looks good, don't you think?  I think he's my third favorite.

Project Stats:
Pattern: 12 Dragonlets of 2012
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams Facebook Page
Started Stitching: September 6, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. Legacy Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 66.27% complete
Stitches: 2,767 out of 4,175 complete

I've saved the easiest for last, as least in my opinion #10 is the easiest.  I believe I'll have him finished either Saturday or Sunday, depending on how long the American Football game I'm going to tomorrow lasts.

12 Dragonlets of Christmas: Tenth Post

#4 Calling Collie Birds has been completed.  Just two left!  I don't have much to say on this one so I'll just show you the pictures.

Dragon greens, as usual:

The rest of the colors, not nearly as many as the last one.

And the backstitching, this time it has more red backstitching in it.  I love the cord wrapped around the dragon.

Project Stats:
Pattern: 12 Dragonlets of 2012
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams Facebook Page
Started Stitching: September 6, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. Legacy Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 60.69% complete
Stitches: 2,534 out of 4,175 complete

10 and 11 are left!  Stick around, then you can see what my plans are.

12 Dragonlets of Christmas: Ninth Post

Finally, the one I've been putting off, #3 French Hens.  This pattern has the most ¼ and ¾ stitches.  I also believe it has the most colors, and quite possibly the most backstitching.  Which is why I did two others ahead of it.  But it's finally done, yay!  Picture time.

Just the dragon colors first:

And the rest, which took forever, at least it seemed to.

And finally the backsticthing, changing it from a blob of colors in to something that makes sense.

I didn't notice until I stitched it that the lower left hen is wearing a beret, how cute!

Project Stats:
Pattern: 12 Dragonlets of 2012
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams Facebook Page
Started Stitching: September 6, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. Legacy Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 54.77% complete
Stitches: 2,287 out of 4,175 complete

So I only have three left.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to get one more done today, and I'd love to get two or all three done.  It all depends on how fast I stitch and if I decide to eat, which reminds me, I really should eat lunch now, even though it's 3pm.

12 Dragonlets of Christmas: Eighth Post

Here's another one complete.  I did the very first one, #1 Partridge in a Pear Tree.  I'm actually a little embarrassed to say that I didn't see the dragon the first time I saw the chart.  He does appear to be hiding though!

Here he is, and a few other colors since there were so few dragon stitches.

And now the remainder of the tree and all the pears.

And #1 is done:

I actually went out of my original planned order with this one and #2.  Next I'm going to work on the one I skipped to do these two since they were "easier".

Project Stats:
Pattern: 12 Dragonlets of 2012
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams Facebook Page
Started Stitching: September 6, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. Legacy Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 48.14% complete
Stitches: 2,010 out of 4,175 complete

12 Dragonlets of Christmas: Seventh Post

Well, I changed my plans.  I was going to do a more complicated number, but I changed my mind and worked on #2 Turtle Doves instead.  It took less than 2.5 hours to stitch.

There is alot of green in this one, but here are the greens that are in the dragon, and a little bit on the turtle doves:

And the rest of the greens, and a few other colors:

And finally the backstitching:

I'm over halfway done with the dragonlets.  but apparently only 41% done with the entire piece.  But it's still going faster than I anticipated.

Project Stats:
Pattern: 12 Dragonlets of 2012
Pattern by: Dragon Dreams Facebook Page
Started Stitching: September 6, 2013
Fabric: 28ct. Legacy Cashel Linen
Floss: DMC 2 over 2, or 1 over 2 Kreinick #4 Braid
Percentage: 41% complete
Stitches: 1,712 out of 4,175 complete