Review on Stoney Creek Summer at The Village Guidebook by Dawn Fischer

This is a cross stitch pattern book published in 2010 and distributed by Stoney Creek Collection, Inc. (www dot stoneycreek dot com) in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Stoney Creek is an American manufacturer and distributor of cross stitch patterns, kits, and supplies. The book is called Summer in the Country, Book 416 and is one of four books in the Seasons in the Country series. I bought all four books in the collection and wrote the same reviews for each. The book has eight pages, including front and back. The design consists of a series of shop windows along the street, and the pattern itself takes up three pages of a book. You can sew the entire outdoor scene or opt for individual display cases for smaller designs. These are not books for beginners. They are cross-counted (meaning you count the weave of the fabric to determine stitch length) with numerous color changes. Threads and base fabric are not included. Using the color conversion chart in the book, you need to buy different thread colors and a base fabric. You'll probably want to use Aida fabric, which has large "square" ties that can be counted fairly easily. The size of the design can be controlled to some extent by the number of squares per inch of fabric (for example, 14 karat Aida fabric has 14 squares per inch). In other words, the more squares per inch, the smaller the finished design will be. For complex projects like this, I would advise you to mark the main lines of the grid on the base fabric before you start working. You can do this with dye or loose thread. If using thread, be sure to remove the marker thread as you embroider so it doesn't weave into your design. In addition, Stoney Creek expressly gives you permission to make a single photocopy of the pattern for ease of sewing yourself. I would recommend making an enlarged photocopy of each of the three pattern pages and then gluing them together so you can create a single, easy to read design. If you are looking for a fairly large, intermediate to advanced counted cross stitch pattern then this would be a five star purchase for you.