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Movies, a Finish, Leilani Returns, and a Freebie Chart

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 chart that demands so many quick color changes and blended flosses. It took me a moment to figure out where to start, but once I did, that big, blank space in the middle filled in nicely. And here’s what it looks like now: 
Not bad at all! Filling in that blank space was important because it made it much easier to stitch in a 10 x 10 grid. I think that portion on the upper right-hand side is a slope leading up to the castle.
I don’t know why I haven’t made more of an effort to finish this chart over the years. I adore the Fantasy genre, and this would look fantastic on a wall near my bookshelves.
221 B Baker Street by EmnEllie
When I was growing up, I loved watching the reruns of Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes on the BBC. I think it helped spark my love and fascination with the Victorian era. In my opinion, he’s the best Holmes.

My next WIP is a chart from my Etsy shop, and it’s an homage to the famous detective’s famous address:
221 B Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes cross stitch pattern by EmnEllie
I’m stitching it on 18-count Ivory aida with DMC 310. That contrast between the fabric color and my floss color is one of my all-time favorites. Here’s my progress so far:

 I’ve been stitching a lot of my book-themed patterns lately. There’s a good reason for that. I have an exciting project that I’m going to start soon, but that’s all I’ll say for now. Stay tuned!
Leilani the Hula Dancer by Mirabilia
Can any chart scream “Summer!” more than Leilani? The silk threads, the blue fabric, the orange flowers, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s what she looked like the last time I worked on her: 
Leilani the Hula Dancer by Mirabilia
I had to dig deep in the archives to discover the last time I stitched on her. Brace yourselves; it was in 2020. It feels bizarre to say that 2020 was six years ago- am I living in some sort of time warp or something? In a funny twist, the project I chose to work on after I put away Leilani six years ago was… Fantasy Triptych. I really need to start getting some finishes. I haven’t made a staggering amount of progress on her since May 1st, so I won’t post a picture yet. By my next blog post, I hope to have finished all the stitching on her skirt, at least. There’s not a ton left to stitch in this chart, and I think the beading will be a breeze. I wanted to get a close-up picture of the lovely floss, but it’s so overcast at the castle right now. I’ll wait until the sun comes out to do these beautiful colors some justice. This might be my unhinged optimism again, but I think I can get a finish on this chart by the end of June. We’ll see!
Irish Harp by EmnEllie
Drumroll, please! Irish harp is done! 
Irish Harp cross stitch pattern by EmnEllie
That backstitch was so fun! It looks hard, but if you pay close attention to the chart, it’s not complicated. I’m at my happiest when I’m designing geometrical bands like the ones in this chart. It took quite a while to get that harp to actually look like a harp. I didn't have the called-for color when I stitched this one, but you know what? Stitching from your stash is fun, and it makes a chart unique to you. People have sent me beautiful pictures of what they’ve done with my charts, like when they swap out the fabric color or completely change the color theme. I love seeing that!
Here’s a link to my latest FlossTube video, where I show you my progress on this harp from start to finish: 

 Odds & Ends
  1. Well, this looks delicious. Sticky Toffee Pudding is addictive, and I’ve always wanted to try Christmas Pudding. Puddings of the British Isles on Pinterest 
  2. In honor of the United States’ 250th anniversary (or, if you want to be very fancy and proper, the Semiquincentennial. Wow), I’ve designed a freebie cross stitch chart for the occasion! 
  3. Thankfully, I’m not the only person in the world who has a veritable mountain of unused notebooks. Right now I’m using a big, green notebook. It has a lovely ribbon, and the cream-colored pages are thick, so as an added bonus, I can use my banana yellow Lamy Safari fountain pen. I’m writing notes from my Italian lessons, ideas for short stories, and other random things.    10 unusual ways to use the empty notebooks you keep buying | Substack

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