October 14, 2021

TGIFF - Dragon (Stage 1)

Welcome to TGIFF for this week 😊 I am really excited to share this finish because it has been a loooooooong time coming!

The pattern is The Castle, by Teresa Wentzler. When I went looking for a link to her shop, I was surprised to see that the pattern has been discontinued, but you can find many of her other designs here. I remember that I bought the pattern the summer we got married, so 1999, but I don't remember when I actually started it. I know it was a few years after I got the pattern, but that's as precise as I can get. Whenever it was, it was close on 20 years ago. By any standard, that's a long time for a project to languish as a WIP!
Dragon cross stitch | DevotedQuilter.com
It was this cross stitch that got me thinking about a way to get some of my older WIPs finished, which led me to create the WIPS-B-GONE 100 day challenge. I'd say the challenge is working! If you want to join in, there are still more than 75 days left to the challenge. Just think how many WIPs you could get finished in that time!

Teresa Wentzler is known for using blended colours in her designs. Cross stitch is often done with two threads of the same colour, but Teresa's patterns call for using two different threads at the same timefor most of the x's that make up a cross stitch design. It makes the colours more subtle and variable, which adds dimension to the piece. It's really hard to photograph. Here's the best I could get.
Cross stitch close up | DevotedQuilter.com
While my dragon isn't completely finished and ready for framing, I'm celebrating getting this far in the same way we celebrate when we finish a quilt top. There's still a lot of work to be done, but one big stage is finished. In this case, I have all of the backstitching to do. The backstitches outline everything, which brings so much definition to the cross stitch. Adding the backstitches is really fun because it brings the whole picture to life. As a bonus, the backstitching goes a lot faster than the cross stitches!
Dragon cross stitch | DevotedQuilter.com
I've always loved dragons, so I'm excited to finally be able to see all of my very own dragon 😊

So, that's my finish for this week! What did you finish? Link it up so we can celebrate with you! Be sure to visit some of the other links, too, so you can celebrate their finishes with them.


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7 comments:

  1. Wow!!! That's a LOT of stitches!!! Well done! Hopefully the backstitching goes quickly!

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  2. Congratulations on making so much progress on the dragon. I'm excited to see it really pop with the backstitching!

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  3. Your dragon is amazing, and you're making great progress!

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  4. Looks great, looking forward to seeing how the backstitching will make everything pop.

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  5. That takes so much patience! You are doing fabulous work and it will be a real accomplishment when all done. Congrats on this part of the finish!

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  6. When I made that dragon, it felt like it took me nearly as long to do the backstitching as the rest of the stitching. Of course, it didn't, but there was a lot of it.

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  7. Leanne, that cross stitch is gorgeous!! I'm working on a small one from FQS and it seems to be taking forever! But I only work on it in carline waiting to pick up my grands!

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