Noni's June Finish

Free choice time.... perfect chance for me to bring out a much neglected WIP and get it finished!

Last time you saw this WIP was a wee while ago.... way back in October 2014

October 2014

I have now at long last finished "Witch and Friends"...

This one could almost be shoe-horned into next month's update... but I couldn't wait to show her off!  So back to the drawing board for the witches accessories stitching!! :o)

Til next time... happy stitching
Hugs xx

Jo's June Finish - Free Choice

I like to include a free choice half way through the year because there are always those designs which don't really fit into one particular category or are for a theme we haven't chosen this year but you still want to stitch.  Or maybe you had two choices for a previous theme and want to stitch both of them.  Or maybe you missed a month and are playing catch-up.

You can see from my band this month that it would have fitted into several themes - spiders, bats, crows and pumpkins.  So it fits nicely into the Free Choice bracket.

Here is my progress on the whole piece, growing nicely:

stitched on 32 count lilac linen

K is for Kelpie, Knucker and Kahaku - Revisited

When we first started this blog I made a series of posts beginning with each letter of the alphabet starting with A.  Unfortunately, they ground to a halt after L.  So in honour of The Alphabet Club hosted by Chiara I have decided to resurrect the original posts and link up each month with the rest of the Alphabet Club posters.  To learn more about this SAL follow the Alphabet Club link to Chiara's blog.

K is for Kelpie from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.

The Kelpie is a mythological shape-shifting water demon in the shape of a horse from Scottish Celtic history that lures people, especially children, onto its back then takes them out into the water, where it kills and eats them.  It was believed that if you owned the Kelpie's bridle you could control it.  But who wants to get close enough to find out?

edit to add this link to some amazing sculptures of kelpies - The Kelpies

Funnily enough I couldn't find many cross stitch charts of kelpies, but I find some rather nicer Water Spirits.  

But there was this one in Etsy:

Unconventional X - Beneath the Ice

HAED - Water Spirit

Joan Elliott - Water Goddess

 Still on the subject of Water Creatures, we have the Knucker; a kind of Water Dragon found in the county of Sussex in England.  There are references to them in the epic poem Beowulf and also in the church in Lyminster where you can see the gravestone of the knight who slayed the great beast.  You can find out more about this story here Dragons and Serpents in Sussex

Enchanting Lair - Water Dragon

Jennifer Aikman-Smith - Water Dragon

Dragon Dreams also have a freebie Water Dragon along with Fire, Air, Earth and Spirit

I got completely stuck on a final K so did a little Googling and found this interesting list of "Legendary Creatures beginning with K".  Many of them seem to be Japanese, so here are a few I liked the sound of:

• Kahaku (Japanese) - Little people and water spirits

• Kamaitachi (Japanese) - Wind spirit
• Kanedama (Japanese) - Money spirit
• Katawa-guruma (Japanese) - Woman riding on a flaming wheel
• Katsura-otoko (Japanese) - Handsome man from the moon

• Kitsune-Tsuki (Japanese) - Person possessed by a fox spirit
• Kiyohime (Japanese) - Woman who transformed into a serpent-demon out of the rage of unrequited love

(I like how specific that last one is!)

 And here is a nice Japanese cross stitch to finish with:

Dimensions - Samurai

He does at least look like he could battle monsters for us!