[.ca] 1-2-3 Embroidery: Easy Projects for Elegant Living (ISBN 1564964752)

Embroidery for delightful decoration:
Compiled and presented by needlecraft expert Ellen Moore Johnson, 1-2-3 Embroidery: Easy Projects For Elegant Living is a simple, elegant, "how-to" instructional guide to using embroidery for delightful decoration. Projects for the kitchen, bedroom, bath, living room, children's room, and more are presented with meticulous instructions enhanced with full color photography. 1-2-3 Embroidery is an excellent guide which is to be enthusiastically recommended to needleworkers of all skill and experience levels with an interest in gaining a personal expertise in carrying out embroidery projects for all occasions and purposes.

Beautiful Simple Designs for the Beginner:
This was my first book on embroidery. I checked out several from a local library, and this was by far the best beginner's book. Most of the designs were so cute and beautiful, that it made me want to try them out right away. I really love the thread color choices. The instruction for the stiches and the description of different types of thread was the most clear among all of the books I looked at. In some books, these instructions are not clear. The projects are all short, simple ones, within the ability of a first timer. Although I realized quickly that it took me quite a while to do each of the small designs (about 2 hours per item, such as a small scroll or one set of cherries). I don't think I will attempt the larger designs. The back of the book has very good templates used in all of the projects. Many of the templates are 100% sized. There is also a page of script letters (for monogrammig), and a page of DMC thread colors and their numbers, which turned out to be quite helpful. I like the scroll designs the best. They look very pretty in white linen with pastel blue thread.