Customer Reviews

Carousel Horses in Cross Stitch: Beautiful Projects for Every Month of the Year

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book over four years ago and have enjoyed it every since. Each of the twelve carousel horses can either be used as a "month" decoration or a "holiday" decoration. What I like the most about this collection is that it shows alternative ways to use small portions of the designs to create new and beautiful gifts. For example, I used a small floral from the "June Bride" carousel horse design to create name place cards for my own wedding. It was beautiful! Opportunities abound in this book!

This is a beautiful book of wonderful carousel horses. the group to which I belong has a tie in to carousel horses and I purchased this book, in fact I purchased two. Twelve ladies each took part in a project to create a quilt which showcased Donna Kooler's horses. The quilt was then raffled off with the proceeds going to breast cancer research. The pictures in the book do not do justice to how beautiful the finished products are--but they come close. I'm already being asked about next year's project!

The projects are so beautiful, you won't want to stop until you find a place for every project. I found that the charts were easy to follow, and I didn't get "bored" in the middle. I highly recommend for anyone wanting a lot of color and variety.

Despite decades of designing my own needlework patterns, I found Kooler's delightful horses irresistible; and after three years of adapting them into a queen-size bedspread, I still haven't tired of them, but my book's taken a beating! Though intricate enough to satisfy a veteran needleworker, the easy-to-follow charts put these superb designs within reach of newcomers to the craft. Even those of you who don't embroider will enjoy perusing this beautiful collection.

A different horse for ever month, each with different themes. And the bourders have items that can be used seperately. The book even gives you ideas on how to use them.

This is a very colorful book with a wide verity of designs to choose from. I would not recomend it for the beginning sticher or anyone who wants quick simple projects, for everyone else this book is worth the price

This book contains a themed pattern for each month of the year. October's is "spooky" with a black horse surrounded by a frame containing pumpkins, witches, spiderwebs, etc. February's pattern is valentine's themed, and the frame involves swans, hearts, cupids, and so on, with a frilly white horse. There's a Western themed pattern with a bucking horse and desert cameo, a Thanksgiving scene with a bay horse and a farm motif surrounded in grape vines, a wedding themed horse, a circus themed carousel zebra, a fantasy/unicorn carousel horse, a Mother's day themed horse, one for Easter, one for a baby. The patterns are simplistic and easy to read and follow, but are somewhat unsatisfying for lovers of carousel horse art who might be looking for something a bit more on the realistic side. These patterns tend a bit toward cartoonish, especially the baby-themed pattern. The legs don't bend quite right, shading is flat and fairly two-dimensional, facial expressions on the horses are a bit silly in some cases.
One nice thing about this book is that with all the ornamental bits in the frames, in many cases there are separate patterns and suggestions for use. For example, the owl pattern from the unicorn theme makes a neat mini stitchery. Other holiday themed mini patterns are included (Jack-o-lanterns, Christmas stockings, etc).
I will keep this for use in decorating for children or for easy seasonal decorations, but for truly spectacular carousel horse art in cross stitch, the only really great patterns I've ever seen are Theresa Wentzler's "Carousel Horses for all Seasons" --hard to find, but worth the search!

From Gabrielle in England. This book is stuffed to bursting-point with glorious projects. I recommend making this your bed-time reading, all the better to dream of the stitching that will fill those long winter days. Dream of hazy days at the fair when your best beaux would hoist you aloft a painted dancing steed. Recapture your past and indulge your fancy. I bought this book at full retail (not having been on-line at the time) but I would pay the price twice over. And that was full english price, not the dollar price. The charting is easy to follow and the colour redition is superb. All in all if horses are your thing, or even if you didn't know they were, this is for you.

As a fan of carousel horses and a lover of needlecrafts, this book has it all. My favourite is the Santa Fe Bucking Horse. Each of the horse designs has decorative elements around it and can be used for a variety of purposes from Birth and Wedding celebrations to Halloween and Christmas. The designs are well set out and my only gripe is that I can never find a picture framer who can make such glorious mounts.