Stitching Progress, Birthday Presents and Book Review

I did some more stitching on Christmas Dreams. I got alot of the white in the band of his hat done, as well as some more of the dark blue of the hat and began filling in the lighter blues as well. So far I've managed to stitch for a couple hours every other day, sometimes I've even managed to stitch for a few days in a row! I am very pleased that I have continued to stitch almost every day whether I feel like it or not. What I find most interesting is even on those days when I haven't wanted to stitch, once I start I usually begin to enjoy it. Then I find myself asking "why didn't I want to do this?". Depression is very weird that way. LOL

I got three new books this past week for my birthday and have read them all. Here are my thoughts on those books:

The New Cross Stitcher's Bible by Jane Greenoff

I bought this book for the stitch diagrams and directions. I was hoping for more stitches than are actually in the book, such as some of those stitches that are used in needlepoint or counted canvas to create beautiful designs and textures within the overall picture. Sadly those were not in this book. The stitches included were mostly (in my opinion) the specialty stitches that are most commonly used in cross stitch designs such as old samplers. So in that area I was disappointed and considered sending the book back. However I chose to actually read it first. It contains a great deal of information about cross stitch ranging from beginner's information, to cutwork, pulled thread, hardanger and more. This information changed my mind! It made the differences between cutwork and pulled thread very clear to me. It also contained directions on how to do both of these styles that I actually understood! I would reccomend this book for people who are new to cross stitch as well as those who are already stitchers but want to increase their abilities by learning other techniques. Despite the stitch diagrams not including as many as I was expecting, this book does contain a great deal of information that is easy to understand and would be helpful to any stitcher.

Art Nouveau Cross Stitch by Barbara Hammett

I really enjoyed this book. The designs are beautiful and fairly easy to do. There are quite a few that have made it onto my "to do" list. What I enjoyed the most was the information that was included on each artist. The book was separated by artist with all the charts that came from the artist's original works in one section. At the beginning of each section were a few paragraphs about the artist, their inspirations, their artistic style and more. To me this added to the enjoyment of looking at and reading the book. So if you like art from the Nouveau period, this might be a book you would enjoy.

Ancient Egyptian Cross Stitch by Barbara Hammett

I ordered this book for the King Tut's Mask chart on the cover. I was very pleased to discover many more charts inside that are definite "to stitch" charts for me. The colors are fantastic and closely match the original art-work it was based on. Like the Noveau book, this one also offers information about Ancient Egypt. There are many interesting facts sprinkled throughout the book that are in addition to the paragraphs that open each section. This is a book I would highly reccomend to anyone who enjoys Egyptian art and wants some nice charts to stitch from as well as learning a few things from the text included.