EmnEllie Cross Stitch Blog

  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...

  WIP Schedule I hope you’ve had a lovely time this holiday season. Here at the Castle, I’ve been busy putting away the Christmas decorations. I like to keep the decorations out for all 12 Days of Christmas. It’s funny, but some of the rooms have grown to twice their size! Instead of thinking they're sad to be put in boxes until next Christmas, I like to imagine that they're happy to be enjoying a well-earned vacation after being so seasonal and festive. Now that it’s a new year, I plan to dedicate 2 months of stitching to each WIP. In a rare moment of organization and planning, I’ve also made a list: January-February: Russian Hunting (Nikolai. Hopefully, I get at least one page finished) March-April: Fantasy Triptych (This is my Wentzler. I’m ashamed to say that I can’t even remember the last time I stitched it) May-June: Leilani the Hula Dancer (A stunning Mirabila-aren’t they all?- with so many gorgeous colors that are perfect for the beginning of summer) July-August: Treasu...

I did it! I finished the phoenix band before the Winter Solstice! As you can see, there’s another band as well. They look like butterflies and flowers to me. The second band stitched up so quickly. That’s the nice thing about repeating motifs, once you get the pattern down, you can just go on cruise control mode and not have to keep referring to the chart. I thought about stitching the phoenix egg in Kreinik but decided against it. So that’s all from Medieval Menagerie for a bit. Now, it’s Nikolai’s turn! (AKA Russian Hunting by Riolis). Here’s where I got to the last time he was in the Q-Snap:  Stitching in a grid, here I come! Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

  Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash Hobbit Food I’ve come to the realization that I would be a good Hobbit. I like food, cozy comforts, good stories, and naps. If you read that and thought, “Eh, I don’t want to be a Hobbit,” seeing the cooking videos from the Rhubarb and Lavender Instagram account may change your mind! I mean, just look at that: Elevenses in Middle Earth | Rhubarb and Lavender on Instagram Delightful. Here at the Castle, I have a New Year’s tradition of watching the Lord of the Rings movies back-to-back. The extended editions, of course. I’ve seen this trend where you watch the movies and make food that looks like something the characters would be eating. While I won’t be doing that this year, it’s definitely something I want to do one day! Watching the Fellowship trek through the Misty Mountains, while I sit in the comfort of my sofa, and munch on Browned Butter and Ale Pudding sounds like a grand time. Phoenix Feathers and Libraries I need a graph to illustrate...

  Photo by Gwen King on Unsplash Have you ever picked up a book so good that you couldn’t bear to put it down? That was me recently with Northanger Abbey. I finished it in about three days, but that’s not a testament to my reading speed (I read at a snail’s pace). It was with me at meals, was with me as I dozed off at night, and was with me in every spare moment I had throughout the course of my day. I had never read it before or watched an adaptation of it. But I did know some things about it that intrigued me, so that, plus the fact that it was written by one of my favorite authors, made me decide to give it a try. It was fantastic. For those three days, my thoughts were like this (spoiler alert, just skip this list if you haven’t read the book yet): Catherine, you’re adorable. Henry Tilney is great, but yikes, I don’t like the General. Thorpe, you’re actually the worst. Udolpho this, Udolpho that. Catherine, get it together. Why did I wait so long to read this? November has gr...

  Photo by Cederic Vandenberghe on Unsplash Dear Reader, I’m currently obsessed with Wordle. Yes, I’m a few years late to the party, but now that I’ve started playing, I can’t stop! It’s a pleasant addition to my morning breakfast routine, and even when I’m not playing the game, if I hear a great word, I’ve developed the habit of counting the letters and checking how many vowels it has. My advice is: don’t start the puzzle until you’ve had some coffee first, because some of those puzzles are devilishly hard. Some people have told me that their strategy is to start with the same word every time. Imagine how excited they’ll be when their starter word is eventually the actual answer of the day. Do you  Wordle too? (Yes, I’ve made that into a verb.) Moving on to the WIP update October is still young, and I’m advancing up the backstitch mountain. You can’t really see it, but I’ve done the backstitch on some of the candies in the upper-right-hand corner, the top of the frame, and s...