Cross Stitch Celebrations Month by Month: 12 Pictures and Hundreds of Motifs to Celebrate the Year

This is a treasure. Sue has provided us with a huge variety of options. There are many unusual motifs in Sue's unique style and then there are large, and complex finished pieces for each month. All, out of the ordinary,(Is there anything ordinary about Sue Cook???....Naaahh!!) that require dedication and skill. But, they are gorgeous, and are presented in photographs as well as in well thought out "lightly" colored and symbol coded charts. Her simple motifs still follow bold color charts, but much to her credit, not the larger pieces. Expert that she is, she recognized that bold color would make it dificult to distinguish subtle color changes, and there are many in her larger pieces. But these charts are large and can be further enlarged on a copier. In fact, they are presented with a significant inner margin so that none of the design is lost when increasing it's size. This is a book to be cherished and refered to repeatedly. Once again She has included many unusual motifs for designers to use. This book is a visual masterpiece in all sense of the word. The full scale designs are more novel than realistic but they rival the complexity and color variation of a large Donna Kooler piece. As I said at the beginning of this review, this is a treasure and I know that I will grow as a needle artist by refering to it often.

I really enjoy the patterns. There are plenty of smaller projects for the beginner and nice projects for the more advanced.

Many of the cross-stitch projects I do are small projects. I especially enjoy monthly themes and this book has lots of wonderful small patterns for each month. I am always looking for pattern books with different ideas for monthly themes. I have been very pleased with the selection in this book. The only thing I wish it had were photos of all the finished patterns.