Showing posts with label Elemental Dragons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elemental Dragons. Show all posts

Sunday, 13 December 2015

Elemental Dragons - framed

Good morning,

Remember I purchased some frames last week? Well, here's the first frame being used for my four Elemental Dragons by Dragon Dreams Inc. available as free charts here. These were all stitched on 16ct Nebula from The Crafty Kitten as part of Debbie's Crazy January/February 2015 Challenge. I absolutely love these designs and can't believe I waited so long to frame them.

As a reminder, these are the four Dragons of Air, Water, Earth and Fire:




This is the frame I ordered:



Here they are individually mounted:




And this is how they all look together:



I used my usual internet framing service, ezeframe.co.uk, ordering a dark pink top mount, dark grey bottom mount and dark grey frame. The glazing should be anti-reflective acrylic but I received acrylic in error and therefore had a lot of problems taking decent photographs! With hindsight I should have allowed room for more of the lovely fabric to show instead of the mounts being so close to the stitching, but nevermind. Anyway, too much more fabric and the dragons would have looked lost.

I really wanted blue for the bottom mount but, as you can imagine, blue looked awful against the greeny-brown earth and orangey-red fire colours. I then thought about having four different colour bottom mounts to coordinate with each dragon but couldn't be bothered with the detailed measuring! So I finally opted for a dark grey mount as it is the only colour consistent across all four dragons.

What do you think? I'm really pleased with how it's all come together - which is much better in real life than the photograph. Now to hang it with my menagerie of other stitching.

I'll post about the other frames I bought over the next few days. One at a time is enough, especially when I waffle on so much!

Take care everyone,
Rachel x

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Challenge Finishes 5 and 6

Good morning!

I have another two Challenge finishes to proudly show you!

Not being content with finishing the first two dragons in this series, out came Dragon of Earth from 10th January. He didn't call to me as much as the previous two, mainly because of his drab dark colours, but I still felt the urge to finish him and am pleased with the result.

Dragon of Earth
Free chart from Dragon Dreams Inc.
Stitch count 38 wide by 69 high
Stitched on 16ct Nebula hand-dyed Aida by The Crafty Kitten 2 over 1
Started - 10th January 2015
Finished - 22nd March 2015
Total stitching time - 14 hours 15 minutes


And not wanting to be left out, Dragon of Air from 3rd January pleaded with me to complete him too. Well, why not? I had intended to use a blending filament in the clouds but decided against it as none of the other dragons had any sparkle. I think I made the right choice.

Dragon of Air
Free chart from Dragon Dreams Inc.
Stitch count 37 wide by 68 high
Stitched on 16ct Nebula hand-dyed Aida by The Crafty Kitten 2 over 1
Started - 3rd January 2015
Finished - 24th March 2015
Total stitching time - 11 hours


Once again, the recommended Kreinik was substituted for normal DMC on both dragons and I used a different blue for the darker parts of Dragon of Air's tummy.

I've got a few ideas about how I would like to frame the four Elemental Dragons, with costs ranging from £4 to £30. But until I look into them further these two finishes will join their siblings in my box of shame.

6/59 Challenge pieces down, 53 to go, although I think these will be my last Challenge finishes for a while.

Love and hugs,
Rachel x

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Challenge Finishes 3 and 4

Hello fellow bloggers!

The blogoversary giveaway prizes have been claimed and I am glad to see so many other entrants congratulating the winners. That's how nice stitchers are. On behalf of the winners, thank you.

But..... the main reason for this posting..... I have two more Challenge finishes!

Firstly, sitting majestically on the crest of a wave is Dragon of Water from 24th January. All I had left to do were the tail, the waves and the backstitching. Once I'd picked him up I couldn't put him down so was very naughty and finished him in one stint, stitching well into the early hours. Ooops!

Dragon of Water
Free chart from Dragon Dreams Inc.
Stitch count 38 wide by 69 high
Stitched on 16ct Nebula hand-dyed Aida by The Crafty Kitten 2 over 1
Started - 24th January 2015
Finished - 4th March 2015
Total stitching time - 10 hours 20 minutes


Secondly, Dragon of Fire from 17th January. I love his bright colours and seriously had to force myself to put him down each night instead of staying up to finish him. I might restrict the amount of sleep I have but I do need some!

Dragon of Fire
Free chart from Dragon Dreams Inc.
Stitch count 38 wide by 69 high
Stitched on 16ct Nebula hand-dyed Aida by The Crafty Kitten 2 over 1
Started - 17th January 2015
Finished - 9th March 2015
Total stitching time - 15 hours


On both dragons I am glad I substituted the recommended Kreinik for normal DMC. Not only do I avoid Kreinik whenever possible but I also think they look fine without any sparkle.

These two will probably sit in my box of shame until their siblings are finished which will be..... who knows when?! Then I'll decide if I am going to frame them separately or as a quartet.

4/59 Challenge pieces down, 55 to go!

Love and hugs,
Rachel x

Sunday, 25 January 2015

DUCJC 2015 - Day 24

Good morning!

Yesterday was the last of the Elemental Dragons, a set which I love and to which I will immediately return once the daily new starts come to an end. As is so often the case at weekends a Top Gear Challenges DVD went on and I had hours of pure uninterrupted stitching in the company of my son.


Dragon of Water
Free chart from Dragon Dreams Inc.
Stitched on 16ct Nebula hand-dyed Aida by The Crafty Kitten 2 over 1


Us DUCJCers are now entering our final week of new starts. January has simply flown by!

Love and hugs
Rachel x

Sunday, 18 January 2015

DUCJC 2015 - Day 17

Hello All!

I woke up this morning to the harshest frost of the winter and a tiny flurry of snow. Pity anybody who's out in this weather camping - like my daughter! Well, her camp is called "Frost Camp" so if it was warm it would kind of defeat the object!!

These dragon charts are really addictive and my plan of sending the boys out for the day sort of worked in that they stayed indoors but left me alone to stitch for quite a long time. I made a lot of progress and for once thought I would not leave all the backstitching until last!


Dragon of Fire
Free chart from Dragon Dreams Inc.
Stitched on 16ct Nebula hand-dyed Aida by The Crafty Kitten 2 over 1


Love and hugs
Rachel x

Sunday, 11 January 2015

DUCJC 2015 - Day 10

Hello everyone!

Here's day 10's start. I did sit and stitch much more than I should have done, but hubby and the children were amusing themselves so I took advantage!


Dragon of Earth
Free chart from Dragon Dreams Inc.
Stitched on 16ct Nebula hand-dyed Aida by The Crafty Kitten 2 over 1


To begin with I wasn't too keen on the earthy colours, but seeing as he's an Earth Dragon they make perfect sense so are now growing on me. His green scales should be brighter and in Kreinik but I substituted for an earthy DMC. Goodness knows what the red bits are. His finger and toe nails are in the same red so fangs perhaps? 

Back tomorrow with a cutie.

Love and hugs
Rachel x

Sunday, 4 January 2015

DUCJC 2015 - Day 3

Good morning again!

I am very ashamed of myself for yesterday's progress. You see, this is the smallest of my 31 starts and I love it to pieces so I just kept on stitching... and stitching... and stitching! I did a bit early morning, more in the afternoon (whilst my son and I watched a Top Gear Challenges DVD) and even more in the evening, amounting to just over 5 hours in total. Oooops! When it comes to it I'll be stitching the tummy and swirls in DMC rather than the recommended Kreinik but adding some blending filament to the white clouds for a little bit of sparkle.


Dragon of Air
Free chart from Dragon Dreams Inc.
Stitched on 16ct Nebula hand-dyed Aida by The Crafty Kitten 2 over 1


Tomorrow's start will definitely not be as productive as we will be taking down the Christmas decorations and preparing for school on Monday.

See you in the morning!

Love and hugs,
Rachel x