This week’s Link Love theme is “Five posts you {actually} made something from.” Well, I have yet to make something from a post, but I have made projects from five books!
The only difficulty with this post is that I don’t have photos of most of the projects I’ve completed. This is silly, I know. Someday soon, I hope to tackle my collection of old photos. I’m going to toss out unnecessary photos, and digitize and organize the remainder. Then, hopefully, I can create a kind of craft portfolio.
In the meantime, here’s a little bit of info about these five helpful and project inspiring crafty books:
#1 Beth Russell’s William Morris Needlepoint
This book is just plain gorgeous, cover to cover. Beth worked at the Royal School of Needlework in London, and her designs certainly are a faithful interpretation of William Morris’ works.
I needlepointed the Artichoke pattern you can see below. Whereas the photo was finished into a cushion, mine is finished into a framed wall hanging. The two projects are nearly identical and they’re absolutely beautiful!
#2 Danish Cross-Stitch Zodiac Samplers (Dover Needlework)
I purchased this funky tome not necessarily for the zodiac element, but more for the flower border patterns. Every month has a different featured flower and they’re all very pretty without being too cutesy.
I rearranged parts of about 9 of the borders to make an all-flower cross stitch project and gave it to a friend as a housewarming present. I hope I can find a photo of it as it was really lovely and cheery.
#3 101 Needlepoint Stitches and How to Use Them: Fully Illustrated with Photographs and Diagrams (Dover Embroidery, Needlepoint)
This is one that yes, I do have a photo of the project I created. The book doesn’t include this sampler as shown – I just created the sampler, as I remember, on the fly with a scrap piece of small gauge canvas. The piece is only about 8″ x 10″. I would love to remember how I came up with the layout!
#4 Celtic Charted Designs (Dover Embroidery, Needlepoint)
This book contains animal patterns (as you can see by the cover), geometrics, knotwork, and then some spiral patterns. One of the biggest spiral patterns I needlepointed in green, gold, red, and purple for a friend’s wedding. Her wedding had an Irish theme, so I thought it was appropriate.
My friend recently told me this great story about the project. “My aunt, my mother’s sister, came to visit on her way from Iowa to the LA area. When she came in the front door (huggy-huggy) she saw the wedding gift artwork/[needlepoint] you did for us. She touched the glass and said all sorts of Kansas-Missouri things, and then carried it with her when I gave her a tour of the house.” How cool is that!?!
#5 Design and Make Your Own Contemporary Sampler Quilt (Dover Quilting)
If you have never made a quilt before, this book is a great place to start. The book includes instructions for three different sizes of quilts, including everything from how much fabric to purchase to how to finish the edges. I made my first quilt using this book.
I wish I had a photo of this quilt project to share. Not so much for the patterns, but for the fabrics I picked out (I’m still proud of my choices, 15 years later!). Fortunately, this quilt is still in my possession and I’ll get it photographed sooner rather than later.
Disclosure: Ancora Crafts is an Amazon Associate – your purchases from the links above will help support Ancora Crafts. I own every linked book in this post. I will only endorse products that I believe, based on our personal knowledge of the products, are worthy of such endorsement.
Well you know, now I’ve had to rush off and buy Danish Cross-Stitch Zodiac Samplers! The Dover Needlework series has too many fun titles (and interesting collections) even if the quality is sometimes really dreadful.
My favorite book of theirs is the worst to try to read from, as the squares are filled entirely black so counting is tough, but the designs and the title are great: Charted Peasant Designs from Saxon Transylvania. So specific!
That’s great! The Dover books are fun. Seeing that four of the above books are from Dover, you can see how much I enjoy them. I mean honestly, for about $5 (depending on the title), a few skiens of floss and some canvas or aida, you can create some amazing things!