My New Book Crazy Quilting for Beginners Handy Pocket Guide is out!

I have a huge surprise for everyone — drum roll….. I have another book out! Crazy Quilting for Beginners Handy Pocket Guide: All the Basics to Get You Started is a condensed version of my other book. It’s a beginner’s guide that covers all the basics – but just the …

Creative Stitches for Contemporary Embroidery: Visual Guide to 120 Essential Stitches for Stunning Designs

Creative Stitches for Contemporary Embroidery: Visual Guide to 120 Essential Stitches for Stunning Designs is my latest book. For many years visitors to this site who use the stitch dictionary have wanted me to write a book. Well… I am pleased to say I have finally done it. It has …

Brainerd & Armstrong’s Embroidery lessons

Brainerd & Armstrong’s Embroidery lessons with colored studies, 1908 : latest and most complete book on the subject of silk embroidery and popular fancy work is available on the Internet archive. People who use a lot of floral motifs in their projects will find the section on “Lessons in embroidering …

Free ebook of Vintage Crazy Quilt Embroidery Patterns

In 1884 Mary Haehnlen wrote  A Book of Fancy Designs for Ornamenting Oriental Work. It’s a little gem because it is full of vintage Crazy Quilt embroidery patterns. I bet she never thought that over a century later, women from all over the globe would be interested in it. To …

Review: Stitching Idyllic: Hand Stitch Recognizable Summer Flowers

Ann Bernard has written a second instruction book on using Creative Surface Stitchery to stitch garden flowers titled Stitching Idyllic: Hand Stitch Recognisable Summer Flowers. Stitching Idyllic: Spring Flowers is Ann Bernard’s first book. With the Summer Flowers they form a pair but you do not need both. Although they …

My top 3 recommendations for a stitch dictionary

I was asked what my recommendations for a stitch dictionary for a  person who was learning embroidery but as I wrote this I realised these books are a good foundation and reference for any hand embroiderers library. I don’t think you need all 3 books but if you have one of these you …

Sardinian Knot stitch a review

I recently received in the mail a book titled Sardinian Knot Stitch: Interpreted by Gioja Ralui. The parcel was pleasant surprise from Jeanine of Italian Needlework. I love the story of how Sardinian Knotted Embroidery came to be. Gioja Ralui is a pseudonym that combines the names of 4 women …