Celtic Cross Stitch: Over 40 Small, Exciting and Innovative Projects [Paperback]

Anne Orr (Author), Lesley Clarke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 2004

“This compilation is notable for its wealth of small, colorful projects inspired by elements of Celtic design such as knotwork, spirals, fanciful animals, and religious motifs. Many projects are appropriate for the beginning cross-stitcher, and all are graded for difficulty....Each project includes full-color illustrations, both color and black-and-white charts, and finishing instructions....Recommended.—Library Journal.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This compilation is notable for its wealth of small, colorful projects inspired by elements of Celtic design such as knotwork, spirals, fanciful animals, and religious motifs. Many projects are appropriate for the beginning cross-stitcher, and all are graded for difficulty. Designs include bookmarks, purses, pillows, greeting cards, and even a chessboard and cross-stitched bag for chess pieces. Each project includes full-color illustrations, both color and black-and-white charts, and finishing instructions. There are conversion charts for DMC and Anchor threads. Recommended for public libraries where demand warrants.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Graduating from the design and manufacture of stitchery kits, Orr and Clarke now have collaborated on a pattern book concentrating on Celtic symbols and images. Little time or pages are devoted to the how-tos of cross-stitch, though, of course, the basics, from fabrics to masking tape, are adequately covered. So, without much fanfare, the four different design concepts--fire, earth, air, and water--are introduced and incorporated into more than 40 practical items, such as pillows, sachets, bookmarks, even a chessboard and chessman bag. On the whole, motifs are decidedly geometric, based on knots and spirals and occasional iconographic images like salmon, saints, and angels. Each project features directions, graphs, and color photographs, as well as level of difficulty and ideas for variations. Elegant classic designs that can be used to embellish almost any object. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: New Holland (May 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859749348
• ISBN-13: 978-1859749340
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,682,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat Disappointing, July 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Celtic Cross Stitch: Over 40 Small, Exciting and Innovative Projects (Hardcover)

I was somewhat disappointed by the projects contained in this book. The title says "Over 40 small, exciting, and innovating projects" and strictly speaking that's true. However there are not that many designs. For instance, the first 4 projects use the same salmon design in different arrangements - with a celtic border, on a cushion, as a sachet and as a card. This is ingenious and useful but if you don't care for this particular design, there go 4 projects out of the book that you don't want to do. I would have liked to have seen more different designs instead of these multi-uses of the same design (the grapes design later on is also shown as a card, a sachet, a placemat, and a napkin, another 4 projects). That said, I still found patterns that I liked a lot and feel that on the whole the book was worth purchasing.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Contains 40 projects using many of same stitches, June 8, 2004

By 

Mary Chrapliwy (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Celtic Cross Stitch: Over 40 Small, Exciting and Innovative Projects (Hardcover)

This stitchery book is misnamed perhaps? Perhaps not. The title says that it has over 40 small, exciting and innovative projects. What it doesn't say is that many use variations of exactly the same design.

This book centers on the themes of water, fire, air, and earth. One water theme that repeated far too often for my liking with salmon - the identical salmon design was used on a scented pillow, a salmon cushion, a salmon tissue sachet, salmon card, and salmon gift tag.

Now that all having been said, there are a few stunning designs that made buying this book worth every penny. A particularly beautiful design in the water category is that of a "water jewel purse" - it's a beautiful little jewel tone purse designed in alternating stripes of Celtic knots in alternating colors. The design could easily be used, with a little imagination, to create a larger purse. There are also a few other fish designs, a sea serpent design, a knotwork bookmark, knot key rings, a dragon eyeglass case, a Celtic angel pincushion, an eagle bookmark, a triskele box (a sort of spiral design), a saint and birds, a durrow saint sachet, a durrow know clothes hanger, a bird headed triskele scissor keep, a grape vineyard design used on several projects, a design for a chessboard and fabric case for chessmen, a Celtic cross picture design, and most beautiful of all the designs - a Celtic swan needle case.

In the final analysis, this book was well worth buying for two reasons - 1. there were enough beautiful designs inside to make it worth it, and 2. with a little imagination and the instructions for a few types of projects, a crafter could create their own designs.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Designs are.... Yucky, October 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Celtic Cross Stitch: Over 40 Small, Exciting and Innovative Projects (Hardcover)

I was looking for some good samples of Celtic Cross Stitch designs. And all I can say is... I didn't find them here. I didn't care for the designs, and the book is really skimpy - they re-use a lot of the same designs with various simple adjustments to make up for the lack of variety. I would NOT recommend this book at all for anyone who wants to do a Celtic project.