EmnEllie Cross Stitch Blog

Learning Chess Lately, I’ve been learning how to play chess on Duolingo. It’s such a fun game, and I feel like a medieval ruler, moving my pieces here, capturing a king there. I knew that there were patterns that you could play, but I didn’t realize how mesmerizing some of the names were.  The Italian game, Castling your King, capturing en passant.  As for that last one, it’s no surprise that things feel more fancy when you speak French. Chessboards themselves are wonderful to look at. Go browse Pinterest, and you’ll see a dazzling array of fancy boards, simple boards, Gaelic boards, medieval boards… the list is endless. My favorite piece to use is the queen, but I think I’ll always have an affinity towards the knight, because it’s such a cool-looking horse. Did you know that there’s a town in Italy that plays a chess game with humans as the pieces? The town of Marostica (near Venice), hosts it, with a backstory fit for a fairy tale:  The noblemen Vieri da Vallonara and R...

  Photo by Fallon Michael on Unsplash Fall Fun Happy October, dear readers! I love this month so very much. It’s a fun month, and unlike the beginning of September, which still has a bit of summer lounging around, by the time October is here, I feel well and truly in the middle of Fall. I’ve been reading some Gothic novels, and plan on adding to my Spooky Season ambience by watching some scary movies too. Here’s something really fun for Fall, found via Pinterest: These are my choices: Pumpkin pie (I love apple pie, but prefer pumpkin), trick or treating, cozy sweater, hot apple cider, corn maze, by the lake (preferably in a very comfortable cabin), carve pumpkins, Halloween movie marathon (with my favorite foods and drinks), baking cookies, picking apples, Thanksgiving at home, cabin getaway, football game, pumpkin patch, Oktoberfest celebration, cranberry sauce, Fall scented candles, scarves. What are your choices?

  Photo by Rebecca Hausner on Unsplash Making Up Stories Do you observe people in the same sort of way that a bird watcher does? I do. All of those people that you see in a store, or walking on the sidewalk are completely unique. They have their own stories, ideas, notions, and people that are connected to them. That person sitting across from you on the bus, or all those hundreds of people around you downtown all have lifetimes of stories. Consider this; the person you see rushing off to a dentist’s appointment has their own life, completely unconnected to yours. The dentist they go to has their own, the other people in the waiting room have their own and on and on and on. I’ve been watching art reels on Instagram lately, the kind that show a painting and then give their opinion of what the painting conveys. The colors, the clothing, the little objects in the background, sometimes even the frame that the artist chose, all sit there waiting for you to dig deeper and discover somet...

  Photo by Melanie Kreutz on Unsplash Macarons If you could embody happiness, prettiness, and dazzling colors on a plate, that plate would have macarons on it. They come in all the colors of the rainbow, and just as many flavors. If I could write a definition of the word “Macaron” in the dictionary, it would say, pure bliss. Of course, if the shop where you’re buying them packages those delightful snacks in a wonderfully pretty box, this is an added bonus. You could just wrap them in white paper, but that seems to border on disrespect for the moment/ macaron. Allow me to explain. To purchase a macaron is an experience. It’s a joyful ritual. The moment demands a pretty box filled with pastry jewels. However, if there’s some good reason for the macaron to not be packaged as they deserve, their beauty can carry that white paper, like a graceful model can make a simple dress look all that is elegant. Currently, my favorite macaron flavors are pistachio and Earl Gray. What are your fav...

  Sebastian Coman Photography on Unsplash Summer Reading Reading books in the summertime feels different. Maybe it’s because I have fond memories of signing up for summer reading clubs as a child. I loved filling out the lists from the librarians of all the books I had read that Summer. I still have two t-shirts that I won for reading a certain number of books! A part of me still feels like I should be winning t-shirts for completing books… Lately, I’ve been reading in the Regency era (what a surprise!). My curiosity was piqued by the BBC’s adaptation of The Other Bennet Sister. I haven’t watched the series yet, but after seeing it pop up in my feed, I decided to give the book a shot. Imagine how happy I was when it was available on Kindle Unlimited! * I won’t give any spoilers away, don’t worry, but it was such a beautiful book! It was wonderful to see beloved characters again, and none of them felt fake. The character development was masterfully done, and she made me feel as if I...

  Andy Luo on Unsplash The Cats of Rome Did you know that Rome is famous for its cats? I was completely unaware of this until I read a magazine article recently. Italian curiosities: why is Rome the city of cats? | L’Italo-Americano – Italian American bilingual news source “The colony of Torre Argentina is famous because of its organization and its size, […] And they do love showing themselves to us: elegant, indolent, always beautiful, always haughty.” That pretty much sums up cats everywhere. The feral cats around the Castle act in the exact same way. I met a stunning, feral Siamese cat this morning that gave me a haughty look and a brief acknowledgment of my existence when I called her beautiful. But I don’t think I’d love cats as much if they weren’t exactly as they are. As for the cats that lounge around the Roman ruins, basking in the Italian sun, and soaking up the admiration of the tourists, it’s hard to imagine a better way for them to spend the day. We are honored by thei...

Corina Rainer on Unsplash Movies Considering how much I love musicals, it’s astonishing that I had never seen Annie. It has singing, dancing, and a great plot, too! All the ingredients for a fantastic musical. This song in particular is stuck in my head: Ever since I was gifted a DVD player at Christmas, I feel like a dragon, flying around gathering DVD’s and bringing them to my movie shelf. I do find myself humming this song when I’m flying about or putting on a DVD. (Note: if you love movies too and want to stitch a movie-themed cross stitch chart, here’s a link to a freebie I made a while ago.) WIP Updates Fantasy Triptych by Teresa Wentzler As strange as it sounds, here’s my last update on Fantasy Triptych for this year. Already! The time has just flown by. Here’s what it looked like at the beginning of March: Fantasy Triptych by Teresa Wentzler  In a baffling decision that I still don’t fully understand, I didn’t use the grid method for this project. Madness! Especially in a ...