Lucky Fortune Inn

[allisona.livejournal.com]

Back in 2002-2003 some of the folks of the on-line community at Tolkien On-Line decided to make a quilt to raffle off at "The Gathering of The Fellowship", a Tolkien convention that took place in Toronto in December of 2003. All proceeds from the raffle would go to a literary charity. The quilt organizers encouraged all the different communities at Tolkien On-Line to donate a square, saying that if they could get an artist to design a square for them, the crafters in the quilting community could have the design made into a cross-stitch pattern, stitched and sewn into the quilt. The quilt became a world-wide effort between artists, computer designers, cross-stitchers and quilters. Over six months I stitched three squares for the quilt, though sadly, I don't think I any longer have photos of two of those squares.

The third square was designed by the "Lucky Fortune Inn", a community at Tolkien On-Line meant to gently lead newcomers into the world of role-playing. They would spend time at the Lucky Fortune Inn learning the ropes and etiquette of role-playing and then they would branch off into other role-playing communities on the boards. Once the design was made into a cross-stitch pattern, it was mailed to me to stitch and then mail on to the quilters. The magical dragon harp in the square was one of the mainstays of the inn. I had also been asked to try to find horseshoe-shaped charms to attach to the lettering and, having no luck with that, I found charms shaped like the letter "U" and painted them copper. I was pleased with how this square turned out.

(Note: The photo isn't great, because at the time I was in my very early days of learning digital photography. I shrunk a lot of my photos and didn't save the originals. I really regret that now.)