About 40 years ago I was introduced to the world of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Dragons, Unicorns, and Magic, I understood that none of these were real and yet they captured my imagination as nothing else could. I looked for things that could be interpreted to represent these items and I found in J.R.R. Tolkien's Books a world that encompassed all of these. In his book the "Hobbit" there was a dragon that destroyed the Dwarven Kingdom under the Moutain his name was "Smaug". Over the years I have fantasized and recreated two portraits of "Smaug" one for my youngest brother and one for my nephew. However, I have carried the runes of a riddle with me for the last 35 years or so of where I wrote the riddle "Time" out in the Elvish runes that J.R.R. Tolkien created to support his book. The second "Smaug" I did eventually went to my nephew around his 17th or 18th birthday I believe. The second "Smaug" I do have a picture of and was happy with it at the time. It was a whole new experience in working this dragon out. However, in my mind I have always had another image and so I have begun another dragon this time it when completed it will hang in my home for the time being. At about the same time as my fascination with Science Fiction and Fantasy came about is also about the time I picked up needle and thread and began my journey into embroidery.
Since the first time I picked up the needle and thread it has been my meditation, my companion, my imagination, my comfort zone. When I am working with thread and needles my mind loses all stress and I find my creative zone, it overtakes me all to often I will lose track of time while working on an embroidery project. I have transition often with my needlework I rarely ever buy a kit anymore and all of my work is now a project one that requires planning, practice, examples, and most of all keeping track of what I have tried or not tried in my projects. I bought embroidery machines because I thought That I would be able to work with them much as I do the manual needle and thread. Although I enjoy them, they are not the same as doing one of my projects by hand the machine doing the work does not send me to the same spot. It does not bring out the same creative thoughts that doing it by hand does. However, I do end up coming up with projects for my machines as well. I dream about embroidery, quilting, sewing and within my dreams I often work out solutions and even inspiration. The above picture is the dragon in process. And below is Jessie's completed Dragon. As I begin the process of making my own dragon I will share the steps and thought processes as I go along.
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