Books: Anna Maria's Needleworks Notebook

The wonderful people involved with Anna Maria's Needleworks Notebook were sweet enough to share a copy of this book to review on Feeling Stitchy.

And it's been awhile, but I am finally giving a brief tour through my favorite elements of this book and... if you read to the end... a giveaway! This post is a combination of my first dive into one of the book's projects and a brief overview of the book.



What I Made: One Night of Crafting 
I am so strapped for time these days, that before I begin a project I wonder if I'll be able to finish it. It's a count-the-cost mentality I've been forced to adapt, to be realistic with my time constraints. Do you ever do this, too?

In all my future reviews on FS, I want to include a quick-and-dirty snapshot of everything I was able to accomplish in one night of crafting, which for me equals 6PM - 11:30 PM on a weeknight. And, here you have it, the results of 5.5 hours, or one night of crafting:

As you can see, this is a detailed, cross stitch project that could safely occupy at least 3-4 additional nights of crafting. But I love the gorgeous colors and lines!

Book Overview

If you're already a fan of Anna Maria Horner, you will have plenty of reasons to love this book. I was so taken with Anna Maria's color language that I made a list of all the floss colors from my favorite projects and lined them all up, to really take in a sense of her style:

Pretty gorgeous, huh? By the way, all of the floss colors are listed as Anchor in her book, so I used this Floss Conversion Calculator to convert to DMC, since Anchor is not readily available in my region.

Now, on to the book! The book is divided into two sections: Grid Works and Free Works. Each section is further subdivided into helpful Common Materials and Tools, and Stitch Know-How sections with illustrated color guides to many, many stitches.

Under Grid Works, you'll find projects for Cross Stitch and Needlepoint.

The Needlepoint section is extensive, showing 11 different stitches that can be used (as a Needlepoint newbie - I had no idea there were so many!)

Under Free Works, you'll find projects for Embroidery and Crewel. The Embroidery section also has a 4 page illustrated color guide that shows you 13 different stitches.

The Crewel section has a 3 page color guide that shows you 5 stitches. Again, I loved the colors in these projects:

Lastly, the book closes with a section on Finishing your projects, and the Project graphs:

I love the graphs for their color and creativity, but they are colored blocks, without a symbol, so it can be hard to decipher if you have two very similar colors next to each other. On the other hand, it's a good springboard for the more creative stitchers out there, if you're planning to use your own colors and ideas.

Here are my favorite projects, in no particular order:

"home" crewelwork pillow

"menagerie at midnight" cross stitch

"star-crossed love" needlepoint purse

The Giveaway!
Overall, I think it's a wonderful book, both for inspiration and projects, and that's why I decided to give away 1 copy here! To win, all you have to do is leave a comment here - and tell us this: if you had to pick 1 favorite out of the following: Cross Stitch, Needlepoint, Freehand Embroidery, or Crewelwork - what would it be? Please include your email address so I can contact the winner!

I'll leave the comments open until 9 PM, CST on March 17, when I'll close the comments and announce the winner soon after. Want to win your own copy of Anna Maria's Needleworks Notebook? Tell us your favorite stitching category!

Tutorial Tuesday

Happy Tuesday, everyone and Happy New Year!

I have a tutorial roundup to share with you today. Each tutorial has some great instructions for how to create a fun and functional item using embroidery.

If you want to add a little color to your table now that the holiday decorations are packed away, Anna Maria Horner has an excellent tutorial for a table scarf. This is a pdf file, so make sure you have Adobe reader in order to access it.

Kylie Hunt provided the Flower Press blog with an excellent tutorial for creating a floral brooch using vintage fabric as her pattern. Access the tutorial here. 

Urban Threads has a great tutorial for creating silhouettes using a satin stitch. Check out their tutorial here. 

Lilipopo has a darling embroidered glasses case tutorial over at her blog. It's a super cute case and quick to make.

Hope you get to try some of these out. Hope you have a happy Tuesday!

Pins and Needles Giveway

A good craft store is really hard to find. I learned this particularly when I lived in New York and had to take a long, long, long, subway ride from Manhattan to Queens just to be able to buy felt, needles, and embroidery hoops.

So I was fascinated when Jenn emailed me about Pins and Needles NYC, a bright, beautiful storefront dedicated to fabrics, haberdashery, and classes in sewing, quilting and embroidery. Their blog is also full of lovely projects and tutorials.



Well, I was even more thrilled when I heard that they wanted to do a giveaway on Feeling Stitchy, to round out our birthday month of giveaways and festivities!



In the giveaway for today are 1/2 yard each of the 2 Anna Maria Horner fabrics above, and 12 skeins of floss in the recently released Anna Maria Horner colors for Anchor floss. The fabrics have a gorgeous cross stitch print that would look beautiful stitched over, or simply left as is.

And the floss colors are pretty much my favorites shades of everything:



Awesome, huh? Well, if you'd like to get your hands on these lovely goods generously offered by the great people at Pins and Needles NYC, just leave a comment on this post by Sunday night, April 1, 9 PM Central time. Winner will be announced on Monday, April 2. In your comment, please tell us: how far have you gone to get crafting supplies? :) Please include your email address so we can find you. Lastly, to win, you must be a new winner who has not won a drawing on Feeling Stitchy this year. Let the comments begin! :)