I thought it would be fun to post a great site for hand-work & embroidery

Nordic Needle carries an amazing variety of supplies & tools for handwork. I believe they have something like 19,000 different products? Definitely worth exploring!

My mother is spending part of her vacation visiting my family, and she brought me a present! Yay! I have hunted online for a vendor that has an image of this book, or even just has it for sale, but no luck. It is titled “Navajo Rugs in Cross-stitch & Needlepoint” (ISBN 0-9708911-1-3). It has 8 different traditional rug designs as charts. Each design has a bit of history, stitch count, colors needed, and size of cloth. Color numbers are listed for DMC and 3ply wool. There are no symbols listed …read more

Yesterday I spent hours re-organizing our shelves of books, and in the process unearthed a few needlework gems I’d forgotten about. One of these is the March 2006 issue of Cross-Stitch & Needlework magazine (formerly Stitcher’s World).

This issue has several smallish motifs to stitch, as well as some Springy pieces. There are Faberge-style eggs, some bunnies, etc. In addition, there is a set of kitchen cloths with Southwest themes (chili peppers, clay pots..) and a set of Christmas ornaments done in pastel pinks and greens. ah, and the issue includes a larger piece – ’spring quilts’, …read more

Last month I reviewed the Cross Country Stitching magazine. I also put in a request on their site for a free issue of their magazine as well as their catalogue. Yesterday I checked my mailbox and there was a large envelope from Jeremiah Junction, Inc with my (spelled incorrectly) name on it. Woo-hoo! (I don’t mind the name spelling. As my husband pointed out, it just means they are a company more personally involved in handling and processing their orders, instead of highly automated.)

I think that is pretty speedy service on a freebie request, don’t you? …read more

Today I’m reviewing a lovely book called “Embroidery of Roses” by Ondori /Japan Publications. This book may be hard to find, since it was published in 1980, but if you see a copy and love roses, buy it!

The front inside cover says:
Here presented lovely roses in the world by the work of embroidery. The traditional sense of roses is created by delicate stitches and cleverly blended colors. Try to copy them stitch by stitch on your items.

This book is not for a beginning stitcher. While there are charts and patterns for all of the beautiful color …read more

In my recent magazine purchasing activity, I bought the June 2006 issue of Cross Country Stitching. I am fond of a lot of the ‘country’ style things (though I wouldn’t want my house to be over-taken with it), and this magazine has a lot of great projects.

One thing I especially like is that pattern pages are matte paper instead of glossy. This makes reading the charts so much easier! There are small projects and large ones, simple and complex. A fairly nice mix.

You can purchase back issues singly on their website, as well as ‘MagPacs’ which …read more

I spied a copy of this book at my favorite local used/new/swap book store, and bought it. I think all good stashes include at least a couple of books and a few magazines. This book won the mental tug-of-war and made it to the checkout mostly because the physical size is convienient. Also, this book appeared to have good how-to explanations, and includes quite a few pictures and images.

I would recommend this book as an addition to anyone’s bookshelf, but not as a sole reference. There are some types of needlework and stitches …read more

Just CrossStitch (Hoffman Media Inc) is a magazine I’ve been eyeing for a while now. I bought the April issue because I love the wild rose pattern highlighted on the front cover, and figured the pattern was worth the $6.99 even if the rest of the magazine sucked.

The layout of this magazine is ok- it can be hard to tell at first glance if some of the pages are part of an article or if they’re a slick advertisement. Overall the ratio of patterns to articles is pleasantly heavy on the patterns end. The ads …read more

Several years ago I bought a copy of Azade Akar’s _Treasury of Turkish Designs: 670 Motifs from Iznik Pottery_ because I loved the images in it. Eventually I transferred one of them to cloth and embroidered it. It was, in my biased opinion , quite lovely. But it didn’t quite look ‘right’, in an Authentic sort of way. The piece was given away, and I didn’t think much about it afterwards.

There are quite a few people who like to create new pieces of needlework according to older techniques and methods. Lately I have been …read more

Most of the needlework charts and kits (of whatever specific sort) are geared for the older child or adult. Even the beginner cross stitch kits I have seen for sale, are too complex for toddlers and preschoolers.

If you have a child in your life who is young, or whose motor skills are not developed enough yet to manipulate the finer threads, canvases and needles, the answer is a lacing card. I remember owning a set of large buttons and such with a lace which I could “sew” with. I had a lot of fun with that until …read more