Really, what more do you need in life than Oatmeal and Dragons?
This morning for breakfast, like most other bloggers out there, I had my daily bowl of oatmeal. My usually concoction is a 1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 cup water, 1 tsp cream cheese, and either vanilla or almond extract. I choose vanilla when I have nuts for my mix-in, and almond when my mix-in is nut-free. Today, I went with the almond extract and I added 1/2 cup granola. As you can see, the granola smothered the oats, but the combo was delicious. I enjoyed it with a nice steaming cup of Teavana Spice Nut Mate, followed by an apple and a bite of chocolate. Gotta end every meal with a bit of chocolate.
So, onto the Dragon half of this post. My current needlepoint project is my second dragon that I’ve worked on. I received it as a combo birthday present from my entire extended family about 2 years ago. I hadn’t worked on it much until recently because, honestly, it intimiated me. I went to a wonderful store to pick out my threads and we came up with some fabulous stitch ideas, but since I’m a relative newby to complex stitches (read: anything other than a basketweave), I am hesitant every time I start a new section. But, I’m running out of easy sections to do. This past weekend, I finished the floor, so now I have no excuse not to dive into the tricky sections of the dragon!
Here is the “before” shot. I had only completely the outline of the wings and the dark sections in the body when I took this picture
Next, After the wings were finished
And here is a picture of the piece as it stands today. It appears to be facing the other direction because I took this one with a real camera, rather than PhotoBooth. Boy what a different in the picture quality!
Hopefully from this picture you can see that I’ve completed most of the ground (except for where it runs up against the dragon. The outer corners are a slightl darker color than the middle. I have also started the pattern in the background. I love the design, but I’m just not sure of the darker color. I’m trying to be true to the picture that has at least 3 different colors in the red family, but it just doesn’t blend well. Maybe if I do it all the middle color the paint will shine through? Any suggestions?
Well, I’m off to enjoy more of my spring break, which probably means playing video games, reading, or tv/needlepoint. So many choices so little (much?) time!