No comments about Joanie's Quilting Elements: 7 Simple Steps to Navigate and Stitch (Quilter's Workshop).

5 comments about Asian Elegance: Quilting With Japanese Fabrics and More (That Patchwork Place).

1. This is a beautiful book - even if you don't make the quilts as presented here, they inspire you to bring simplicity and calmness to your quilting designs. The directions are logical and easy to follow and the pictures speak volumes! Give it a try!



2. Also a great book along with Quilting with Japanese Fabrics which I purchased at the same time. I will get a great deal of pleasure from the many ideas in the book. It's a pity I didnt realise that is was in american dollars and not australian but nevertheless it was a great purchase.
   Thank you and keep me informed of any other great quilting books to buy.
   Thank you very much once again.



3. Kitty Pippen broke new ground with her first book, Quilting with Japanese Fabrics, and I consider it a "must have book" for anyone with more than a passing interest in Japanese fabrics. Ms. Pippen and her daughter, Sylvia, have pushed the boundaries further with this book, Asian Elegance, which incorporates polynesian and Japanese fabrics, design elements and ideas. Well done Pippens!
   
   Since her first book, many of the Japanese fabrics that were so readily available are rare. Many traditional Japanese fabric makers are no longer manufacturing, or have modernized or moved to other countries. The quilts in the new book reflect some of these changes. Fabrics are more contemporary, embrace polynesian elements, and generally are available at most quilt and fabric stores or from resources listed in the book. All in all, this is a book to inspire, and grow your ideas. The elements of graceful design are timeless. It's worth the investment.



4. Beautiful condition as promised. Gorgeous book with fabulous ideas and illustrations! Anyone interested in fabric or quilting would love this book!
   
   Deb



5. I found this book less rich (too basic) than I had hoped for. Not overly inspiring, but OK. This book emphasizes Hawaii rather than Asia. I prefer the book by Kitty Pippen.

5 comments about Time to Weave: Simply Elegant Projects to Make in Almost No Time.

1. This is a very exciting book with lots of novel ideas for weaving. The references provided are very helpful, and the beautiful photos are outstanding in detail. I cannot praise this book highly enough: a definite must for anyone interested in the relaxing art and craft of weaving.



2. Good book for getting ideas, maybe less projects than I expected, but anyway, nice book.



3. I love to weave but seldom have time to warp a loom and weave. This book has so many cool projects that can be completed quickly and satisfy my 'want to weave' urge. The projects are fun and quite useful. Many projects would be suitable for a beginner or even older children. An added bonus is that the project also make great gifts.



4. A great book covering "weaving" of various forms. All projects are clearly explained and easy to follow. Sufficient and clearly displayed photos make any of the projects contained in this book a pleasure to try. I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the weaving arts.



5. Time To Weave has a wide variety of projects -ropes,cording can be used for tasks or made into gewelry items; woven mats from cork, twigs, bamboo; woven greeting cards; variations in weaving techniques using the same yarn and colors; woven container made from grocery shopping bag - great project for children. The photographs are a pleasure to look at and photographic instructions makes this book a master instructional manual.

5 comments about Redoute's Finest Flowers in Embroidery.

1. Until now my only stitching has been Cross Stitch, but
   having seen this publication it just makes me want to try to re-create just a fraction of the wonderful work Trish Burr has put into this book.

   She makes it seem so easy, which I am sure it is not; it is
   all very well explained, colourful, easy to follow and anyone
   interested in stitching should have a copy.

   My recommendation to all those stitchers out there "Buy a copy".




2. I bought this sight unseen which is unlike me but this surely would cause me to try that again !!! It is a needlework book of a higher level. By that I mean the novice and the expert can do it; only skill improves the work appearance. It is fully creative embroidery. I am making all 17 project designs and developing them into a moire quilt or cushions. The designs are smallish (5" or so ) but can then be incorporated into whatever your heart desires. They are very fast to do with any fabric of your choice for any textile idea you might hae in botanicals.



3. The book provides all of the information anyone would need to teach themselves to embroider at home. The results are terrific. The author has done a superb job of recreating Redoute's elegant flower portraits. There is a great deal of value packed into this small book. Worth the price



4. Although you can't "Look Inside" this book at Amazon (currently, anyhow), the cover is exactly representative of the projects inside. This is no encyclopedia of a billion stitches, but a book focused tightly upon reproducing Redoute's beautiful botanical prints in "thread painting."
   
   There were several things about this book that stood out for me:
   
   Not the Kitchen Sink
   --------------------
   Trish Burr wisely restricts herself to a relatively few stitches: long-and-short, satin, stem, split, bullion knot, French knot, and perhaps a couple more. They are presented clearly, in diagrams and words (and photos in some cases), and followed by a small sampler. Then come the Redoute projects...
   
   Clear Presentation
   ------------------
   Each flower (there are 17) is presented in the same format:
   - First, a large-scale photograph of the stitched piece, along with a list of needles and other materials.
   - Then, three line drawings: one for the pattern outlines, one to define which areas are padded or detailed, and one to show color placement.
   - Another, smaller photograph on the same page spread as the diagrams
   - A verbal explanation gives details on stitching each part of the flower: which stitches, in what order, how many strands.
   
   Ms. Burr writes in her Introduction that she aims for clear illustrations and good explanations, and she has achieved her target admirably. Although the format as I've described it may sound repetitive, I found it refreshing not to have to flip back and forth between pages, searching for color keys or stitch info--and equally refreshing not to have all the directions crammed into one cryptic diagram. (Anyone who has ever struggled to decode the projects in "A to Z of Ribbon Embroidery", for instance, knows what I mean. Sumptuous photos of the projects, but figuring out how to reproduce them is murder.)
   
   Unusual Selection of Subjects
   -----------------------------
   It's easy to find embroidery books on English flowers, and many of them are truly gorgeous (Helen Stevens' Masterclass series comes to mind), but if you're looking for something different, something... well, something French!, this may be just the thing for you. Instead of pinks and cornflowers and foxgloves, here are lilies and iris and camellias and magnolias. Roses, morning-glories, and a few exotics like amaryllis, bird-of-paradise, and poppy are also represented. Again, the cover illustration gives a good idea of what you'll find inside. It ain't no cottage garden!
   
   Achievable
   ----------
   All projects are stitched using easily available DMC embroidery floss. None of the stitches are jazzy or difficult. The instructions are so clear that even a relative novice should be able to achieve exciting results. (Again, Helen Stevens comes to mind, but alas, as a counterexample. I love looking at her books, but they have never given me the slightest bit of confidence that I could do work like that.)
   
   =============
   
   All in all, an excellent book, well worth the money. Bravo, Ms. Burr!



5. I have found this book to be a disappointment, but only because I already own Trish Burr's Long & Short Stitch Flowers. The text is basically a copy of Long & Short Stitch and the embroidery appears to be not as refined. No need to own both.

2 comments about Creative Batik (Beginner's Guide to).

1. I've started doing batik just a couple of months ago, and this is the third book I have bought from Amazon on this subject. I think this is the best of them three because it has very very clear instructions on every project the author suggests, great photos of each step, she shows very clearly a lot of techniques to use on different things (check out the lamp shade it's great)and I think most important of all she is very generous about her knowledge of batik, explaining everything that could happen if you do this or that, and with every day words, not all the technical-chemical mumbo jumbo i've found in other books.

   One last thing, check out her galley in the book: it's really beautiful!




2. I have purchased several books on batik, this is the best of the lot. Book has very clear, step by step instructions and includes simple projects such as paper, pillow case, and works up to more complex projects. Each project is accompanied with photographs, so its pretty easy to follow and understand the process. Also nice color photo of each finished project.

4 comments about Weekend Knits: Vogue Knitting on the Go.

1. I just got this book a couple days ago and there are alot of great projects. Everything can be made in a short amount of time. You have at least one project for every member of the family at any age ranging from booties, a baby blanket, toddler clothes, a tank for your teenage girl, a sweater for the guy, and some great items for the 30ish old female - love the fringed cable belt. The yarns are a bit expensive, but it's so easy to sub another yarn. Everything is labeled either easy or intermediate, but more are on the easy side. I also have the Chunky Knits book, and will probably work from Weekend Knits more often.



2. I love the Vogue Knitting books but this one was a real disappointment. The projects may be quick and easy to knit up but they are clunky and not very appealing. I only found one project in this book that I would consider spending time making and that was the bag on the front cover. The rest of the book was basically useless.



3. This book wasn't wonderful, but it wasn't terrible, either. Quite a few of the patterns were hideous-- as a teenager myself, I can assure you that no teen would wear the "Teen Tank", for instance. Also, most of the projects were knit in horrible colors. However, I liked the two scarf patterns, the mittens, and the sleeveless shell. I recommend getting this book from the library before you buy it.



4. I borrowed this book from our local library and was interested in the Teen Tank but was frustrated to find that the pattern omitted the quantity of yarn required. Considering that the yarn proposed is quite expensive, "guestimating" the required yarn is not a feasible option. Just glad I borrowed instead of bought this book.

1 comments about Everybody Cosplay Volume 1.

1. The book cover says it all. Jan Kurotaki, cosplayer, Newtype USA columnist, manga author, video game designer, and fashion model, has been cosplaying for ten years. In this book is many of the photos and columns from Newstype USA. Each section has a few pages of photos of the same costume and two paragraphs, one explaining the costume and one explaining the characters. She gives tips of keeping down the costs, what material to use and how to wear the outfits. Note: Some outfits you don't want to move too fast in, you may flash somebody. Some of the outfits are cute, some are sexy, some she is even crossplaying - cosplaying as a male character. Some of the outfits she wears JUST for fun. A must for any manga, cosplay, anime library.

1 comments about Innovative Fabric Imagery for Quilts: Must-Have Guide to Transforming & Printing Your Favorite Images on Fabric.

1. I found this book easy to read and I plan to use it. The techniques are clear but not overly explained. I have done quite a bit of photo to fabric and still find new things in this book. I love the gallery.

3 comments about The Quilter's Workbook.

1. Enhanced with a refillable 3-ring binding, "The Quilter's Workbook" was created by the editors at Landauer to be the perfect organizer for dedicated quilters. Featured are quilt reference cards; tabbed dividers for easy reference; a total of 48 pages of lined paper for quilting notes; 32 pages of graph paper for quilting designs; 6 top loading poly-vinyl pouches for organizing quilting materials; and 4 plastic zipper pouches for storage. "The Quilter's Workbook" features include: Fabric Know-How (including preparing fabrics for quilting); The Color Wheel; Rotary Cutting Basics; Piecing Blocks (both patchwork and hand piecing); Learning Applique Basics (including both machine and hand appliques); Assembling a Quilt Top (straight-set, diagonal set, and borders); Finishing the Quilt; a Quick-Pieced Block Gallery; and a Hand or Machine Appliqued Block Gallery. The addition of a glossary, an index, and a resources list make "The Quilter's Workbook" a perfect addition to personal and professional Needlecraft collections.



2. I really love this item and i found here for cheaper than hobby lobby where i first seen it. i am very happy with it. thank you



3. This is an amazing book. Everything you want and need to know all in one place. No other book is like it--from the beginner quilter to the most experienced--all will find this resource absolutely a must for our quilting library. I could not put it down!

No comments about North American Indian Art (World of Art).