I'm Taly, long-time dabbler in various crafts. I actually joined this forum four years ago, but I was dabbling too much (and moving to a different country!) to concentrate purely on cross-stitch at that time.
I knit, crochet, do beadwork and a teeny bit of sewing, but here it's cross-stitch that's the thing, of course.
I've been doing cross-stitching, on and off, since I was little. A great auntie of mine used to do a lot of little cross stitch projects, often as gifts, and my Mum did some at the time too, so I got started on the teeny kit projects that my Mum used to get free with some cross-stitch magazine or other.
I did some larger things of my own, and finished off a project of my Mum's, but then I got into other crafts like beadwork and knitting and my cross-stitch box went undisturbed for a few years.
I finished off my Mum's butterfly piece after she lost interest in cross-stitch. The hedgehog/mouse was all my own work. The kitten was started in my early teens and abandoned in a desk drawer for nearly 20 years until I moved from the UK to Sweden and it got unearthed and I decided to finish it. Poor thing had a needle left in it, hence the rusty mark
All need washing before I can do anything with them, I'm ashamed to say 
I got back into doing cross-stitch when my younger brother started producing sprogs - four so far! All have had birth samplers made for them, though the first was done in a different style kit to the others, and I had a bad habit of not taking pictures of almost any before handing them over to my brother for framing.
I have collected a load of kits and patterns, mostly fantasy-themed, that I'm trying to get through. Two years ago, and after two years of on-off work, I completed the Dimensions Gold Fall Fairy kit.
Wow, that was a tough one! I also have Dimensions Spring Fairy, Woodland Enchantress (I really wish they'd also do the summer fairy from the same artist to complete a season-type set!), and Scarlet Wizard, plus Dimensions Charts & Charms sets A Mythical Dragon, Midnight Enchanter, Alluring Sorceress, and Each Dawn A New Day. Bucilla's Planetarius rounds out my kit collection, plus I have two patterns I need to get the materials for, but I think the kits should come first!
As you can see, I'm getting to the point where my 'to-do' list will easily take 10 years, since I'm not a fast stitcher! I do cross-country, since I just can't get my head around the parking method, and I like making the back as neat as possible too.
I've given up on a Winter Fairy kit from Design Works once I realised that they had put several completely wrong colours in the kit, the morons
I have just finished Lavender & Lace's Celtic Spring after about 9 month's work and several knitting and crochet projects interrupting me.
I love seeing other people's progress pics and posts. Unfortunately, my current project seems to only be the subject of such scrutiny by Russian stitchers, boo. I'm hoping I can find active members on here who have done some of the same kits and patterns I have coming up! I'd love to see what advice I can get
Hello and welcome back to the forum from South Carolina! Like Richard, I love your kitten but I pretty much love all things feline! I also love the mythical and the fantasy designs as well as those featuring cats. I think the projects you have shown us are absolutely beautiful and I am really looking forward to seeing what you are now working on. 
Welcome back! 
