The dragon panel is finished!
I wish the shading on the tail end of the beast better balanced that on the head end, but what I have here is true to the original. If I ever stitch him up again, I may modify the pattern somewhat and either lighten the branch on the right, or darken something on the left. Still I’ve been fond of this guy since I first saw him in the ’70s, and am delighted to have finally successfully charted and stitched him. He’ll be the last two charts in TNCM2 (he’s too big for one page).
What’s next? A panel that will run the width of the piece at the top edge. This one will be another crib from Lipperheide, but unlike the last bits I borrowed from that source, it was too difficult to stitch it directly from the engraving. The background of that illustration is shown in the drawn squared filling (some museums label th stitch “punto milano”, possibly Italian 4-sided stitch, drawn very tight). It sort of looks like a drawn thread ground, but it would have been VERY difficult to achieve all that thread removal given the scale and convolutions of the un-voided motif areas. In any case, I had to regraph it from the Lipperheide panel prior to work. Even though I drafted it up I do not think I will include this one in TNCM2 because it’s available in another contemporary source.
String-Or-Nothing 
Congratualations Kim!! yippee!!! does that mean you are one step closer to your new book? It beautiful and looks like a great project.
Thanks
Audrey