Mandalas to Embroider!

I was recently sent a brand new embroidery book to enjoy. It's called 'Mandalas to Embroider - Kaleidoscope Stitching in a hoop' and it's the 3rd book by the queen of bright, beautiful stitching, Carina Envoldsen-Harris. It's an inspiring book if you are looking to do some meditative hand stitching, with lots of gorgeous photos to get you in the mood.

There are 24 designs in the book - 12 larger and 12 smaller ones. The great thing is that the small ones fit Dandelyne 5.5cm mini hoops perfectly if you want to display your finished piece in a tiny hoop. They would also work well in our round mini wooden display frames. They book would suit beginners and more experienced stitchers - there are 10 different embroidery stitches to use and each is really well explained with clear diagrams. You could easily follow the instructions to the letter and end up with a beautiful piece but Carina encourages readers to experiment to come up with their unique piece using different colours and stitches.

Apart from the beatiful, insipiring mandalas the thing I like the most about this book is that every design (as well as a hidden bonus one!) is available in the book as an iron-on template. This means that all the designs can be simply ironed onto your fabric, saving you the hassle of transferring the design by hand. Fab!

You can buy this gorgeous book directly from Carina, where you'll get a signed copy, and I'm sure lots of good book shops will also carry it. I'm sure it would be a very well received gift for a stitchy friend or a lovely Christmas treat for yourself!