Finished ... Dragons

Okay it's not finished. Just another row but it's still very exciting. Only three more rows to go!!!
Doesn't add much from the last time you saw the design as his head is there and such, just filled the space in around. As I work on the next page you'll start to see the second dragon come into view better (the blue stuff on the left side is the beginning of that dragon).
I think that a bunch of the rest of this pattern is going to go much faster as the scales are no where near as elaborate as on the green dragon and there is sky over water which is much more solid.
I'm always excited to make progress on dragons. Here they be so far:

And from an angle:

I need to remember to put a coin or something next time I take a photo as it helps with the sizing. My MIL saw it in person for the first time a few weeks back and commented on how she really wasn't sure what it's sizing was or how tiny the stitches were from just seeing it on my blog. Noted to myself to do that next time.

After success with dragons I picked up Soul Mates for a bit and got through most of another half page. I just have to fill in some holes with one colour. So soon I will have more blue blob to show you. Ohhh... how exciting! :)

Not too much else up, just got my February cottage in the mail and need to finish those snowflakes on January. Some small progress with Rose at other people's places that I've gone to stitch lately. That's about all for now.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my beading last time around. I really appreciate it. Haven't done any since but I'll get back to it (eventually) and try something different next time.
Thank you for all your comments!

Beading (that actually worked)

I'm so tickled this morning! I was able to spend some time doing a pattern out of Bead & Button Magazine (while watched Green Bay fall apart) and it actually worked out!!
As you may or may not know I've been trying to play around with beading and making bracelets and the like. I am allergic to metal so it's hard to find pieces I can wear. So I starting thinking why not make my own? Right... that's easier said than done.

So after a year of stashing beads, playing with simple things and receiving beading magazines I finally saw a pattern I thought I knew enough about to tackle. It showed the idea of making diamonds with beads in steps which was just great.

So step 1 was making just a basic stranded bracelet (using the basic concept that the more elaborate bracelet would need). This is what I ended up with:

 

 It was easy enough so I thought I would move onto the next step, these cute little diamonds. After taking over an hour to get 1 complete, I had it down. So I went onto make four more and linked them together with a the simple strand technique above.
Thus ending up with this bracelet here:

I know it's nothing super special but to me it's progress and a step forward. That I can in fact read these bead patterns and stand a chance of making beautiful items. A huge breakthrough for me!

I did also work on dragons (getting close to a page finish on them) and the Raven project (which I need to photograph and share, I'll do that this week).

I am also halfway through my stash re-organization and must have at least 50 patterns/magazines to giveaway! So watch for that soon too.
I will also do the pirate giveaway later this week.

It's really cold here (-27C with windchill -37C) so I'm looking forward to hunkering down tonight and stitching. As no one wants to do anything when it's this cold. (though we still all come to work in this city. Too bad really, imagine all the stitching that could happen during a snow day!)
Hope you're all doing well and will be in touch later this week with some prizes. :)

WIPocalypse #1! (January Cottage)

It's full moon day which means it's WIPocalypse time. I just love this idea it's adorable that Measi came up with. (want more info click the graphic in my sidebar for the details).

This weekend and for most of the past two weeks I've been working on my January Cottage. So it's what I will share today with you. I've not done the snowflakes yet as I'm waiting for some Kreinik's to come in to pick from. And the black french knots are not done as I am using scroll rods so don't want to get them squished.
Other than that.... lol... it's done!

 

I got a bunch done on Dragons yesterday as well. I'm going to keep him going all week to see how close to a page finish I can be. I'm at just past 1/2 way on the page right now. (this will be a complete row so I can't wait to get it done).

Anyone interested in my WIPocalypse goals check out my 2012 goals in my sidebar. There they be. Plus the 100 charts I want to stitch that I already own at home. I really do hope the world doesn't end this year, so much stitching still to do. LOL!!!

It was a busy weekend for the most part so I haven't gotten my stitching closet reorganized or the new storage bought, but it will happen soon, and then the promised giveaways!

Though... I did notice I had 284 followers today! Wow! you all continue to flatter me so much! So here's the deal there will be lots of giveaways this year as I decrease older or gifted stash, but how about we do a PIRATE GIVEAWAY!
Just gotta hit 300 followers and I will have at least one Sue Hillis pirate pattern to give away, plus some goodies. (those that are not familiar with the pirates they were popular a few years back, I have almost all of them, sad but true).
Let's get that follower number up! :)
*hugs*
Mel.

2012 new starts & goals

Well... apparently it is 2012. Where does the time go!
I have many new things to share with you all and then I have my goals of course.
First up is a project I am just loving and am so excited that Vonna let me know about the SAL. It's a cottage stitch-a-long from Country Cottage Needleworks. The SAL is sadly closed (on the blog) but you could always just decide to do it anyways! :)
These are sooo not my kind of patterns. But for whatever reason I still like them. They are so cutsey which I often don't do much of. But I love them anyways. I decided to do them on 40ct (over 2 threads with one thread) to keep the final size down. I'm doing all 12 of them (as they are released each month) on one piece of fabric (three to a row). I am just loving this 40ct linen it's so soft and nice, easy to stitc with surprisingly. Haven't had to pull the magnifier once. Here is my January start:

From there I did have another start called the Raven by L-D-Da. No pics yet as I frogged almost all of what I'd done out when I realized I had an error. It's on a nice brown 30ct (I think it's Weeks Dye Works) the linen is a quite uneven and causing me some problems (and I'm using silks so it's a touch slippery on the thread). What should be an easy project turned into a bit of a nightmare. But I'll get it back on track and show you progress soon!

Right before Christmas I finished another Little Needlehouse Works ornament "Presents under the tree" (I think is what it is called). A fun, quick, cute stitch. Forgive me for the crappy photo. Here she be:

I've been shopping a lot online and on ebay recently as I've stopped shopping at my LNS. It's been great, good deals and all, good customer service. And it's forcing me to plan my projects a bit ahead as I have to wait to get materials etc. Amoungst all the many things I've bought recently was 150 DMC skeins from a lady who used to have a store. 150 skeins on the table looked too fun! I almost hated to sort them and put them in their respective number homes. But here's a picture of the fun that came before the sorting:

Moving onto the goals section.
I did really, really well on my 2011 goals. I finished them all except for 1/2 a page on Dragons. Plus I fit in about 10 extra projects!!! I had 16 finishes this year, 3 1/2 pages of dragons, 2 pages of Soulmates. Not too shappy. I'll post a slideshow tomorrow that has all of the 2012 finishes in it.

So onto 2012. What is the list you ask?
Well it's gonna be a bit more encouraging than last year, as now I know I can do a bit more. But leaving room for those flexible times in ornaments and mill hill kits.

Of course we start with: 
- Judgement Dragons: finish 4 1/2 pages (complete row)
- Swan Songs (HAED: finish 1 page
- Soulmates (HAED): finish bottom row of partial pages (3 remain)
- Cottages (Country Cottage Needleworks): finish all 12 months
- Raven (L-D-Da): finish project
- Once Upon a Tree (Jeanette Douglass): finish project (not yet started)
- Counting Bats (Just Nan): finish project

- Rose SK (HAED): finish project (1 1/2 pages remain)


WIPs I should work on but am not making goals for: 
- Romantic Rose Garden (Chatelaine): (1 of 9 pages complete)
- Winter Woods (Mill Hill kit) (1/3 complete)
- Teal Mask by (Mill Hill kit) (1/2 complete)

UFO's that I am just ignoring still:
 - Elfland by HAED (1 of 3 pages)
- Castles in the Air by Papillion Creations (6 of 24 sections)
- Checkers the Pumpkin by Kreinik
- Faerie Bride QS by Heaven & Earth Designs (0 of 12 pages)
- Argh Pirate by Sue Hillis Designs


There you have it. The list. It seems like a lot at first glance but I know it's doable. Just got to stay committed to Dragons a lot and work the other stuff in. :)

Hope you're all enjoying the beginning of 2012.
I do have some future fun stuff happening. My stitching area is being expanded about 1/3 of it's size, and in doing it I have to reorganize all my stuff... what does that mean for all of you?
MORE GIVEAWAYS!
I'm gonna have a fair bit of stuff to get rid of me thinks. So stick around so you can enter. :)