Whiskers & Wings: Week 7

Saturday night update! I'm late in posting this so I'm not sure if this constitutes week 7 or 8, but for the sake of consistency, let's say it's week 7. Here's the project so far:

More snow has appeared, and two more birds! Another chickadee and a beautiful cardinal that just pops with that brilliant red, doesn't he? Again, I feel like the picture doesn't do the project justice, because when I see it in real life it seems to have such depth with all the light and shadow going on. My plan now is to add the third bird, and then fill in all the rest of the snow. I'm hoping to be done in a week or two, and I'm so excited! I really am enjoying this project.

Not much news over here. Work & lesson plan during the week, and during the weekends... sunbathing on the beach! The water is getting a bit cold now, but we still managed to get some snorkeling done this morning, which is great. The tourists have gone now so the beaches are a lot emptier, and the water is starting to get that crystal clarity that means the cold weather will be here soon. 

Also, I've finished this book: 

And it was amazing. It really resonated with me, as someone who moved to the US as a child, and had to learn a new culture/language. The author evidently knows what that experience is like, the good and the bad, and the way she handled the everyday details of it just blew my mind. Highly recommended read for anyone interested in the topic.

And that's me done. I hope you're all having a good week, I'll leave you with a few close-ups of the project so far, and as always, happy stitching :)

Whiskers and Wings: Week 6

I'm extremely proud to present a fully stitched and backstitched kitten at the window:

Isn't he just something else? I love the part the project is at now, with the window and kitten fully finished, and the play of shadow and light on the snow. I find that there is a lot of depth and feeling in this project, and I'm really surprised at how much I'm enjoying it! Also -and this is just a detail- but don't you just love that bit of ice sticking to the window on the bottom right corner, through which you can see a bit more of the kitten? I think details like these are what make certain pieces pop!

I was very tired today as I stitched this, so I curled up on the sofa and put on a nice cozy movie: Safe Haven. Nothing special, but I do tend to gravitate to small-town-by-the-sea stories when I'm tired or just in need of some comfort entertainment. The weather's been pretty bad too, with the worst rainfall this part of Spain has seen in... well, ever, so it's been nice to have some time at home to curl up with some stitching.

I hope you're all doing well, here's a closeup of the kitten's face as he looks at the chickadees, and as always... Happy stitching :)

Whiskers and Wings: Week 5

Well, if these haven't been the busiest couple of weeks, I don't know what! September has rolled around and we have been busy, busy, busy with back-to-school. It's all been lesson planning in this house and training and meeting our new students, and this weekend we've just both collapsed and spent a nice staycation at home, watching movies, lazing around the place with the cats, and taking walks. It's been fun! It's also given me a chance to finally catch up with my cross-stitching, and here is where Whiskers and Wings is at so far:

Cute, right? Just look at those two chickadees! I'm nearly done with the snow around them and then I'll backstitch them, they're really going to pop out and I can't wait. As usual with my projects, this one's taking way longer than anticipated and is looking far more beautiful than I could have imagined. There's a lot of depth to it, although I'm not sure if it comes out in the picture. The colors are quite rich in real life!

Also in cross stitching news, I don't know if you've seen this lacing tutorial by Meg at Live to Stitch, but wow! It's amazing. She goes into so much detail on it, I think it's the best tutorial I've seen on the subject and I am definitely going to use it next time I frame a project.  

I hope you're all doing all right, I'll leave you with some WIP pictures, and as always happy stitching :D

Mermaid Azure: Framed! And a small treasure.

You guys! I'm so excited: it's happened! Mermaid Azure is finally framed and up!

But before we get into that, I want to show you a little modification I made to the beads. Here's a closeup of the area I modified, see if you can guess what it is:

I'm guessing that since you are not me (aka glued to this particular project), you won't necessarily see any difference. So I'll point it out: you see that pearl the mermaid is holding? That pearl (or rather, faux pearl) belonged to my grandmother. She absolutely loved pearls, and she had strands of them (again, fake ones) at her shop. She would use them to add little details to baby girls' clothing and headbands, and she would use them so often and so liberally that I've always associated my granny with pearls. When she passed away, one of the things I got were quite a few strings of these pearls, and I have since put them in small bottles to use for my own handcrafts.

So it suddenly seemed obvious to me to add one to this little mermaid! Because mermaids love pearls too, don't they? And she's holding it so reverently, like a treasure. So I guess that if we're being all philosophical about this as a piece of art, I suppose the mermaid represents me holding a memory of my beloved granny and cherishing it always.

Framing

Now, for the framing. I didn't go to a professional framer's this time, because if I do that each time I finish a project I'll go bankrupt. So I went to my local hardware/furniture shop and picked up a white frame with ripples in the wood that reminded me of the waves of the sea:

I framed it in a very play it by ear sort of way: I simply draped the fabric over the back of the frame, moved it around to get it as centered as possible, and sewed the sides together with a very long stitch. So if you turn the frame around, you'll see this very handcrafted look (that's the word I'm going with, anyway):

What can I say? I'm just happy the front looks ok!

To top it all off, I found the perfect spot for it: my Mediterranean corner in the living room. With its blues and whites and the obvious sea theme, I could not have planned it any better:

And here goes a special shoutout to my husband, who is just fine with me putting a mermaid front and center in our common living space, because (in his own words) it's "so cool!". Not only that, but he hung it up himself. I married the right man!

And with that, I say a goodbye to summer, because once September rolls in that holiday vibe is gone (or maybe that's just because I'm a teacher). But I did it: I stitched a mermaid and got her framed and hung in the summer. I am satisfied! I hope you're all having a great week so far, thank you for reading and as always, happy stitching :)

Whiskers & Wings: Week 3

He's here! Our little kitten is stitched, backstitched, and looking out the window:

Cute, right? I still have to add his body of course, and a couple of french knots to bring a shine to his eyes, but I think he's looking adorable so far. Next week is going to be all about stitching more snow, and hopefully a couple of birds. We'll see how we get on. 

We've been so busy this last week again that I haven't had time to look for a frame for the beautiful Mermaid Azure, but I'm hoping to get something soon, because I want to hang her up and see her every day!

Finally, I never thought that I'd share anything other than cross stitching on this blog, but after looking at other crafting blogs and talking to a couple of you, I've realized that I enjoy getting to know a little bit more about the crafter behind the blog. So today I'm sharing a couple of pictures of the area where I live, so you can get an idea of what it looks like around here:

As you can see, it's quite... well, Mediterranean. Blue sea, white-washed villages, pita trees, aloe veras, dry hills. My Irish father-in-law calls it a moonscape (I still find that hilarious) but to me it's home! So I wanted to share it here with you.

I hope you're all having a good week, and as always, happy stitching!

Whiskers & Wings: Week 2

A curious little kitten has appeared at the window!

How are you all this week? We have been so extremely busy with getting back, doing things around the house, and getting ready for the new school year. We haven't stopped, and it looks like this week is going to be just as busy! Thankfully I've had time to sit down and work on my cross stitch for a bit, and I was getting good speed until I got to the kitten... he's adorable, but he is all confetti, so I'm afraid progress is slow.

The other day as I cleaned out my craft corner (again) I came across this little piglet:

And it made me smile because he has a little story to him. I first saw this little guy on the summer we moved to the US. He was misplaced in a Walmart aile, and to my 9-year-old mind he looked lonely and in need of a home because he only had one eye, and I guess I just thought he needed some extra love. My parents were happy to get him for me, and he became one of my favorite toys, and one of the teddies I cuddled at night (yes, I slept with teddies sometimes. Now I have cats!) 

Originally, Mr Piglet here didn't have the sweater. He was just a pink little pig with one eye. But one day at a garage sale, my mom or I (I don't remember who) found the adorable knit sweater he's wearing now. It was too cute and just the right size, so my mom got the sweater for Mr Piglet, which happened to be of an official teddy bear brand:

Once we put the sweater on, it never came off: I somehow thought that having a warm, cuddly sweater would make Mr Piglet feel better about having only one eye, and so you see, he's still wearing it, years later. Who knew he'd end up here in southern Spain? Probably not him!

I hope everyone's doing great. It looks like this will be a busy week so my next post will be a week from now, and hopefully I'll have some progress to show! For now, here are some progress pictures:

My beautiful fur babies! I'd missed them!

Whiskers & Wings: Week 1 and Goodbye Belgium!

This week has been a combination of rest and day trips, so stitching time has been erratic, but I'm happy with my progress so far:

You can see part of the window now! And isn't that snowy effect just the coziest thing? I love it! I've been stitching this piece indoors when it was raining, or out in the garden when the weather was fair. I've been lucky enough to have spent some golden evenings outside stitching this piece, listening to the blackbirds sing and having Luno for company. In fact, I was caught in fraganti by my mother one evening, who caught me in all my Pyjama-Wearing, Cross-Stitching Goddess glory (please note the sarcasm):

What can I say? Not my most flattering picture, but certainly one of the most candid ones that perfectly capture a moment, I think.

Any time I'm in northern Europe in the summer, I find myself falling in love with the landscape and wildlife: the forests, lakes, castles, mountains... The deer and falcons and hares and foxes. These are things that we simply don't have where I'm from, and for me they're so beautiful and exotic, that I always want to take the feeling home with me. And as an armchair traveller, it's natural for me to gravitate towards books, so my summer reading usually consists of novels set in Alaska, or in some other remote northern place. Right now, I'm reading A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly, which takes place around the New York countryside in the 19th century, and I'm loving that northern summer feel. 

That being said, I don't do winters in the north. I already lived in Belgium for quite a few years, and if that taught me anything is that the darkness and cold of the winter are not for me. I need the eternal sunshine and warmth of my beloved Mediterranean, where life is slow and the days are warm. Northern Europe is just a lovely summer dream. 

And so with that piece of inner monologue, I'll leave you with the last picture of Luno for a while, since tomorrow we're going back to Spain. Thank you for reading, and as always happy stitching :)