I broke the dam…

Although I haven’t gotten a flood of books. I had a goal on my 101 list to not buy books for 365 days. That meant any books, unless someone else bought them for me as a gift. I reached that goal on Jan 24th of this year, and continued to refrain from literary purchases. Then, at the beginning of the month, I decided to buy some books. (There are so many I want!)

Besides a baby book and some non-fiction reading, I also got a few crafty books.

I got Things I Learned from Knitting as a fast, fun read. It was humorous as most of Stephanie’s work usually is, and also gave me more ammo (if I happen to need it) to defend one of my chosen ways to spend free time. My favorite part is the chapter about patio cows. (You have to read it to find out!)

The two embroidery books, Sublime Stitching and Doodle Stitching, were both good for different reasons. Sublime Stitching was good because there were good descriptions about the types of stitches, the different ways to go about stitching, and a ton of iron-transfer patterns included. (About 70% of the book is patterns). I also like that she mentions how hard it was for her to find resources on how to start, since most books when she began embroidery made the assumption that you already had knowledge of what certain stitches are. I found the same thing when I started looking at embroidery books.

However, Doodle Stitching would be my recommendation if you were going to pick one of the two. There are patterns in the book, but not iron-transfer and not as many as in the other book. There are many more ideas for how to use your stitches in projects or as accents. Her sense of color combination and her whimsical designs are great. For example, scattered about are some of the things she has done before, such as this piece.

She also shows many variations on each type of stitching, and how to combine them. Out of the projects, I really love the little stuffed racoon!

The two sewing books, In Stitches and Seams to Me, were also great resources. Both have an introductory section with patterns following. There are a variety of patterns for both books. However, I have to say I like Seams to Me much better. She gives a much more in-depth discussion of tools and techniques, and uses a chatty tone that is like talking to a friend. I also want to make many of the projects in her book, whereas I only want to make one, maybe two from In Stitches. Seams to Me goes further, talking about color/texture selections, trims, and basics about the sewing world. This would be a much better choice for a novice sewer than Amy Butlers book.

Overall, I am happy that there are so many people writing about all the crafty things I like to do. It means I will never run out of ideas and projects!

The quilt in the background is one from Davis’ childhood. I’m not sure where it came from, whether someone made it or not, I’ll have to ask.