Breinthewild

In addition to reading, writing, and causing a ruckus in my spare time, I also partake in a variety of crafts and hobbies. (To date I have dabbled in: embroidery, knitting, crochet, quilting, cross-stitch, quilling, friendship bracelet making, bead animals, bead bracelets, cardmaking, building bookshelf dioramas, gardening, painting, filmmaking, rock polishing, hiking, and probably more but that’s all I can think of right now.)

Unlike reading, writing, and ruckusing, which I try to set aside time for daily, crafting is a sporadic, flighty part of my life. If I feel like working on a project, I do. If I don’t, I don’t. I also jump around to various projects while in the middle of them, often taking months or years to finish anything of substance. This is, to me, a feature of the process and not a bug. I like trying new things and getting lost in the process. I’m by no means an expert in most (if not all) of my hobbies but that’s not the point. It’s nice to do something I enjoy without the pressure of perfecting it (or turning it into a way to make money). Plus occasionally I create something worth giving away.

The idea for my current project started when I moved. Previously, I had lived about an hour’s walk from the nearest library. While I took the trip a few times, the two hour+ commitment wasn’t always practical, especially during winter. More often than not, I drove.

My new place is a mere twenty-five minute walk to the nearest library. Thanks to that, I end up going a lot more. I also find myself picking up more books per trip, which is great. What’s not great is how often I forget to bring a book bag. Juggling a stack of books for a fifty-foot stretch to your car is easy. Juggling them for a twenty-to-thirty minute walk is a different story. I had no shortage of paper, plastic, and even reusable cloth bags I could use but I often forgot them or didn’t like carrying them around while they were empty. I wanted a bag that could hold plenty of books, was light enough to fold up and stick in a pocket, and was memorable enough for me to remember.

Enter the dragon bag.

Essentially my idea was to take a free, basic burlap-style bag I got at a conference and embroider dragons and books on it. I wanted a big dragon for the front (to cover the generic inspirational quote plastered across the middle) and lots of little dragons for the back. I’m nowhere near a good enough artist to freehand or freestyle the art, so I got little stick-and-stitch kit from Etsy (I tried to go back and find it to link it here but it appears to have vanished) and a cross-stitch dragon for the front that works similarly to a paint-by-number: you match the color symbol to the thread and get to work. There’s no counting involved, nor measuring, which I appreciate, and it’s easy enough for me to follow along while I’m watching a show or a movie. Here’s my progress on the back so far:

And here’s how the front is developing (click through to view all photos):

I know I’m going to get asked this (because I have already) so I figured I’d get ahead of it: no, this is not a Fourth Wing reference. I haven’t read the book. It’s in a genre I don’t particularly enjoy so I’m not planning on reading it. I just like flying lizards that can breathe fire. If anything, consider it a Smaug reference.