Julie Hasler's Fantasy Cross Stitch: Zodiac Signs, Mythical Beasts and Mystical Characters

I have started a "theme" for my cross stitches involving celestial and zodiac cross stitches. When I came across this book, I was thoroughly impressed. The zodiac cross stitches, though small (about 5-6 inches in 18 count) are very detailed, and they come with a smaller, simpler "border" that you can use for bookmarks or whatever you wish. What I love about this book is that they give you suggestions for the patterns in the work other than just hanging it up on your wall. Necklaces, ornaments, wind chimes, clothing, and so on are featured between the explanation of each pattern and the patterns themselves. Though I do disagree with the title a bit. It's a little misleading since most of the book is devoted to the zodiac with only a couple each of Norse and Egyptian mythology, unicorns, chinese dragon, and little pattens of various mythological and religious symbols. If you are looking for zodiac patterns, then you must buy this book. It's difficult to come by since I believe it's out of print, but it's worth the money.

I was looking for a good fantasy cross stitch book, and after checking out the three most popular at the local book store, I bought this one. It has the widest range of patterns and with a little practice one can adapt them to suit one's needs. I also thought that the patterns in this book were the nicest. Some of the other books had good patterns for some things and really ugly ones for others. Julie Hasler's book has very nice patterns througout. I highly recomend it if fantasy cross stitch is what you are looking for.

Great cross stitch charts for fantasy lovers!

I have found this book to be wonderful. I bought it whilst on holiday in England, (New Zealand is my home)and have used several of the designs already. The Pegasus and Unicorn are very good with only using 3 colours for the main design (4 if you count the one accent in black) The star signs are really wonderful, very courful. The oriental Dragon is striking, the wizard is, though just the top half,good to do in any fantasy background. I love Frey and Sif the Vikings, then of course there is the mermaid as well,I just hope I get time to do more of Julie Hasler's talented work.

this is a brilliant book if you are fed up with stitching teddies and other "cute" images. the designs are charted using symbols and colour together which make them easy to follow whichever method you prefer. The designs range from huge fantasy figures such as mermaids and vikings to tiny symbols from various religions and cultures both ancient and modern.Julie is a bit of a maverick in the world of cross stitch. She started stitching while laid up from a serious motorcycle accident. she must be the only cross stitch designer with a shaved head and tatoos. so if you are looking for something different this one is a must.