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.