You can teach an old "dog" new tricks...

I'll have more "old crap" to share...I just need to upload the pictures and blog. But, instead of doing that, I've been busy stitching, working on my little dragon...

Right now, I've got most of the boy's shirt done...and some of his skin and I'm currently finishing up the books he's sitting on. This project has been a little bit of a challenge for me.

• It's done on 36 count linen, which is hard on my old eyes. Much harder than it used to be, and I'm not liking that.
• This is my first time using variegated floss. The books are all done with variegated floss which requires me to adjust how I stitch it.
• I'm not sure how I'm going to do Mr. Dragon's "mane". It's done with a punch needle embroidery, and I've never done that. Don't even own the tool. The directions say you can use regular x-stitch, but I think I'm going to try to figure out how to punch--even if I have to order the tools. It's just too cute having those "curls".
• The teddy bear is done with whisper floss, which is a "furry" floss. I've never used it either, so I'm sure it will be a challenge too.
• I'm stitching with silk floss for the first time ever too. It's not much different than stitching with cotton floss, but I like it. It has just a slight sheen that cotton floss doesn't have.

I still need to order my charms and the bead work for the fairy's wings and I should do that soon.

One thing this project has brought me is connection with other stitchers. I went online and searched for directions on using the variegated floss, and found a couple of wonderful discussion boards and lots of blogs by stitchers. Since I have one friend who stitches, this was a wonderful find! I've learned a lot...like

• Frogging is the term for ripping out stitches. (rip it, rip it, rip it.) Heck, all this time, I've been just calling it "ripping out these #*^%$# stitches!"
• English stitching--is when you stitch one x at a time. That's how I started, one x had the top stitch going / and the next would have it's top stitch going \. I did that for a few years until I learned that all the top slashes were supposed to go the same direction. (with variegated floss, you often do "English" stitching.)
• I learned that many stitchers have more than one project going at a time and switch back and forth between them. I personally don't do that often because I get to compulsive and have to work on something until it's absolutely finished. (I will admit to doing one project that I worked on for 4 year; but that was years ago when I was in college.)
• I've seen photos of lots of different techniques and fabrics that make me drool. And, while I thought I had a lot of floss...well, I've seen photos of some folk's stashes that make my little stash insignificant.

Kev might not be happy to know that I've found all these stitching friends...cause I've got a pretty big wish list going on projects, and fabric, and flosses. But, since I pay the bills, he'll never notice all these packages of supplies that "might" show up at our house, right?

Right.