Review: Cross-Stitch Samplers

Samplers are the classic, quintessential cross-stitch project, probably what most people think of when they think of cross-stitch.

And while they are kind of old-fashioned, they’re a great way to build skills and to commit to working a larger project. You’ll definitely learn a lot if you choose to stitch a sampler!

Cross-Stitch Samplers is a booklet from Herrschners and Leisure Arts that includes five samplers.

The Pedigree of Honey features the alphabet and an Emily Dickinson poem, along with bee and flower motifs. The Joy of Stitching includes a variety of flowers and hearts, while A Giving Heart features the alphabet and a heart with the sentiment “My heart is yours.”

A Mother is Love includes those words, a heart-shaped wreath, butterflies and flowers, and Stitches of Love also includes lots of hearts and flowers.

The projects can be stitched as designed or you could pull out a motif or a section to use alone or on another project. For instance a row of flowers could be stitched on a bookmark, or a single heart used on a greeting cards.

The samplers themselves would also be fun to stitch (the first one is my favorite) and this booklet is great for people just starting out stitching samplers or for long-time sampler fans.

About the book: 24 pages, paperback, five patterns. Published April 1, 2016 by Leisure Arts. Retail price $9.99

Next Pattern:

Bee Cross Stitch Patterns

I have a complicated relationship with my embroidery needles. Which is a fancy way of saying I don’t really take care of my needles at all. Even though I know I have embroidery needles to use for cross stitch and sewing, needles that are certainly still in their packages, I can rarely find them when I need them.

So when I saw this post from Crewel Ghoul about how to store your embroidery needles, it hit close to home for me.

It doesn’t really say anything I didn’t already know, but it is good advice that might also serve as a reminder for you to take better care of your needles when you cross stitch or do other hand-sewing projects so that you’ll be able to find your needles again when you need them.

It would help me a lot if I had a dedicated place to keep needles I’m not using, including the needles that are still in their packages from when I bought them. You’d think I would keep them with my embroidery floss but apparently you would be mistaken about that.

Another good idea for me is to have a place to put needles I’ve been using when I am done with them. Because goodness knows I’m not going to put them back in the package. (Which may actually be a good thing because then I know which one I’ve been using and which ones are fresh. Not that I replace my needles regularly, but still.) I own pincushions but I don’t really use them for anything, which is silly.

Check out the post at Crewel Ghoul to see all the options available for storing your embroidery needles properly. I’d love to hear what you do, especially if you have a better system than I do (which, honestly, would be any system at all).

[Photo: Crewel Ghoul]

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