New Canvaswork by Jill Carter

First Line: Today's canvas work (also known as needlepoint) can be anything you want it to be, so banish any of your preconceived ideas of it being restrictive and take pleasure in all that is canvas.

I can see the looks on your faces now. Why on earth is a book about needlepoint being reviewed on a crime fiction blog? Because (1) I don't just read crime fiction and feel the need to remind everyone of that once in a blue moon, and (2) I enjoyed this book so much that I wanted to share it with many of  my readers who also indulge in "fiber arts."

Occasionally on Fridays you'll see a photo of something I've made included in my weekly link round-ups. Recently I made two items and mailed them to a friend in the UK. She insisted on paying me for them. After much hair pulling, I gave her the authors and titles of a few English books that I would love to accept in trade. New Canvaswork is one of the books she sent me. After opening the package, I immediately sat down with this and began reading.

In the past few years, I've felt the need to explore and broaden my horizons. From merely following the directions on someone else's patterns, I've begun designing my own, and I've also begun amassing a collection of buttons, beads, ribbons and other trims. Colors and textures have begun having even more meaning for me. Let me tell you, this entire book fires my imagination!

One of many illustrations in New Canvaswork

Carter includes overviews of all the different types of canvas that can be used as well as a small stitch encyclopedia, but the main emphasis in New Canvaswork is on what you can do to a piece of canvas to turn it into a very personal-- and beautiful-- work of art. She offers up many different ways to color the foundation canvas (fusible web, transfer paints, and decorative papers are three examples) and to choose different fibers, threads and yarns to interpret the imagery. If that weren't enough, she also shows how to incorporate beads and embroidery stitches to further embellish your canvas.

This book is not meant to be a step-by-step guide but rather an inspiration. I found myself drooling over the many illustrations in the book, but better yet, I found myself in my craft room going through yarns, threads and embellishments, and planning future wall hangings for the family room.

If you ply a needle-- like me-- and would like some instant inspiration, get your hands on a copy of this book. (And don't be at all surprised if you find yourself heading off to your favorite craft store!)

New Canvaswork: Creative Techniques in Needlepoint by Jill Carter

ISBN: 9780713489750

Batsford Ltd.  ©2007

Hardcover, 128 pages

Genre: Non-Fiction, Crafts

Rating: A

Source: Gift

Quiltscapes II by Rebecca Barker

Title: Quiltscapes II
Author: Rebecca Barker
ISBN: 1574328786
Publisher: American Quilter's Society, 2005
Trade Paperback, 80 pages
Genre: Art, Crafts
Rating: A
Source: Purchased from Amazon.

First Line: The first Quiltscapes book received so many requests for more pictures and patterns that a second one was inevitable.

I, for one, am very glad it was inevitable. Back in October, I posted about one of my favorite books-- the very first Quiltscapes. When I discovered that there was indeed a second book, I couldn't resist buying it.

As an artist, Rebecca Barker has a unique vision, one that combines landscapes and quilts. Taking a traditional quilt pattern and blending it into a landscape painting sounds unusual, but with her keen sense of color and eye for detail, her work is beautiful.

Just take a look at "Delectable Mountains" to the right. The quilt draws your eye back into the painting, slowly becoming meadow grass being eaten by elk, a clear running stream, trees, and the mountains beyond.

Barker's work can often bring a lump to my throat. Probably because I view quilts not just as works of art, but as pieces of history. The numbers of women who pieced quilts as they traveled across this country by covered wagon will never be known for certain. But each scrap of cloth and each stitch carried hopes, dreams, trail dust, sorrows, chores, and joy.

My mother had my great-grandmother's crazy quilt all through my childhood. My Grandma Brookshier could point at each scrap of cloth and tell you whose shirt, dress, petticoat or trousers it came from, and the beautiful stitching binding the pieces together was traced by my childish fingers over and over again. My mother finally threw away this crazy quilt because it was, literally, falling to pieces. It had been completed in the 1890s and kept four generations of our family feeling warm, safe and loved. To this day I wish my mother had kept at least one small corner of it.

What is so marvelous about Barker's Quiltscapes books is that, not only do they contain wonderful pieces of art, they also contain patterns for the quilt blocks used in each painting-- making it very possible for quilters around the globe to make history and memories for their own families.

I think this book and its predecessor would make wonderful gifts for quilters and art lovers alike. The range of Barker's paintings means that there should be something for everyone: all four seasons, pastoral farm scenes, mountains, prairies, the desert, village life, wildlife and-- some of my particular favorites-- lighthouses and the sea.

If you click on the author link at the top of this review, you'll also see Barker's line of prints and notecards as well.

Sample Rebecca Barker's Quiltscapes. I think you'll be hooked.

Buy from Amazon.

Buy from Alibris.