Stretch the Magic Dragon

My second finish on this blog :) I just finished him this morning and wanted to share it.

Here are some more detailed pictures:

In the end I decided to backstitch only the dragon with the metallic thread, which by the way gave me as hard a time as the kreinik does but the end result is so pretty that I can't hate it completely. The border was backstitched with the DMC thread from the pattern.

I had fun making this, so I can safely say that the experiment was a success and that I WILL be doing more Teresa Wenztler projects. Although I do want to improve my stitches. I noticed while backstitching that some of my stitches were not perfectly taut and they were sometimes too loose. Not sure what is doing that but I will have to be more careful in the future.

Now all I have to decide is what to do with it. It's too big to become a bookmark but too small to frame. I'll just have to put it aside for now.

Fastest Finish Ever!!

Well almost :) I spent the weekend working on TW's Stretch. I just couldn't put it down once I started on the dragon. The color blends were so beautiful. All I kept thinking was: "This color is so pretty. I would never have put these two together." lol.

So here it is.

Last week I mentioned that quarter stitches were slowing me down, but once i got the hang of it, it got easy. My only worry was missing them by accident because they are so small on the pattern. I will upload more detailed images once the backstitch is finished.

Speaking of backstitch, the colors used in the pattern are regular DMC cotton thread. But I wanted to add more "fire" to mine. So I went out on Saturday and got some sparkle. These are DMC Light Effects. I've only used Kreinik so far, which is a pain to work with sometimes, so I'm kind of worried about using these. The colors are not exact, so I'll see how it comes out. By the way, ignore the last one on the right. I just couldn't stop myself from getting it. It's so pretty.

Teresa Wentzler

I think I have an obsession with Teresa Wentzler patterns. I just received from eBay two more purchases of TW patterns. One is Tea Scene which is a really delicate work of both cross stitch and hardanger (which I have never tried before) and The Best of Teresa Wentzler Fantasy Collection Volume 2. Okay, I will be truthful, what I really wanted was Celestial Dragon, but figured I might as well get the book which also came with 10 other patterns. So that's how I ended up with 12 new patterns.

Seeing as I've been accumulating TW patterns left and right, I figured I should at least try to do one to see if I'd be able to (more like if I have the patience to) start and finish a pattern. For those who know TW's designs they understand what I mean. Her designs are beautiful and very detailed, using a lot of quarter stitches and blended threads. That and they are big. It is not a project you'd want to start unless you are ready to. Anyhow, I went to her site and found that she has a few free patterns up and decided to try one out.

I decided on "Stretch" the Magic Dragon. Here is a picture of the floss toss. I'm using a 32ct Jobelan in Lambswool, it's the same fabric as the one used in Flower Patch. I also bought a mini hoop. Isn't it cute :)

Here is what my progress looks like after stitching all weekend and a few hours everyday this week, approximately 22 hours. A very good progress, although I have slowed down once those quarter stitches started appearing. But I will get better at it. Can't wait to start on the dragon :)

Update: I received other things from eBay, but more on that on another day.