Anna Maria's Needleworks Notebook

Well here I go again. Tempting you with another book! Well I am sorry to say wait, no I am not sorry at all, YOU NEED THIS BOOK!


Anna Maria Horner has been such a pioneer in our sewing industry. She has brought us, not only beautiful quilt fabric, but also some of the most amazing voile you have ever handled, velveteens that scream heaven sent, threads in the gorgeous color palettes that coordinate with all her fabrics, oh the list goes on!


 Not only has she worked hard in this industry to bring new, original and quality substrates for us to work with, now she is encouraging us to think outside the box in how we finish and embellish our work. She has been working with embroidery threads for a while, integrating them into her projects and sharing her ideas with us on her blog.  Now she has pulled her needlework ideas all into her new book published by Wiley,  Anna Maria's Needlework Notebook.

I think this book is well titled. It is a great resource of needlework ideas and projects complete with patterns and instructions but it is not really a comprehensive book on needlework per se. It is not meant to be. As Anna Maria points out in the beginning of her book there are a lot of great introductory resources out there for each of the types of needlework she covers, it is really not necessary for her to create yet another comprehensive resource. Her book intends to introduce you to these concepts, offer several creative projects for each needlework type and teach you the skills necessary to create your own projects.


This project gave me the idea that I would like to embroider some of my daughter's clothing. Don't you love how she added new color to the fabric!?

And this project made me decide that I would like to add some written text somewhere on something.

So after reading through her book, I found myself inspired to hand embroider a piece that I have been working on for a while, the Unella Blooma shorts by Farbenmix. Like since last winter, I have been working on these! Well really I cut out the main panels last winter and then got stuck deciding how to give the shorts that pizazz they needed  But when I read through this book I realized I could add some hand embroidery to the shorts and that would offer the pop needed to make these shorts one of a kind.

 Here is what I have done so far. Now don't go nitpicking! I just learned this stitch from Anna Maria's book and this is my handwriting so it's not perfect! But I do like this stitch very much. I plan to add some flowers and things like that so the shorts will have a more balanced look. You will have to stay tuned to see what I add next! Hopefully I will finish them before this winter... Thank goodness I cut them extra long!

All in all I think you will find this book a welcomed addition to your crafting library. It is a great jumping point into many different needlework techniques. I think you will walk away from this book seeing needlework in a fresh light that will change the way you decide to complete your projects. Anna Maria is a true artist in this industry who understands fabrics and fibers. She possesses a great skill in sharing her knowledge of these substrates in a way that leaves us with a better understanding of how fibers work together and we walk way inspired to take this new found knowledge and apply it to our work.