EmnEllie Cross Stitch Blog

  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 ...

  USA 250th Cross Stitch Pattern by EmnEllie In honor of the United States’ 250th anniversary in July, here’s a freebie chart for all of my lovely readers! Here's the link to the PDF chart. I really enjoyed designing that eagle, and the Liberty Bell was trickier to design than one would think. Happy stitching!

  Khushal Shah Lakhnavi on Unsplash Book SAL In a post from last August, I mentioned that Cross Stitcher Magazine was running a book-themed SAL. Here’s what I said back then: “The first part of the SAL is The Secret Garden. ( Click this link here to see what it looks like ) I love this book! I didn’t read it as a child, but I read it a few years ago after someone recommended it to me. It’s such a great story, and the ending is simply marvellous. This chart is so beautiful. I love how those roses look, and the purple at the bottom complements the green floss so well. It will be very interesting to see what the other books in the SAL are! I’m definitely going to stitch this Secret Garden one, but I think I’ll only stitch the other parts of the series if I like the book. However, since I’m going to be stitching Trick-or-Treat Moon for September and October, I’ll just place this chart in my pile of charts for later (which is starting to become a mountain instead of a pile). Note: If y...

  Jacket Potatoes Do you know what’s delicious? English Jacket Potatoes. I’ve started eating these recently, and they’re so tasty! You can use a bunch of different toppings and potato types as well. I’ve eaten this with baked potatoes, but personally, I prefer using wavy fries as a base. They’re a sturdy fry, so they can hold their own against whatever toppings you use. I’ve had a couple of different toppings, like chili, but my favorite toppings are baked beans and shredded cheese with crispy onions. It’s so warm and filling. WIP Updates Nikolai (Russian Hunting by Riolis) When I started working on Nikolai again at the beginning of the year, I was overly ambitious for a page finish. A page finish didn’t happen, but I’m still thrilled at how much progress I made! Here’s where I was on January 12th of this year:  And here’s where I finished at the beginning of this month:  That bushy green tree on the left was barely there in January! I’m experiencing that full coverage ef...

  Starry Night I love the artwork of Vincent Van Gogh. I’m particularly fond of the swirls and bold colors that he uses. Go and get a pencil or a pen, and draw a swirl. There are few things more relaxing and fun in art. My favorite Van Gogh painting is Starry Night . The night sky is so dazzling, the swirls and colors are almost hypnotizing.  Intrepid people on the internet have created an optical illusion that can make the swirls move (yes, I tried, it works!). Someone gifted me a wonderful laptop lap desk for Christmas that has the S tarry Night printed on top. It’s so handy, I’m using it as I write this post. If you want to stitch this, today is definitely your day, as DMC has it available as a freebie chart right now! The link to the chart is here. I like to keep an eye on the DMC freebie portion of their website; there are really great charts offered there, and they rotate them as well. As an extra bit of trivia for this painting, some art historians think that Hokusa...

  Photo by Jezz Timms on Unsplash The Orient Express Long-time friends of the blog will know that I’m a seasonal stitcher, but did you know that I’m a seasonal reader as well? When Halloween and November roll around, I need to be reading something spooky and Gothic. Last summer, it felt appropriate to be adventuring in forests, so I had a fantasy theme for the summer. At the beginning of this month, I was in a particularly Winter-ish sort of mood and needed to read something frosty, and preferably with a lot of snow. I had never read The Murder on the Orient Express, so I checked it out from the library. Of course, I had seen the adaptation with David Suchet, so I knew the plot, but it’s such a good book that my knowing whodunnit didn’t spoil it in the least! This is one of Agatha Christie's best books, in my opinion. I also really enjoyed the time it was set in, as well as the atmosphere of being on the train (I love trains). It's such a popular and well-known railway, so th...