Clouds, Feuds, and eBooks
Saying I'm an author will make me feel so fancy
Happy Monday!
When you were a kid, did you ever go cloud-watching? By cloud-watching, I mean looking up at the sky, staring at the clouds, and thinking about what shape they look like. Spotting a cloud that looks like a puppy, or an elephant, or a skydiver for example. I used to do that all the time! Riding my bicycle on a summer day, going to the grocery store with my Mother, looking out my bedroom window; these were all great times to go cloud-watching. If you never did this as a child, don’t fret. Start today! Go look up at the sky and see what you can find.
WIP Update
It’s a sunny day, and I’m off to the café (I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it!)
Bon jour Paris Market:
Those red flowers at the bottom are something else, aren’t they? I love the two shades of red that’s called for. It gives the flowers such depth. The pale green and the dark green give depth too, but the pale green is so much more fun to stitch with. That dark green tangles like it’s going out of fashion. Naturally, I’m excited about stitching more pink and purple flowers too!
As for Medieval Menagerie; behold! A page finish!
Today you get not just one, but two pictures. The next band’s motifs are nice and repetitive, so I don’t think this band will take too long before I get another page finish:
My strategy on this band will be to do all of the cross stitch first, then go back and do all of the backstitch. I started a bit of backstitch on the far left of the new band, and thought that the strategy I just mentioned would work better for me instead.
Those dragons are just so awesome. And I’ve decided on their names. From left to right, Geoffrey, John, and Richard. Medieval English history buffs will recognize these as the names of three very contentious sons of King Henry II of England. King Henry was constantly embroiled in wars against his sons, who were trying to take the crown from him, so you can infer that this was a bit of a contentious family.
The one on the far left strikes me as Geoffrey because he’s crouching, getting ready to seize his opportunity. The one on the far right is called Richard, because he’s fierce looking, brave and daring (instead of King Richard I, he’s more commonly remembered by his epithet, Richard the Lionheart). Lastly, the one in the center reminds me of John. Smaller, in the shadow of his two brothers, waiting for his chance to gain the mastery of the throne, and take the Kingdom.
As long as they don’t burn up the tapestry, they can keep snarling at each other on that band…
Behind the Scenes at the Shop
Occasionally, I will look through some of my older patterns, and re-release them as free charts.
Recently, I decided what I was going to do with a bunch of beverage-themed designs that I have. These were fun to stitch.
This is just one in a series of charts. I designed a Café and Pumpkin Spice one too. So, since this is a series of charts, I’ve decided to not release them as individual charts, but instead release them as a free eBook. I’ve never made an eBook before, so this is going to be a big learning curve for me! And because a cross stitch book needs more than just three charts, I’ve added a couple of more to the series, Cocoa and Tea. What do you think? Should I add another beverage? Let me know in the comments section.
Stay tuned for eBook updates!
Odds & Ends
This was an interesting podcast about castles | A History of the Castle: John Goodall (1217)
From the monumental ruins of strongholds like Conwy and Dover to the fantastical turrets of Hogwarts, castles are an important element in our vision of the past. They played a vital role in history, as centres of defence and political power, the physical foundation of royal and noble authority. When walking around the draughty ruins today it’s difficult to imagine how they would have been centres of luxury, comfort and plenty in the medieval period.
I had no idea this was a thing | The ‘Unifying Nature’ Of Clouds: Take A Tour Of The Sky With The Cloud Appreciation Society
