White Clover

Alright guys, big stitchy news: I've changed projects. I was very bummed out about having had to leave our old place, and the flowers in the Baby Bluejays project were reminding me too much of our lovely almond tree beside my sunny stitching spot... that, combined with the intricacy of the pattern, were making me quite blue and frustrated. I obviously needed an easy, small design to take my mind off of things.

So, I picked up White Clover by Nora Corbett and I went nuts. Here it is so far:

I love, love, love that crown. It's so swirly and pink!

This pixie is part of Nora Corbett's "Poison Pixies" collection. I didn't understand why it was a poison fairy and I guessed that maybe white clover is poisonous, but as I stitched her I realized that actually, she does look poisonous! I mean, just look at those wings: they're full of sharp angles and changing, mesmerizing colors. If you saw that out in the wild you'd think twice before touching it! I have to say, Nora is very clever with her designs.

Some WIP pictures and my cats napping around:

Thank you everyone for your lovely comments on my last post- they were very encouraging and sweet, and I really appreciated them. And don't worry, I absolutely want to finish that Baby Bluejays piece! I'm just not in the right frame of mind for it right now, but I'll pick it up again :)

I hope you all have a great week, happy stitching :D

Baby Bluejays & Spring & LOUD neighbors

We've been enjoying some of the sunniest, warmest days we've had in months. I've been out on the terrace a lot, stitching in the sun, and it's just felt like SPRING! We've had so many days that have simply felt like April or May, that I wanted to celebrate the coming of spring with... Well, a spring-themed project.

I had two contenders: Baby Bluejays by Dimensions

And White Clover by Nora Corbett:

Both had beautiful colors and I want to make them both this year, but in the end I went with Baby Bluejays. I've had the design in my stash for a very long time now, it was one of the first Dimensions designs I ever saw and loved, and I'm just really in the mood for stitching some birds. So here we are!

It's actually the most intricate design I've had to stitch so far, with all the color changes and different stitches, but it's been fun stitching in the sun with my beautiful Sancho by my side: 

Sancho with the olive tree

Also, our small almond tree is blooming!!

Almond blossoms are so dainty yet spectacular. I love seeing these trees covered in white-pink flowers by the side of the road, a real spectacle every February! They remind me of the flowers in the Baby Bluejays design.

I also wanted to add that I'm late posting this entry because I started writing it right before we had to move out of our beautiful apartment. Long story short, we were sandwiched in between two very loud families who moved in some months ago. Due to the bad quality of construction (I would get into the whole Spanish Construction Bubble Which Burst During the Recession Story here but I don't want to bore you) it felt like we were living with four screaming children, four party loving adults, and three early-morning barking dogs in the apartment with us. 

If you want to imagine what it was like, think of your typical Kindergarten during recess. Are you there? Do you hear the children screaming and running and falling over and crying? Ok, good. Next, imagine there's a loud café right beside it of the Mediterranean variety where everybody talks in loud voices and stays up until 2am. Now add in some loud music to the mix with very strong base. And there you have it folks, our lovely home situation.

So after some months of this we decided that if we were to keep our mental sanity and not, you know, go to jail for flinging something at the neighbors, we just had to move. The opportunity came last week and we just took it, so here we are in our temporary apartment in the city while we sell and look for something new. Yay.

ANYWAY... 

How is everybody doing this week? I hope you're doing well and have plenty of crafty things to do! Thank you as always for your comments, I appreciate every single one of them. Until next time, happy stitching :)

Guardian Spirit: Finished!!

YOU. GUYS.

I have finished Guardian Spirit!!! I can't believe it!! But look: There she is in all her splendor. It still hasn't sunk in that she's done. 

Finishing this piece was an absolute nightmare straight from Hades. First, I ran out of the red thread I needed to finish the border around her head. I had to rummage through my DMC stash to find a similar color, with which I stitched the bottom half of the Xs, and then went over them with the correct strand of color. It's not perfect, but I was a stubborn mule and wanted to finish the project last night, so it'll have to do. Also, last night I got a cramp in my arm which made stitching that much harder, and then I got so sleepy and exhausted that I had to leave it until today to finish it, when I only had a small section to go! Insert creative frustration here.

But I did finish it, and it was awesome, and also can we pause a second to appreciate the neatest back that I have ever been able to do?

And also one of my cats getting curious during the washing process:

With this piece, I've realized that I really do have a creative process. Let's recap it here, shall we?

Robin's Creative Process

1. Excitement at starting a new project
2. Contentment as I fall into rhythm with the project and see it coming to life
3. Complete and utter hate & contempt for no other reason that the project seems endless and I will scream if I have to add another stitch to it
4. Awe and amazement when it is done and I realize I've made a beautiful thing

What can I say? Stitchers be crazy. Here are some more detailed pictures:

If you're still reading this, thank you! I'll be back next time with my next project for Phase One: Excitement! Until then, I'd love to hear of your own creative process. I hope you're all well and happy crafting, thank you as always for your comments, and see you next time :)

Guardian Spirit: Almost there!

I think I have a grandiose sense of my own stitching abilities, because I honest to goodness thought that the next time I wrote on here, I'd have a finish to show you all. Cue ironic laughter. Here's where we're at people:

 

Now, you see that poncho? That big, colorful, enormous shawl thing? Yeah, I thought I could finish that shawl in a week or less. Naive little fool.

It turns out that the shawl is huge. And absolutely full coverage, from one end of the design to the other.  Oh and also, it is driving me insane, because there are so many weird shapes going on, and the pattern's hard to read, and the stitches look all wrong! You can't tell in the picture, but the stitches aren't laying as flat as they usually do, probably because I've been experimenting with stitching vertically (I usually stitch horizontally, but the shawl shapes just lend themselves to vertical stitches, so of course I thought this would be the perfect time to experiment). 

Anyway. This long ramble just to say: we're nearly there, and I can't wait! On the plus side, I'm loving the look of this little corner:

In other news, I've just finished an amazing book and I wanted to share it with you all (Shelly, if you're reading this, you're going to laugh): 

These Is My Words, by Nancy E. Turner. Now, why is this funny? Because I was 100% convinced I'd  already read  this book. In fact, when I saw Shelly's sampler over at her blog, I raved about how great the book was and how excited I was to see a sampler of it! And then I realized... Hang on a moment, the book I actually read was The Diary of Mattie Spencer by Sandra Dallas. Big facepalm moment, that one.

As for the book itself, I loved it. It was sad and tragic in places, but I loved how Sarah rose to every single challenge, how strong she was, and how realistically relationships were portrayed. As for the love interest in this one, wow. Let me just say, I am one to roll my eyes at a lot of romances out there, but my goodness, if there was ever a perfectly flawed, cheeky, intelligent, exasperating and brilliant hero ever written, it is in this book. 'Nuff said. 

I hope you're all doing well with plenty to keep you busy in all things crafty, thank you as always for your comments, and see you next time :)

Stitching the Alhambra

This is another post showcasing my mom's work, and this one is super special because it's tied in with so many memories, as you'll see. My mom's really becoming an incredibly fast stitcher! Ladies and gentlemen, here is her latest finish:

I don't know the designer, but it depicts one of Spain's most beautiful heritage sites: the beautiful Alhambra in Granada, with the mountain range Sierra Nevada behind it. 

The Alhambra is one of the world's best preserved Moorish palaces from medieval times, a real jewel of Moorish architecture. It's a couple of hours from where we live so it's a weekend getaway place for us and I can tell you, the sunset looks exactly like that when it hits the palace walls. In fact, the name "Al-hambra" means "the red" in Arabic, probably because its walls were built of reddish rammed earth. 

Here is a picture I took on one of our last visits... apologies for the blurry quality:

I've been going to the Alhambra since my first school field trip when I was seven. Then, in my early twenties, the city of Granada itself became a place to hang out with friends, chilling at the tea shops and eating the traditional sweets made with nuts and honey. I still love this city, because it has a very strong sense of history and an active student culture.

The Courtyard of Lions

Granada was so special to me that when a certain Irish boy came to visit Spain for the first time some years ago, I took him to visit it, and this is where he asked me to date! Much later, the same boy took me to the Alhambra and asked me to marry him in its lush gardens.

So you see, a lot of memories surround this place. Here are some more pictures that will hopefully give you a feeling for the place:

Moorish windows looking into a courtyard garden

Peeping through an arch

Detailed wall carvings

I'm super happy to have a stitched version of the Alhambra in the family! Isn't it nice when a stitched piece has so much meaning? Do you have any stitched pieces that bring you good memories?

Until next time, happy stitching :)

Guardian Spirit, and why I like to cross stitch

Hi everyone! How are you all this week? I'm happy to report that my stitching bug is back, and my wintry routine of stitching while watching Gilmore Girls and cuddling my cats has been fully restored. It's wonderful! Here is how Guardian Spirit is doing so far:

I'm loving the blue stripe on her blouse and the sheen that it has- isn't it pretty? Funny as it may sound, the clothes in this piece really speak to me. It's something about the colors and patterns in the fabric. I just find them gorgeous. Here are some closeups:

This week I've been doing some thinking about why I like cross stitching so much. It's a hobby that I started back in 2018, because I wanted something "easy" to do with my hands, something that allowed me to make something pretty in a simple way.  And I haven't stopped ever since! So, here are my reasons for loving cross stitch:

1. It's simple. Essentially, cross stitching is literally making an x with thread, over and over again. Most people can learn it. And that's why I love it: because when I'm exhausted at the end of the day, I really just want to relax with a project and not have to think. 
2. You can do it anywhere. You don't need to be sitting at a desk or going anywhere special. You can stitch away on the couch, in bed, at the beach... Anywhere you're comfortable! And for me this is a real winner. 
3. So many themes! You can create pretty much anything, from nature scenes to fairies to nerdy pop culture. So you can't get bored :)

So, those are my reasons. What are yours? Why do you like to cross stitch?

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend with plenty of things to enjoy! See you next time :)

Losing the stitching bug and coming back up

I'm baaack! How is everyone? Before I say anything else, thank you so much for your comments on my last entry- I appreciate every single one of them and they put a smile on my face every time :) I'm sorry I didn't answer, I've been MIA in all things cross stitch!

I had some personal things come up that made me completely lose the stitching bug these last couple of weeks, but thankfully it's all sorted now and I am back to working on this piece, and here is the progress so far:

We have a wolf! With an adorable little face, just look at him:

That's a happy puppy :) And there's backstitching all over the project now, so I'm all caught up!

I have also made my very first handmade needle minder:

What do you think? This was originally a pin, which I love because it reminds me of they way my cats sleep all cuddled up together. I used an old pair of pliers to take the sharp bit of the pin off, filed away what remained, and glued on some magnets. I have to say, I like the result, and will probably be making more!

Here it is in action while I stitched in the sunny terrace one morning:

We've been enjoying our winter break these past two weeks and it's been wonderful- we did some hikes, caught up on movies and books, and had more staycation days than should be legal. There's been a lot of homemade pizza going around and of course, time spent with friends. 

How has everyone been? I hope you're all doing great and have plenty of projects to keep you busy! Until next time, happy stitching :)