The Needlecraft Style Directory

I'm pleased as punch to share with you this peek at Sarah Whittle's new book The Needlecraft Style Directory. Sarah is a UK embroidery artist, founder of the Hand Embroidery Network, and the lady behind ArtyThreads. This is her first book and I have to admit I'm especially pleased because some of my very own work is featured in it! I've been waiting and waiting for it to be released here in the states to get a look at it and was floored to see my photos and stitch work featured on several different glossy pages—such an honor, thank you Sarah!

The layout is clean and lovely and provides a thorough and practical overview of almost anything you can do with a needle and thread (or floss or crewel or felt). The first half is split up into sections, each one providing a stylistic and historical introduction to a different type of needlecraft with examples of what kind of results can be produced with that technique—each photo from some of the best contemporary practitioners of embroidery today. The second half of the book is an illustrated stitch dictionary that details how to accomplish each technique from basic hand quilting and felting to goldwork, bargello, hardanger, and couching. You name the needlecraft, it's covered here.

O hey, I think I recognize that stitching!

There are a lot of books providing basic embroidery stitch how-tos, but I haven't come across a contemporary compendium quite like this that takes you from freestyle line-based embroidery all the way to lace work, mountmellick, japanese darning, and hedebo techniques (are you drooling yet?!). I love that because I feel like a lot of the beautiful intricacies of different types of handwork have gotten a bit overlooked in our modern craft world where machine short cuts are valued over time well spent on handwork that is longer-lasting, more versatile, and (in my humble opinion) completely gorgeous and irreplaceable.

I always hear about craft books being for beginners and more advanced crafters and I have to say I think it's actually true in this case because it acts as a thorough entry point for beginners but also inspires more experienced stitchers with new ideas and ways of combining different techniques for a wider variety of project possibilities. It's an interesting presentation concept that gives you all the building blocks in one place which you can play with any way you see fit!

(here ends my LeVar Burton impression for today)

In Review: Good Food to Share

A little loot from our belated wedding shopping.

When I first saw this book making the rounds earlier this year, I liked what I read but didn't get too excited. Something just didn't click immediately. Recently though, we made a little trip to Williams-Sonoma to use the last gift certificate from our wedding. Since our first wedding anniversary is coming up this weekend, I suppose it was high time. Some things are best savored, eh?

I'm not in the habit of purchasing themed glossy cookbooks, especially those that feature more of the celebrity chef than they do the food, as I've found them to be mostly just fluffy interpretations of recipes which I can read about in depth in my bibles, The Joy of Cooking or Julia Child. I like the emails I get from Apartment Therapy's "The Kitchn" though, which the author of this book does, so I thought I would at least flip through it at the store. Then I fell in love. I wanted to prepare and eat everything on every single page. I don't even like seafood but even that section looked good. I was afraid the recipes might not do the photographs justice (they are impeccably styled) so I sat myself down on the floor of Williams-Sonoma so I could actually read a few pages and decide it if was a worthwhile addition to my kitchen library. Yep, I'm that person who sits down in stores to check things out.

The writing won me over as the book is chock full of well thought out recipes that focus on the use of quality ingredients and how to show them off for those we feed and entertain in our homes (and in each section a couple pages on selecting and working with different foods so you have enough base knowledge to put your own spin on things down the road). Many are quite simple, but like Italian cuisine so often shows us, some of the best dishes are those that combine simple but unique flavors and not necessarily the ones that showcase complex technique.

The back of the book gives a better idea of what you will find than the front does I think and on the left is
the recipe we tried over the weekend...a salad of radicchio, endive, and walnut, etc. with a buttermilk dressing.

Food and cooking, for me, is one of the most meaningful ways I have of showing my family and friends that I cherish them and so gifting things I make with my hands and feeding them food that is fresh and organic has just always made sense. As a kid who grew up on an small organic farm, it's nice to see people from many different backgrounds finally realizing how important it is to know where your food comes from and this cookbook has so many great ideas on how to make the most of such special ingredients. The number of conversations it has sparked about how we want to entertain as a couple and how our food choices reflect our values and beliefs have alone made the book worth it I think.

The book is of course about entertaining and so the amounts for the recipes are geared toward serving large groups. It makes me a little sad as I want to eat this food everyday. Still, you can make adjustments for smaller amounts to feed just a couple or, like we did, enjoy the same meal two days in a row. We tried our first recipe from the book this past weekend (the salad pictured above which I paired with roasted pork tenderloin) and it was one of those meals where the food was so good that we just sat there grinning at each other. Perhaps that sounds silly, but being able to eat a really nice meal together whether it is at home or at a restaurant, is definitely our favorite indulgence. If that describes you, I'd encourage you to pick this book up or request it and check it out at your local library. It's just one of those books where the pictures do the recipes justice and not the other way round!


P.S. No, I'm not being paid for the reviews I write, they are just books/tutorials/etc. that I have used and admired.