Let The People Choose - July 2020

I'd like to thank Jo at Serendipitous Stitching for hosting this monthly SAL.  This months theme is Most Popular Designer.

I have been stitching now for 25 years, surprisingly in all those years I have only stitched 223 projects as of last week.  Most of these were large projects when I first started stitching back in March 1995.  I am also a One at a time stitcher most of the time.  I might have a large project and take a small one for travelling.  This year I am doing 3 SALs, which is the first for me to have so many on the go.

Total Projects - 223

Dragon Dreams - 30 

Just Nan - 25

Country Cottage Needleworks - 13 Santa's Village

Sue Hillis - 6

Other designers - 149 

I have stitched more of Dragon Dreams since it was one of my favourite designers when I first started stitching.  Also both of my boys loved the dragon patterns, so I stitched a lot more of them.

These were all free charts years ago.  This is called 2001 Gemstone Dragons.  I stitched all 12 months for myself and about 8 individual ones for my sons and friends of theirs at the time.

The next project is called Dani the Stitching Dragon.  It was a free chart with no floss colours, she just gave us symbols.  It was a contest, everyone chose their own colours to stitch.  This was my entry.  I won an Honourable Mention and some free autographed patterns from the designer.  I eventually bought the published chart with the designers colour choices.  

Here are a few more free patterns Coffee is Magic and A Spot of Tea.  These still need to be framed.

Another free pattern called Sleeping Dragon.  One of the few projects I stitched using linen.  I'm not really a fan of linen because it is so uneven.  I don't personally like the look of the thin and thick threads weaved throughout the fabric.  I like my stitches to look the same.

I have shown the other large projects Not Forgotten (Noah's Ark with Mythological creatures) and Blackwork Dragon so I won't show them again.  I stitched all of the free Christmyth ornaments, here are a some of them (phoenix, fairy, griffon, giant, unicorn, dragon, mermaid).  

This is the last Dragon Dreams pattern I have stitched (in 2016).  It is a chart from the 2012 Christmas Ornament Magazine.  This pattern is called The Year of the Dragon.  I made it into a flat ornament.

 

FFG - March

Thanks again to Rachel at Ten Hour Stitcher for encouraging us to finish some projects.  I was going to blog about my Quidditch progress and saw Rachel’s blog and felt guilty because I procrastinated all month and didn’t get around to fully finishing anything until this morning.  Thanks Rachel, it’s all your fault.  :)

First up I used a black 5 X 7 frame for the Lesley Teare SAL I did last year.  I couldn’t use the glass because of the beads in the project.  Next time I’m ironing something I can take this out and iron it as well.

The second framed project is by Sue Hillis called Yes, I Can Drive A Stick.  I don’t usually stitch Halloween pictures, but this one I had to do because I actually prefer to drive standard transmission (cars with a stick).  So this project is perfect for me, and I stitched it on purple.  The frame is a little banged up, but I reused it from our house.

The last framed picture is called Blackwork Dragon by Dragon Dreams.  I stitched this way back in 2004.  I believe the model was stitched in one colour, but I thought it would be fun to mix it up.

Finally the one everyone is waiting to see ... Miss Strawberry Mouse.  Remember this is what she looked like before.  I love the pink on pink fabric.

I had to take her outside for a photo because it is a cloudy, rainy day here.  Every room is dark, I was getting shadows.  I assembled her today.  I love how she turned out.  I like the new tails on the mice for the seasonal houses.  It is a wire corded tail instead of the metal shaped tails.  It is hard to see the pink on pink fabric in the photos, but you can see it in real life.  

Dragon Ornament - Happy Dance

I finished the Dragon Dreams ornament a few weeks ago, but forgot to post a photo.  I didn't do the words or the border like on the sample.

I also started a new project tonight called Let's Visit Canada.  I'm stitching it because I live in Canada.

Here is my progress from tonight.

Dragon Ornament

I am working on another ornament from the Just CrossStitch 2012 Christmas Ornaments Magazine.  This one is called The Year of the Dragon - by Dragon Dreams.  I had to stop because I ran out of DMC 501 to finish the numbers 1 & 2 for the body.

This is what it should look like when it is finished.  I won't be doing the border.  Not sure if I will add the words or not.