Customer Reviews

Donna Kooler's 555 Christmas Cross-Stitch Designs

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

 

 

Fans of Donna Kooler will be pleased to see the excellence continued in this 555 series. New stitchers will appreciate the small, quality designs; I'm continually surprised at her artistic talents--with less than an inch design space she can create a truly detailed work of art.

I am slightly disappointed with the continued layout of the 555 series. Not all patterns have been stitched and photographed. Despite the full colour graphs, it is not the same thing as viewing the finished product. I would like to see future publications include photos of all stitched designs.

As a majority of the designs are photographed, this is a minor flaw and should not disuade others from Donna's excellent work.

I imagine that this book will quickly become one of my favourite quick stitch books for holiday gifts.

Thanks Donna, keep up the good work!

I thought it was a very good book, but I wish it would have included more ideas of what to use the designs on. Sometimes the diagrams were hard to use. The color hues were so similiar and the colors were difficult to tell apart. Other than this, the designs were great and the variety of Christmas themed selections was very good.

I'm an avid cross stitcher and a huge fan of Kooler's designs, and recently stumbled across this book at my local library. I checked it out and after merely skimming through it, I knew I had to have my own copy.
The book consists of 5 main themes in which there is a full-size project along with several smaller related projects. "Folk Art Christmas" shows "typical" Christmas items, from gingerbread cookies to snowmen, to reindeer to angels. "Santa Christmas" is full of Santas and is absolutely gorgeous (this is the main reason I bought this book!). "Inspirational Christmas" contains designs of the Nativity, the town of Bethelehem, angels, and other items with more of a religious-based theme. "Merry Christmas" also contains the "typical" Christmas items but without the crafty/folksy look shown in the "Folk Art Christmas" section. "Nature Christmas" is as it sounds - scenes of Mother Nature, including animals, trees, foliage, and other outdoor items. There are several Christmas-themed alphabets throughout the main design themes as well.
The great thing about the different designs is that you can either stitch them as charted, or mix and match the different little elements to create your own design. The smaller designs are perfect for ornaments or other small projects.
The book also contains basic stitching instructions, as well as a thread conversion chart (DMC to Anchor) and a metric conversion chart.
A few people have mentioned that the color patterns can be difficult to read since the color blocks have limited pattern symbols. To help with this, I suggest going over the chart and adding small symbols to the different color areas before you start stitching. This helps distinguish the different shades of one color, making it easier to stitch.
If you're looking for a variety of Christmas designs, start with this book. You won't be disappointed!

I went to write down the floss colors I'd need in order to stitch the "peace" dove pictured on the cover, and I found that the symbols on the dove itself didn't match the symbols in the key. No way to tell which of eight shades of blue went where, especially when the chart and key are on different pages. Very frustrating.

There were other patterns I wanted to stitch, but when I went to buy the floss, some of the colors looked so "off" I left it all there and came home. Neon orange for the gumdrop on the roof of the gingerbread house? It may have been the right color, but I wasn't willing to risk it.

I love the book. It has a variety of items to x-stitch. I would recommend the book to anyone who enjoys x-stitching!!! Happy stitching!!!

I am making Christmas ornaments for family and friends for their presents and the new patterns that I got with this book is absolutely great. Thanks

I sent this used book to my daughter in TX. Told her it was used before it was received. She said it appeared to be new. Great service, price and shipping. Could not have been a better experience.

This is a beautiful book with some fantastic Christmas designs. My one criticism is that there are no black and white patterns, and the colour ones are very difficult to follow, particularly at night. I solved this problem for myself by recreating the pattern using my computer cross stitch software. Very time consuming, but a black and white print was much easier to read. I was also able to tape the pages together for continuity.

One of the best books of Donna Kooler with beautiful cross-stitch designs for christmas.