5 Unique Embroidery Books to Buy for Yourself or as a Gift

Foolproof Flower Embroidery: 80 Stitches & 400 Combinations in a Variety of Fibers; Add Texture, Color & Sparkle to Your Organic Garden

I really want this book to help me come up with ideas in my slow stitching and crazy quilting projects. I mean, it has 80 stitches and 400 combinations! I don't think I could ever do them all but isn't it nice to try.

Stitchcraft: An Embroidery Book of Simple Stitches and Peculiar Patterns

This book has amazing photography and some very unique embroidery projects with close ups of some of the stitched pieces. The book contains projects of human and animal anatomy and creative skeletons. All are done on a black background with bright thread colors and patterns are available to trace from the book.

Doodle Stitching Embroidery Art: Move Beyond the Pattern with Aimee Ray

I actually read this one on Kindle Unlimited which is a great way to peruse lots of books and there are several crafting ones you can do this with. However, I would love to have a physical copy to flip through and admire through touch. The base of this book is to just make embroidery art with simple stitches and do it without a pattern. 

Pet Portrait Embroidery: Lovingly Stitch Your Dog or Cat; A Modern Guide to Thread Painting

Creating an embroidery of my cats or one of those pieced quilt portraits is on my bucket list of embroidery projects. This book is in my Amazon wish list. The directions in this book are amazing and you can watch a video on Amazon of a reviewer who flips through it to show you the amazing instructions and detail that you can learn. Plus, it sounds like a great way to learn how to do Thread Painting. 

DIY Embroidered Shoes: Techniques, Designs, and Downloadable Templates to Turn Any Fabric Shoe into Stylish & Unique Footwear

Okay, so this book is brand new. It was just published in October 2024 and I recommend you go look at it on Amazon and scroll down the page to see the close ups of some the designs. It's a book that I didn't know I needed but I really, really need it. I also think this would be a great gift for a teenager who is interested in putting that creative spin on their canvas shoes and they could complement any of their clothing for a full fashion statement. 

What do you think of these? Do you have suggestions for me? 

Note: Links to the books are affiliate links and I would get a small commission without any cost to you. It just might help me get my own copies because I don't have enough books already (wink, wink).  

Happy New Year and Belated Holiday Wishes

Geesh! Did the year fly by or what? I didn't get as much done as I would have liked so I guess I will start (or restart) all over again this year. I've already been adding rows to an afghan that I started several years ago. I'll probably let you have a peek in the near future. I also pulled out an old cross-stitch project from my high school days. I think I remember messing up on it somewhere but can't find that mistake right now. At least now I can not be so perfect and just adjust the design somehow.

Here is a close up of the kitchen towel that I embroidered for my gingerbread pal. I am happy to report that she was very pleased with it - that and a huge Rice Krispie tree treat I sent along with it. The design is from a Tenderberry Stitches pattern pace call Home for Christmas Stitcheries T179.


The tree I made using my Wilton tree shaped pan. I had placed mini candy coated kisses in the pan before pouring in the mixture but I had to press more in by hand when I removed the tree from the pan.

My First Tutorial Completed - Stem Stitch

I completed my very first tutorial demonstrating how to do the stem stitch. It is posted at my quilting blog, Vertical Quilting Curve. I've tried to have close up photos to help you see how I do my stem stitch which I use for my redwork embroidery pieces.

Let me know what you think but be kind since it is my first one. I hope it is useful.

Here is a photo of the completed stitch.

Redwork Heart for Heart Exchange

Just wanted to show eveyone the heart I made for the heart exchange in my hand embroidery group. I sent it out the beginning of this month but didn't want to post it until the recipient received it. Luckily she received it shortly after BUT I got a little busy with other things, of course, and am just now getting it on the blog. I really enjoy doing redwork. It is relaxing to do and the outcome is so bright and cheery. I adapted this design from an old Leisure Arts transfer book so that it would fit the heart theme better.

Embroidered Heart Exchange

While I was away this past weekend I received this little gem in the mail. It is from an exchange I am participating in for the hand embroidery yahoo group I belong to. This is the first exchange I've done. I'm hoping to do some more in the future. I would love to do a wallhanging pieced with mementos from my Internet stitching friends. I have to confess I am running a little behind doing mine for the exchange and you won't see it here until a few days after it has been mailed. I don't want to ruin the suprise just in case she stops by.