Thread Doodling Book Review and GIVEAWAY!

EDITED on 21st September:

Congratulations to Marjory Bald who won the Giveaway!

Commiserations to everyone else, but thanks so much for entering, and I hope you will all order the book anyway!

Marjory I will contact you by email.

Carina Envoldsen-Harris is a talened and proilific embroidery designer with a number of books under her belt. Her latest is Thread Doodling published by Search Press.

Carina sent me this beautiful book a few months back and I finally had some time to try out one of the embroderies and write about the book. Search Press has also offered a book for me to Giveaway as a prize to one lucky UK resident, read on for more on that.

One of the best things about Carina’s books is that they all come with iron-on transfers at the back of the book. These can be used again and again and there’s a handy pocket at the back of the book to store your used ones.

It was hard to choose just one design to start with but I loved the Cerulean Trefoil as it had a range of stitches and was such an unusual design.

I chose a pretty palette of pinks and turquoise from my favourite Aurifil 12wt wool thread plus Manchester linen in this taupe shade and had a lovely time creating this delicate piece.  I loved the 2 colour whipped backstitch and the ‘open’ satin stitch circles particularly!  All of Carina’s designs are very accessible and none of them take too long (for embroidery that is!).

I’m delighted with the finished piece and have framed it in this painted hoop that I bought from Oh Sew Fun on Etsy. Jade will even take custom orders if you need a special colour, but I chose this ‘duck egg’  from her regular range.

There are so many great ideas for embrodieries in this new book, I think Carina has been so clever and creative here. I particularly loved the map based designs like Imaginary Atlas and Centre of Distance.  I would really like to make my own version of these using pathways at Shangri La Farm. But I suppose I better finish the applique map that I started a couple of years ago before I start on an embroidered version!

Topography is another fabulous idea. This and the previous map embroideries could all be personalised to specific places which would make them wonderful for special gifts.

Pomegranite Dish is more of the usual Carina style of designs and there are still plenty like this in the book, with lots of back stitch outlining in different colours to produce a striking graphic effect.  These are perfect for new embrodierers and can be finished in just a few hand stitching sessions.

Carina also offers a very clear and informative techniques section with advice on materials and equipment.

I can thorougly recommend this book and I definitely think it is Carina’s best so far! You can get your hands on a signed copy of the book from Carina’s website here. Also check out Carina’s blog here.

GIVEAWAY!

To win a copy of Thread Doodling simply comment below telling me what your favourite embroidery stitch is. If you don’t have one then just leave whatever comment you like!

Giveaway will end this Friday, midnight BST, and is open to UK residents only (sorry international folks!).

Good luck everyone!!