Review on 🧵 Cross Stitch Mini Cushions: 30 Unique Designs for Crafting by Morgan Gilmore

Who has more than a few UFOs (unfinished objects) in their cross stitch collection? This book contains many small samples that can be completed in a reasonable amount of time. It's not just mini name blocks; Most designs also have smaller details - such as recreating part of the pillow motif - that can be used as card inserts, pincushions and even embellishments. As with many "quick and easy" brochures, this is a complex design. Most of them are also offered with alternative color options, so you can vary them depending on your decor or personal preference. Color numbers are given for DMC, Anchor and Madiera, indicating that this is a British book; in the US we will most likely use DMC thread. For projects that involve beads, you can look for brands of beads that are available in the US - bead colors are fairly common - or you can substitute bead colors. Patterns won't suffer, although they look gorgeous with pearls. Speaking of substitutions, I also note that most designs only require whole stitches and reverse stitches, not half or quarter stitches, meaning they can be used for both needle stitch and cross stitch with ease. (Or single crochet if you really want to challenge yourself! Not great for knitting though, as patterns rely on even weaving and knitting is uneven in length and width.) I plan to try it in at least one that is embroidered needle , although cotton thread is still used instead of tapestry wool. However, the variety of colors in tapestry wool is even greater than in yarn, so you can really go to town with pattern variations in this regard. Although most motifs are floral, not all. There are patterns that use images of playing cards, chess pieces, fossils, heraldic shapes, and others. However, the only animals are insects (bees, butterflies and a few others). For those of us who have the usual (who knows why, but it is) affinity for cats along with our handwork, it would be nice to have a design that represented cats in some way; maybe we can hope for that in a second book by the same designer!