Crafts Hobbies Books

The Prairie Girl's Guide To Life is the perfect gift for an old hippie-type (me), and for a modern girl with a sentiment for "how it was in Nana's day". Hectic day at work? This should be added to your collection of soothing, come-down-off-the-ceiling easy reads. A paragraph or two, you're suddenly breathing deeper and are thinking homey type thoughts.

There's something incredibly soothing about reading about how to make candles, soap, and quilts, even if you never plan on taking the time to actually create all of them yourself. Jennifer Worick writing style is funny and light; spending hours reading this book feels like an escape in itself. And it even convinced me to have a tea party.

Old fashion skills that fit wonderfully into modern life. The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life is great! It's filled with useful skills that can be applied and used now.

You know you've always wanted a rag rug, but couldn't quite figure out the logistics. Candle making, check. Spin yarn! Now you can give it a whirl too!

Best part, it's separated into Kitchen, Bathroom, Bathroom, Bedroom, Parlor, and Barn and Beyond sections. Added bonus...Prairie Lingo, so you can feel all big bugs with your mad skills.

You'll be like Laura Prairie Girl...but with indoor plumbing.

Jennifer Worick has compiled a collection of practical old fashioned skills that can still apply in our fast paced society of today. Combined with her personal and often humorous recollections of growing up on a small farm in Michigan, this book makes for a fun read. Written with the adventerous and often rough and tumble lifestyle of prarie women at heart, I also felt that it's a great book for men who enjoy embracing the American pioneer spirit that's inevitabely in all of us.

Jennifer Worick has written another zesty, tidy, and oh so fantastic tome, this time on crafts from the great mid-west and "pioneer times". As with her previous books (which I recommend highly--especially "How to Live with a Man and Love it!") she injects her sardonic sense of humor into even the most basic of craft projects. As a pie maker, I thoroughly enjoyed the recipe for the Rubarb pie, and intend on getting one in the over this fall. For anyone who wants a quirky, vintage (yet simultaneously avant garde), and feel good read that allows you to escape from the modern world of email, texting, and teleconferences, this book is for you.

I'm 66 years old and have been a carpenter (structural and finish) all my life. Being semi retired I'm now doing a lot of rustic furniture and antique reproductions. I wish I had this book about 40 years ago. I could have eliminated "OOP's" from my vocabulary. The book is explicit in explaining how to read wood so that you choose the proper pieces for your project. It's required reading if you don't want your finshed piece to warp, crack, shrink or generally go south.

This book had a lot of information that I personally didn't need, but lacked some that I wanted. Most noteably wood identification. It presents an entire section on this topic, but only shows microscopic views of different species, which is pretty useless to me. The author assumes that if you're reading this book, you can look at almost any piece of wood an identify it, thus making a pictorial directory of wood almost beneath the sofistication of this text.

It is a well written book if you want to understand the science of wood. Think of it as an anatomy & physiology for wood. I would have given it a 5, but ommitting normal pictures of wood types seems to easy to have been left out.

good service, could have been a bit faster and there was a small tear in the dust cover. otherwise nothing to complain, can and will recommend this!

I would consider myself new to woodworking, but not a complete novice. I have read a few books about the principles of woodworking, and all of them contained very little information about the nature of wood. These books left me with many questions about why certain methods are used or when to use one method over another. Understanding Wood answered a lot of my questions. Most importantly I now understand how to take into consideration the nature of wood when I am planning a project. The most important thing that I learned in this book was about the importance of moisture content. Sure I knew that wood expands or contracts with humidity levels, but now I know how to plan for it and work with it and I also know how detrimental it can be if you don't consider the relationship between water and wood.

What I really liked about the book is that the author did not pull any punches in his exposition meaning that this is not written for someone who prefers a "for dummies" book. This is the real deal, it contains some equations, it has many tables and graphs. Don't be too intimidated though, because it is not as dense or dry as a standard textbook. I think for anyone who enjoys woodworking this would be a great read.

My only complaint is that I wish the author could've gone into more detail on a lot of the subjects. He often wrote that a detailed discussion would fill a whole other book or even volumes. The problem is he's right, so the trade off is that some information is left out since the book can't be thousands of pages long.

If you want to get to the "next level" in woodworking, this book will help you get there. Good all around read on the properties of the various species , but written from a woodworkers perspective. Covers species identification, kiln drying, steam bending as well as adhesives and finishing. Practical knowlege and a very good resource. If you want to move from building birdhouses to fine furniture, you'll want to buy a copy of this book.

If you want to learn to date fabrics found in quilts and cotton clothing, then this book is a must have. MAKING HISTORY Quilts and Fabrics covers the topics in the same detail and stylistic manner of America's Printed Fabrics, for the years 1890 to 1970. With this book, Barbara Brackman essentially finishes her update of Clues in the Calico, (1989).

If I were to use one word to describe the book's text, it is concise.She gives us a great deal of meaty information by combining period fabrics used for clothing, interiors furnishings, and quilts with interior and architectural design schools and wraps them into a synopses of their influence on patterned fabric's scale, color, weave and print.

Large swatches of original fabrics and reproduction prints are featured in exacting color photographs. Smaller quilt pictures show vintage ones. What is great, especially for someone new to dating fabrics, is that she goes back to the beginning dye history of a color and brings it forward to the focus of the years the chapter covers.

Barbara writes that her personal mission when doing research for this book was the discovery of why the look of quilts changed so much in the early 20th century, compared to the years before it. This book is a very interesting read as it draws from the greater field of textiles and interior design, with a wider focus than reproduction and antique fabrics and quilts.

After seeing references to this book, I decided I had to buy it. Was very pleased with the patterns and instruction. It definately pays to buy through Amazon.

The log cabin has turned into my favorite block and what a book to have in my collection. There are so many new ideas I haven't seen. I have since purchased other "Judy Martin" books and just love them. The instructions are written for both templates and rotary cutting...

i'm always impressed by judy martin's creativity and invention. her color sense is amazing. in this book, she shares her latest variations of the log cabin design as well as a few previous examples.

most of the quilts include directions for two sizes--wall and queen. some are also given in twin size, a few have instructions for only one size, but at the back of the book there are charts to aid in changing log sizes and quilt sizes. there is a section on using log cabin blocks as borders. she includes symbols to indicate the difficulty of cutting, sewing and organinzing the patches for each quilt. each quilt also has two diagrams for color and piecing order. there are many wonderful diagrams showing different settings for the traditional block and for some of her original blocks. all the quilts are based on equal-sized logs--there are no off center blocks. with this traditional approach and her color sense the results are beautiful and inspiring.

martin's suggestions and advice come from long experience in quilting and are always interesting and helpful. in the section, 'a piece of my mind,' she addresses many current ideas about quilting that i think need to be discussed--such as the shortcuts that actually take more time than the traditional techniques. the points she raises are helpful for any piecing situation. along with the excellent advice and instructions are photos that are actually helpful.

an added feature is the beautiful quilting, which shows up very well in the photos. there are, unfortunately, no patterns for the quilting.

this is a book that should be in any quilter's library--a beginning quilter can achieve a first-rate quilt following the instructions, an experienced quilter will learn new ways to approach her work.

Anyone that enjoys piecing log cabin quilts will love this book. The quilts are absolutely beautiful and an inspiration. I have already started on my first one.

This book is a great inspirational tool to create beautiful log cabin quilts. Being able to see layouts is a great help. The instructions are very helpful. Wonderful book!

I have been felt making now for 10 years, so i am most likely being a tad unfair with only giving four stars. I bought this book on the cover as the bag colours and style got my interest. It is a good introduction too the three hobby felt styles- needle , knitting, and wet including nuno felt. Colours are bright and infomation easy to understand.

Found this book at a book store & paid full price! I wish I had found it here! It's a great book with tons of ideas, has instructions on wet & needle felting as well as knitted felting. I especially like the bright colored projects that are "today's styles". I think it's one of the nicer felting books I have!

I was given this book as a gift a while ago and was a bit intimidated to try it out, as I am not the craftiest person around. Luckily I did try, and have been thrilled with the results. The bag I made always get compliments, and whenever I go out people always ask where I got it. It's lovely to tell them I made it, and they can too.

CF is easy to read and the steps are clearly laid out and easy to follow. I also recommend making a cheat sheet of the basic steps, until you are comfortable with them. That way you don't have to keep opening the book/turning pages while you hands are soapy/wet. The design ideas in the book are a good launching point for other designs, so don't be afraid to make to customize the look to your tastes.

I highly recommend this book as a great entry into felt making. I am so excited to try the wall hanging and eventually the slippers for this fall (spoiler alert to my family

This is fantastic book - the handbag on the front cover pulled me in and unlike some books the front cover is indicative of the rest of the projects. The projects are well thought out and interesting. Whilst the colours are not always to my liking a bit of imagination helps fix that anyway. I have to make the pansy table runner, the nuno felt scarf, the baby crib blanket, the trout mobile, the booties - the list goes on - all I need now is to get pregnant before I make the last 3. Love this book and it is fund to just flick through and get inspiration.

Thorough and complete in every category - this book on feltmaking will get everyone interested in felting to explore one or more of the ways to develop quality felt products. The projects provided in the book are great and tempting to do - perfect for those wanting to learn the subject. Plus the dynamic colors used in nearly every project add to the inspiration provided by the author. Get this book and maybe one more if you can only afford a few books on the subject...and remember, other authors may focus on one technique to the exclusion of others, while this author does not. So perhaps, choose this book first and then find another book, more advanced perhaps, in the felting technique you like best. But don't forget, this author includes some unique advanced projects to sink your felting activities into! Excellent!

This book is a treasury of magnificent textured knitting patterns for women(many shaped hourglass, with a few more unisex)...mainly sweaters/ cardigans, although there are a few knock-out scarves and socks, and a bit of colorwork/lace as well.

Most are knit on size 5 to 8 needles, so the yarns aren't ultra-fine (as the book's title may suggest), and are presented in both handspun and commercial natural yarn equivalents, a nice comparison.

The photography leaves a lot to be desired as for seeing the clear patterning of the textured knitting. And the models are often posed holding large items in front of them (which obscures the whole front of their sweater), or are sitting such that you can't see the hem/ waist, or cuff finish of the garment...

When I first saw this book, I thought "Ho hum, another knitting book".
Closer examination proved how wrong that assessment was.

Yes, it is a knitting book. But it is also a spinning book. Each of the projects included is shown in both commercially spun yarn and in handspun yarn. Since knitting books usually do not include handspun projects, this concept is unique.

The patterns cover a range of classic designs in highly textured knits. There are cabled sweaters, cabled socks, and a cabled scarf. A bit of lace makes an appearance in a couple of the sweater and scarf patterns.

In the text portion, the author discusses the breeds of sheep and other fiber producing animals that produced the fleece she used to create the blends of handspun she used to spin the yarn for the handspun garments shown in the book. There are also notes on spinning, determining knitting gauge for handspun, preparing handspun for knitting, and how to figure out if you have enough fiber for your project. There is much useful information here for the handspinner.

The patterns are well written, the charts are good sized, clear and easy to read, and the garments are beautifully photographed with commemrcial yarn and handpsun versions shown side by side.

I seldom buy knitting books in this price range as there is usually only one or two patterns that interest me. Not the case with this book - I want to spin the yarn and knit almost every single pattern!

If I have one criticism, it is that there is little information given on the specific handspun yarns used in the patterns. For example, tpi and wpi for the handspun yarns is not given.

And, one question: Why is that spindle (pg.16) in a jar with what appears to be some sort of liquid?

I love, love, love this book. I'm presently working on two sweaters and planning on knitting 85-90% of the rest. It would be 100% but I don't do hats and scarves. This is the best knitting pattern book I've bought in all of my 66 years. Love it! Can't wait for your next book.

Beautiful patterns, juxtapositioning of commercial and handspun yarns is a unique format. It's very useful to the knitter, or the knitter/spinner in taking the next step to designing yarns to knit more complex patterns.

I'm a huge Lisa Lloyd fan and have been for a long time, so this book is never going to make it to the shelf, it's going to stay in the pile next to my knitting chair. I want to make every pattern in this book. The patterns are classic, this book will be just as valuable in your knitting library in 30 years as it is today. Everyone always wants The Perfect Sweater, the one to wear on your autumn walk to go kick leaves, and there are a dozen of them in this collection. There are patterns for a variety of yarn grists, and patterns typically go up to about 52".

The beginning section on spinning and wool characteristics is a good intro to new spinners, or wannabe spinners. It was good information to get new spinners thinking about spinning for a big project. I've been spinning for years and it didn't have any new information for me, but reading it got me whipped up to start spinning with one of these projects in mind.

However. The photographs, while beautiful and artsy and fun to look at, leave a lot to the imagination - not a great thing in a knitting pattern book. They're teaser photos - look good in the picture, but if you come to a question in your knitting you won't be able to figure out what you're doing by looking at the picture. I don't think there are more than a couple of patterns with good photos you can really tell what the pattern looks like. I'd expect this would be a struggle for a person who hasn't had a lot of experience knitting cables. I've been knitting them for years and I still need to refer to pictures, it's really a shame they aren't more available. "Harriet" has a diamond lace pattern, but you would never know that the bottom third of the sweater has an entirely different lace pattern. They've pinned sweaters to make them look shaped (a BIG, BIG NO!), but almost all of the sweaters have straight sides. The publisher wants this to be a fashion layout, with fuzzy pictures and beautiful settings, but they don't seem to get that it's an instruction manual and clear pictures of the designs need to be included. And they need to know their audience - spinners like microscopic closeups of yarn!

So overall, I love the book. I am excited to have this collection of Lisa Lloyd's patterns and I expect to wear this book out. A big finger-wagging to the publisher on the photography and thankfully I have the internet available to see some other pictures.

I am thoroughly impressed with this book. The ideas are great! Throughout this guide, you'll see creative ways to organize paper, ephemera, photos, and all kinds of supplies. At first glance the ideas may seem expensive, but most can be adapted using inexpensive or recycled containers and materials (think shoe boxes, clean jam jars, etc) -- including those little scraps of paper that can become labels and much more.

Though be warned, it all seems very time consuming, but time spent upfront organizing will help when it comes to having materials easily accessed when working on layouts. The organizing tips helpful, but there are also numerous scrapbook page ideas to boot! Inspiring for scrapbookers, artists and creative types trying to organzize a workroom or studio.

Beautiful spiral-bound book! I enjoy looking at the fabulous photos of the various scrap rooms and of all the organizational containers. Gives lots of great ideas. And plenty of fun reading and instruction on how to organize the many embellishments and paper we love to collect! Excellent book. It even looks pretty just sitting on my shelf. Worth every penny! Very happy that I bought it.

This book is THE BEST. It is not your ordinary "how to get organized" book. It takes you much deeper and asks you questions that get you to the ideal room or space to get you inspired. The short questions at the end of each chapter are amazing and have really gotten me thinking deeper about not only my room but about what and how I scrapbook.

I would encourage you to read the book and not just jump to the end to look at the samples. It's a quick read because it's very interesting and takes you through the various areas/sections of your room.

I would certainly recommend this book to anyone that's serious about getting organized.

This book was just what I needed to figure out just what kind of scrapbooking space I wanted to create. I was able to see what style would work for me. I had tried several things in my scrapping space and it never seemed to work. Now I have used this book to help me create a wonderful creative room!! It is pretty too!!

At first glance this book can appear to state the obvious. However, if the reader takes time to think about the fundamental questions the authors pose, there is a catalyst for inspiration. The purpose of the book is to get to the heart of why a person is inspired to scrapbook (which is highly personal).

If you take time to think through the questions, the book will serves its purpose to inspire you and and help you create an organizational style that works for you.

My only suggestion is that the resource guide could be more robust and specific so it would be easier for the reader to purchase products that meet their needs.

Foxfire books make you see how easy life is in the 21st century and how tough it was in days gone by. Foxfire books are a great read.

My husband got me started and we own the whole series. In fact we are now replacing some of the original copies due to wear and tear. They are more entertaining than a how to - but, I have many times consulted them when I need help with old fashioned situations. I also view them as an important segment of our history- and find that as with the rest of the world we are discovering that the old timers were more right in their thinking than some of the " newfangled" ideas". If you always wished you'd have asked your grandparents or great grandparents how they did somehting - these books might give you an idea!

I loved these books as a kid and now my kids are learning from them

All of the foxfire books have a similar format: interviews with elders who practice a specific handicraft. And in the telling you can learn a lot of good details, but these books are not meant to teach you how to do any of these crafts, they are simply recording the knowledge of these elders. There are much better how-to's out there for skills. For a general book, get "The Encyclopedia of Country Living", for a book on hide-tanning get "Deerskins into Buckskins", both available from amazon.com

I own, read and use almost all of the Foxfire books. Actually, we owe both the Foxfire people and we certainly owe the characters of a gone generation. This work, Volume III, is like the others. A wonderful history of how it was. In this day and age of having most needs meet and something for everyone on the Wal-mart shelf, we tend to forget just what it was like in our not too distant past. These books, the Foxfire books, brings to light skills, attitudes and a way of life that is all but forgotten. Do be warned though, as one reviewer has pointed out, these are not step by step "how to do it" books. But This is sort a good thing as the how to books out there are sort of a dime a dozen any more. When a people lose their history, they lose part of their soul. As the title of this work states, this addresses many of the old forgotten skills and there is so much more. The editors have done a wonderful job. They have made a very honest effort to replicate the dialect of those places and times and I feel that this is a big part of the charm of these books. I am old enough to have known many of the kinds of folks featured in these books, being only one generation past them, and have a great appreciation for what and how they did all the little things we take so for granted now. I might also suggest that you actually try some of the things mentioned in these volumes. It will give you even more of an appreciation for what they did, and hey, who knows, the skill you develope just might come in handy one of these days! Recommend this and the other Foxfire books highly.

If you've ever wondered what to do with a T-shirt...wonder no more!!
Loved this as much as the "99 Ways to Cut Denim"....Check em' out!!

I am not a skinny twenty-something, but I did enjoy this book. I found that by taking a neckline from one design and a sleeve cut from another, I could turn a boring T-shirt into something far more interesting, without baring all! For those who can wear these styles, enjoy! For others, like me, just take what you want and leave the rest.

This is a very imaginative book with many good ideas. I don't think that t-shirt material will behave in the way the drawings describe. It would have been better to have pictures instead of drawings to get a real feel for the results. Some of the ideas are totally unwearable, too revealing or ugly, but they are all good starting points for altering other things if you like to sew. There are however enough ideas that I'm sure that some of them will turn out.

You won't believe what you can do with some old T-shirts, a little time, a few odds and ends and a sense of fun. Many of the designs are best for the slender young-adult because they do show some skin. However, part of the fun could be layering the revealing cutouts and strips over other fabrics, making them appropriate for every age.

Team this book with 99 Ways To Cut, Sew and Deck Out Your Denim for a wardrobe that is totally one-of-a-kind.

Nicely illustrated, BUT you probably won't make many of these. They are primarily for long-waisted, very young, very thin women who are showing more skin than most women should. Love handles and over-hanging bellies, girls, are just so NOT sexy. Besides, is sexy all we have to say about why someone should give us a second look?