Mid-December catch up and WIP progress

Hello Everyone!

It's almost the middle of December and I can't believe that this month has gone by so fast.  2017 will be here soon and I think I just recently caught on to write 2016 when dating something, lol.  We haven't been doing anything major around here, just normal day to day stuff.  We've got our trees ups and have started watching some Christmas movies.  The kids and I have really been enjoying playing board games in the evening.

Oh wait!  Yes, we *have* had something major going on!  I spent many years homeschooling my kids and they are both now **DONE**!!  They passed all their exams and did great and I'm so proud of them.  Now onward and forward to the adulting, lol.

I've managed to get some stitching in, which is great.  Let me share my progress with you.

The last time you saw my Mira, The Rain Queen, she looked like this.

Now she looks like this:

I have to say, all of those leaves falling around her have not been fun to stitch at all and they're still not done.  After that, they also get beaded.  It has definitely been a labor of love with this as of late.  But I'm pretty far along on her, so hopefully it won't be too much longer before she is done.

Next, on to the dragon wall hanging I'm working on for my son.  The last time you saw it, I was working on the tail.

I have now finished the tail and moved on to a wing:

I really love watching this come to life.  Here is another picture, with it help up by my son so you can get a sense of the scale.  He's over 6' and is holding it up above his head and it ends below his knees.

One more close up that I took a couple of days ago.  Do you see how some of the squares are wanting to fade a bit as the fabric gets used, touched, and generally handled over time?  I don't think they will fade to the point that it presents a huge problem for getting it finished, but it is definitely giving me some motivation to not let this piece languish for too long!

Now, on to 272 Words by Primrose Needleworks that I'm stitching as a SAL in the Patriotic Stitches group on FB.  I started this on it's official start date of October 29.  But my husband and I were in the mountains that weekend, so I only got to work on it a tiny bit.

I tried to work on it some more in the car on the drive home, but it's a 32ct fabric and between all the bumps in the road and my eyes not being happy, I had to give up.

I worked on it a bit more after getting home but had to stop because the called for fabric I was using was stiff as a board, coarse to the touch, and I just couldn't stand the feel of it.

So at this point, I took it off the snaps and washed it and ironed it.  Much better.  Softer and more manageable.  It still won't win any awards for being soft and cuddly, but it's now good enough to handle without wanting to crawl right out of my skin.

I'm working on finishing up page one, which is why the words cut off at odd places.  But I'm going to work it page by page.

One last thing I wanted to share with you is a tiny bit of haul.  I forgot to share these earlier.  They are fabrics I purchased at the big trunk show in Kentucky I went to in October.  I didn't buy this with specific plans in mind, but rather simply because they appeal to my taste and I know I'll be able to use them for something.  I'm thinking about using them for back fabric on pillows, pin cushions, things like that.

That's all I've got for now.

Happy Stitching Everyone!