EmnEllie Cross Stitch Blog

Meet Nikolai Or at least, meet Nikolai's head.  See that dark block of stitches in the middle? Yes, that is Nikolai's head. He has one of those warm Russian hats on, so he won't catch cold riding through this winter scene.  I really like stitching in 10x10 squares, it's amazed me how much progress one can make when using this method.  Russian hunting is absolutely stunning, but maybe it's time for a change soon. Here's my tentative plan: keep stitching on Russian Hunting until the end of January, then at the beginning of February put it away and start working on one of my other wips. We'll see. Mississippi Pot Roast If you've had this dish, you know it's heavenly. If you haven't had it, you're missing out. Simple as that!  Beef, ranch dressing mix, pepperoncini peppers, and au jus. It sounds like a weird combo, but trust me- it is amazing. One of my all time favorite meals ever.  The flavors mix together beautifully. There's r...

Hello, friends! I may have been away on my Christmas break (all 12 days of Christmas!) but I still have some progress on my wip's to share with you. It wasn't all cookies and Christmas specials 😂 (But it was mostly cookies and Christmas specials) See that bit of red in the middle? That's the corner of the guy's coat! Pondering what his name should be. Russian, obviously. More thought is necessary.  Christmas Present My wonderful, lovely Mother gifted me this superb Dimensions kit for Christmas. As you may have noticed, I adore anything Edwardian, Victorian, or Regency. The clothes are amazing looking  in this kit. The carriage driver is sporting an awesome mustache. Stunning! I wasn't planning on a new start for a bit, but this might change my mind... Christmas Carols We all have our favorites, but this (technically Epiphany) song is one of my favorites: https://youtu.be/Lx35_DRIZ8g Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and are looking fo...

It's Wintertime And lately the weather has gotten it's act together. Nothing but cold windy weather in the forecast for the next few days. Call me crazy, but I like cold weather around Christmas, not muggy warm weather. Go figure, right?  If you want to get into the season too, but the weather where you're at is being contrarian, I recommend this YouTube video. Play it on your TV for maximum effect!  Around winter, I always have the desire to read The Lord of the Rings. Great books, and it just feels right to be curled up under a blanket and reading about Hobbits, Elves, and Rings. So I started the Fellowship of the Ring recently. Do you like winter reading too?  Russian Hunting and Irish Cottage Sampler It's not all fireplaces and Hobbits around here. There's been stitching too!  Progress on Russian Hunting: Sorry about the lighting, it's a pretty overcast day.  I can see a tree! See it? In the upper right hand corner? That's the uppermost part...

Happy Advent! Because it's not Christmas yet! However, I have decorated the Christmas tree 🎄 Other Christmas preparations include gift wrapping, and the unearthing from storage of my Christmas mug. (Which I neglected to bring with me when I sat down to write this post. I will post a picture in the next blog post).  I'm a big fan of Christmas music. However, this Advent music CD is stunning.  Those nuns sure can sing!  Mind you, I do like some Michael Buble around Christmas as well.   25/7 Update  This system of stitching is really remarkable. I've made a good amount of progress on Russian Hunt by Riolis  using the 25/7 method.  Progress so far: Tackling it in 10x10 squares, like HAED people do. Also parking my floss. So far so good! I am currently working on some trees and what I think is the sky.  It's really incredible how much one can acccomplish in 25 minutes.  The first time I saw this beautiful Riolis kit was on the blog Th...

Thanksgiving was wonderful, as always. The million dollar question is; what's better? Thanksgiving dinner, or the Thanksgiving leftovers?  Every year, I look forward to making the leftovers into what can only be called the ultimate sandwich. It's commonly called a Monte Cristo . The blog  Taste and Tell  describes a Monte Cristo like this: "It is believed that the Monte Cristo started off as the French Croque Monsieur, a grilled cheese sandwich with Gruyere and ham. Then, starting in the 1930s, more variations of this sandwich started to show up cookbooks, then in the 1950s, it made its way onto a menu in a southern California restaurant under the name of Monte Cristo. It then made its debut at Disneyland in 1966." There's a recipe at the link too. For Thanskgiving leftover purposes, I like to use turkey, pepperjack cheese (because that's the melty cheese in my fridge) and jellied cranberry. Give the sandwich a try, it's absolutely delicious . So since we...

Gobble Gobble Hello stitchers. It has been a quiet and pleasant week. But wow has the week just flown by, it went from Sunday to Saturday at breakneck speed. November has done the same thing, I can hardly believe that next week is Thanksgiving. That being said, it's also dawned on me that the time I have to get a finish on Turkey Bay is dwindling away.  Here's my progress so far: The colors are much more appealing in real life. It's just an overcast day at my castle. Now, the original chart intended that flower behind the pilgrims head to be a pale pink. Through some mistake, that flower is brown. But I'm ok with it. I don't want to frog the flower, and I also think it has some charm. I'll call it the gravy flower. The black and gold border is stitching up quickly. I decided to stitch it with 3 strands of floss instead of 2 because I like the way the 3 strands really pop.  The waves were enjoyable to stitch, not just because I was ready for a change ...

Hello cross stitchers. I feel relaxed and refreshed after my short vacation. How was your Halloween, All Saints and All Souls? All was quiet, fun, and seasonal here. We actually had some chilly weather, so that was nice. Good amount of trick-or-treaters and plenty of leftover candy (I promise that I won't eat it all. Hah)  Vampires In a questionable move (because I am a coward, I freely admit that) I checked out Dracula by Bram Stoker as an audiobook from the library. Unabridged and terrifying, it was read by Simon Vance. Glad he had a British accent. Somehow that makes audiobooks just a little bit better. It'll be awhile before I throw the garbage out after sundown.  Spools of Floss While out at Michaels, I stumbled across this amazing floss.  Floss? Are you sure it's not thread? After all it's on a spool? Nope, no mistake, it's definitley Anchor floss!  Lord Libidan has a wonderful article about the spools of floss. From the article:  ...