Category Archives: Needlework/Arts/Crafts

“How to Sew Little Felt Animals” is a lovely book of patterns of animals and clothing. It is a book that I saw and pre-ordered months ago based solely on the pictures on the cover. When the book arrived, the reality of the projects is even better than the promise of the photographs.

Sue Quinn has written a wonderfully instructive book. The instructions are clear, the photographs well done, and she has given many suggestions for how to make sure your animals look and act properly once they are finished.

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“Origami Anywhere” by Nick Robinson is a fun book of origami patterns which focus on using paper recycled from everyday use.

I learned origami as a young child when visiting my friend’s house. Her grandmother could only speak Japanese but she loved teaching origami to both her granddaughter and to me. We would work on a project and, when finished, we were rewarded with a cup of tea and a homemade almond cookie. I loved the two afternoons a week I spent at Jean’s house.

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“Paper Jewelry: 55 Projects for Reusing Paper” is the first book I have read which dealt with recycling various paper for jewelry. The author, Barbara Baumann, has included a wide variety of stylish and extremely wearable projects. The recycled paper utilizes everything from old telephone books to cigarette filters to puzzle pieces and even comic books.

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This book is a valuable tool for any knitter. I am much more experienced as a crocheter than as a knitter. I got interested in knitting a few years ago while there was a boom of knitting shows on public television.

I have a lot of fun with the process but really don’t have anyone I can turn to to ask questions. Most of the yarn stores in my area have closed and there are only the generic large craft stores available. The employees there, while very nice, don’t seem to have the advanced skills necessary to give me answers to the issues that I have encountered in knitting. I’ve tried taking some of the classes that they offer but they are extremely basic and still don’t serve my purposes.

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Susan Bates has been a favorite designer of mine for years. All of the designs have the quality that tells you it is by Susan Bates – very sweet and whimsical in style. There are eighteen flower designs in this book – some of which are smaller and easier to accomplish than others. I really appreciate the pillow designs – this is something I have seen more for needlepoint than for cross stitch, so I am looking forward to making the full set of these for my sewing/design room. This is a book for anyone from a beginner to advanced and I recommend it, though for a beginner I suggest that you start with some of the smaller projects and work your way through. Some of the larger designs are better suited for intermediate and up.

Susan Bates has been a favorite designer of mine for years. She currently has a number of design books out which concentrate on motifs. I like getting motif designs because it lets me decide how to put the items together and for what purpose. I bought her current books from a local needlework store and have been having a lot of fun with them. This booklet is of hearts, birds, and flowers motifs (there are even hearts made up of flowers). All of the designs have the quality that tells you it is by Susan Bates – very sweet and whimsical in style. This is a book for anyone from a beginner to advanced and I recommend it.

Susan Bates has been a favorite designer of mine for years. She currently has a number of design books out which concentrate on motifs. I like getting motif designs because it lets me decide how to put the items together and for what purpose. I bought her current books from a local needlework store and have been having a lot of fun with them. This booklet of vintage motifs has designs with an old time flare. There are a number of clothing designs that are really cute but my current favorites in this set are the little dog designs – so, so cute. All of the designs have the quality that tells you it is by Susan Bates – very sweet and whimsical in style. This is a book for anyone from a beginner to advanced and I recommend it.

This is a great book of samplers of varying types. For myself, I won’t be using the designs as a sampler but instead, I will be using the individual components as motifs for many projects. There is everything from sewing motifs (which I will use frequently) to baby items to china to herbs and many many more.

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I have been familiar with Maria Diaz for years from her designs published in British cross stitch magazines. I have a number of her books which I have purchased from a local needlework store, including one that has some of her larger and more well known designs. She also does many motif designs and this book is one of that series.

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What a wonderful tool this book is for anyone who wants to learn to draw in a realistic way. “The Realism Challenge: Drawing and Painting Secrets from a Modern Master of Hyperrealism” is the first book I have by Mark Crilley.

I have recently read a book about the advent of Modernist movement of the early twentieth century – when artists were moving away from realistic art because of, in part, the invention of affordable photography. At that time, artists were less concerned about realistically capturing an image in their art. It is really interesting that about one hundred years later, this attitude has made a 180 degree change. Perhaps this is due in part to digital art being able to manipulate items into total abstract. It seems time for artists to once again capture the world around us in a realistic (or hyperrealistic) manner.

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