The dragon has spoken

It's been a while since I made a gift for someone who responded to my 'self' blog post earlier this year.  The months are ticking by fast now so I'm going to have to make sure I pick up the speed a bit to get everyone a little something made before the end of 2012.

The dragon has spoken once again, the next name has been drawn and as you can see from the picture above, stitching has begun :)

Friends

Do you remember way back here, me telling you about a cross stitch project that I had started as a surprise for a friend?  Well I've decided to get it back out of hibernation and for a bit of a break from crochet have started working on it again.

The reason that it was in hibernation in the first place is that the friend that it was originally meant for has dropped off the face of the earth.  In this day and age, friends get spread far and wide across the globe, so it's not easy just to drop by and check someone is ok when they are half a world away.  I really hope that she is ok, I've tried everything I can to try and contact her but so far no response.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will pop back up and I can still send the gift, but if not I'm sure it will get used for something.

The crochet is still progressing by the way. I have probably about 10 rounds to go before the back is finished, but as the piece grows the rounds take longer and longer to complete but hopefully it won't be too long before it's done :)

Self Pay It Forward - Part Two

Now that I know it's arrived at its new home safe and sound I can tell you about the little picture that I recently finished, the second gift for one of the people that were kind enough to comment on my 'Self' post back in January.  You can read all about the little dragon that is safe guarding the names of the people that commented and sent me their details back here.

This time round the dragon gave me Celia to make something for.  You can visit Celia's blog here.  Having found Celia on facebook a few weeks back I found out that she has a birthday in August just like me.  That triggered the idea for the gift that I made her.

I found a little cross stitch pattern in the book I mentioned back here for a native american birth totem.

I really like how this turned out.  The colours are lovely and it didn't take too long to stitch up ... probably because I was enjoying it so much.  It's nice to have another finished project to add to the list too, there don't seem to have been many so far this year, but life is all about balance and I'm having fun doing lots of different things at the moment so not enough hours in the day to spend on craft as I would like.

Now it's time for me to go off and find out who the dragon is going to choose next.......

Busy Stitching

Although I've been a bit absent here I haven't been entirely lazy. I've been busy stitching my next PIF gift

I'm only showing you a sneaky peek of what the project looked like at it's beginning as this doesn't really give anything away.

It's actually finished now and on it's way to the recipient so hopefully it won't be too much longer before I actually have some finished stitching to show you ..... it's been a while, lol

Myth and Magic

The dragon in the last post and my recent trip to Glastonbury, have set me on the path of myth and magic again. I've always loved the idea of fantasy world's full of dragons, wizards, faeries and other creatures of myth.

After my trip to Glastonbury the other weekend I was reminded of a cross stitch picture that I made years and years ago, that has been languishing in the cupboard. I decided that it was high time that it came out of the cupboard and put on display again.

It's quite tricky to take a good photo as it's behind glass and that means lots of reflection.  I would have made this sometime in my late teens or early twenties so getting on for 15 years or so ago now.

I've really enjoyed looking at it again, revisiting all of the lovely detail in the picture and remembering the happy hours that went in to its stitching.  I'd love to be able to tell you who designed this piece, but I'm afraid I wasn't very good at keeping records of my stitching back then.  I have in mind to maybe take it out of the frame someday and make it the centrepiece for a larger hanging, but we'll see.

Also on my trip to Glastonbury I had to treat myself to a little gift.  My sister got me on the path of collecting these nemesis faeries as she has bought me a couple for birthday gifts these last years, so when I saw this beautiful creature holding out her clockwork heart she just had to come home with me.

Although I said at the start of the post that I seem to have be drawn back to myth and magic again, actually I think that it's something that is always in the background somewhere and I noticed that I've been burning these for quite a few weeks now .... more dragons :)

And finally just before I go I think I've decided on the project that I'm going to be making for the next Self 'pay it forward' recipient.  I picked this book up a couple of years ago from a discount book store but have never stitched anything from it, but I think I've found just what I'm looking for in it's pages.  I just need to check I have all of the cotton I need and I can get cracking :)

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

Algerian Eyes

Before I get to the main point of this post I want to thank everyone who commented on my last post for their kind words of encouragement and support. Twelve comments so far so that is one person a month to send a little surprise to.  I'll be emailing you all soon for your snail mail details.

 I just realised that 2012 is the year of the Dragon in the Chinese horoscope, I was also born in a year of the dragon that has to be a sign that 2012 will be my year right?  :)

I've been a little lazy the last couple of weeks when it comes to creative endeavours.  I have been making a little progress on the surprise project though,

I've been working away on some Algerian eye stitching.  It's a bit hard going on the eyes working it on the linen fabric, but I love the delicate pattern that is emerging.  Well worth the effort I think.

Hope you all have a beautiful and fulfilling weekend.  XX

New Project

I'll be back soon with some updates on a few of the projects that you saw me working on at the end of last year, but the new year isn't the new year without a new project to work on.

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I won't be saying too much about this one and I probably won't show too many updates as it's a surprise gift for a friend who I know reads my blog, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm back to stitching again ... and loving it.