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Thanks for the suggestions, I'll give it a go that way.

Here's the 'dark design' I was asking about.. I've got it mostly finished, except for the backstitch on the dragon. I've got a floss color (DMC 415) tentatively picked out for the interior backstitch, but I'm still not sure if I should use it for ALL the dragon backstitch, or use something darker ...

Just finished another case, this time I choose a 'flame' color scheme

I'm leaning towards using the same color for all the backstitching on the dragon. Since the dragon itself is going to be mostly in blacks and greys, I won't be doing the design on a black fabric as I think the design itself would tend to wash out.

I haven't actually stitched the dark piece yet. I've finished the blue/green one and am just doing the detail work on the red/yellow.

Here's a picture of the blue/green one:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6022/6016890958_920bb68980_z.jpg

I'm going to do the green back stitch in the red, but the ...

I've got a design I'm doing in several color schemes for different people. I usually do my backstitch detailing in a dark color, but one of my schemes is blacks and greys. Obviously I need to use a light color for the backstitch on the 'inside' of the peice, but I'm wondering about the outlines ...

I'm in the middle of the red/yellow dragon at the moment, but the apples have started coming in from my friends, so I'm losing some stitching time to apple prep time.

The red/yellow color scheme went pretty fast, but the black/red scheme was much more of a challenge. Starting to stitch the red/yellow one now. I'll post the finished piece when I'm done.

Here's the first of the glasses cases I'm making.
For the front, I took the dragon from Teresa Wentzler's free Futurecast design and changed out all the colors. I then created the blackwork style border to add that 'finished' look add pull out the accent color in the dragon.
For the back of the case ...

I pull out each strand separately, letting them untwist, then recombine to the number I need. For bigger projects I also use Twin Pointed Needles. The eye is in the middle and each side has a standard blunt cross stitch point. I have one hand on each side of the fabric and just pass the needle back ...

I tend to do a line of // then follow back with the \\ It's easier for me to keep track and I find that the stitches tend to be more even and uniform for large blocks when I stitch a row at a time rather then a stitch at a time.
This caused a problem the first time (years ago) I tried variegated ...

I located the digital camera... but now I have to find the data cable so I can pull the pictures off of it into my computer. Silly tech devices

Thanks for the link, I'll take a look.

I've only done counted cross stitch before, but I've found some hardanger patterns I'd like to try.. unfortunately I haven't found any good directions for some of the stitches.. like The Dove's Eye stitches or any of the other stitches where you cut out threads of the fabrics. I've also noticed that ...

I use Hobby Ware's Pattern Maker and I'm very happy with it. I tend not to import photo's into, but it is very useful for making my own patterns and modifying existing ones.
When I do import photo's I tend to restrict the number of colors I allow it to use to avoid the random 1 stitch of a single ...

I'm back on a stitching binge, so I thought I'd look for some places to look for some nice patterns. I'm making a bunch of eye glasses cases for friends and family right now. I'm having fun mixing components from different patterns and adding details of my own to customize the designs for their ...