Crafts Hobbies Books

I was an eagle scout and fisherman in my time so far. I love this book. I read and practice knots with it. (I think this is only feminine if you call it macramé.) You don't need all the knots in this book but that is what is so cool about it. Morrow will show you how the knot is made and even some history. I would buy it again if I lost it. As a true knot lover this book is still fun (I have about 4 knot books) and is my favorite so far.

This book makes it hard to imagine that they could forget a knot. It is very well organized and easy to follow. My only complaint is that it is so comprehensive that it may be difficult for a beginner.

I really have not had time to do a good review of the book. But give the pictures in the guide, it looks like they did a good job in the step by step process. I know showing how to tie knots in 2-D is difficult at best. But this book will help. Thanks !

"The Morrow Guide to Knots" offers excellent coverage of how to tie a wide variety of knots. True to its goal of illustrating how to tie knots, this book does just what it says it does.

While a bit dated (the back of the book states that it takes full advantage of "...color photography..."), this book has stood the test of time quite well. I was able to pick this book up and start tying complex knots within minutes.

This is a useful book for individuals with an interest in boating, fishing, camping and/or climbing. I found, and continue to find, this book to be quite useful.

Step-by-step instructions on how to tie various types of knots are paired with great photos showing the details of the knots.

I was looking for another easy to teach quilt pattern to beginner quilters and this was a breeze. The class I taught had 5 students and in 4 classes completed their quilt. This will be a favorite pattern when teaching.

I am an advanced quilter and found this booklet to be really good. First, I love the fact that the projects are quick and easy without looking it. Second, I like the two alternate color options at the end of each pattern. Although there are only three patterns in the book there are endless possibilities. This is the book for those of us that want a quick but original quilt. These patterns let today's great fabrics showcase themselves. I have already made one and have plans for three more.

This is a good book for wanting to do fast and easy quilts. I will be trying a few myself.

Love this book! It was recommended to me and I would recommend it to anyone interested in chainmaille. Lots of ideas and great directions.
Jeanne, NJ

All the chains used are variations of the Byzantine style - but he does some really cool stuff within that narrow chain window.

I absolutely love this book. It gives you step by step instructions. It also shows you every tool needed. I appreciate the cultural background given at the beginning of the book. The only problem I had was with the time it takes to complete a piece. I stick with it because I love the outcome.

Whether you're just starting out or have been creating chainmail jewelry for a while, Plumlee's first book provides solid introductory information-from an overview of included chain styles to the tools, materials, and techniques needed to complete them-along with plenty of inspirational photos of original chain patterns. In addition, the techniques for creating clasps and earwires are easy to follow and produce great results. Some of the photos of gold wire seemed a bit green in my copy, but this is just a cosmetic issue that could have be corrected by the printer. Solid technique and instruction here. [...].

Now that I own the book, I agree with everyone who gave it a five star rating. I had to laugh at a few of the "not favorable" reviews, because one reviewer had obviously NOT READ the book, how else could she have missed the ring-size charts on page 11. A couple of other reviewers had also obviously not looked at the description of the book. Mr. Plumlee is an expert on ancient chains and in this book he concentrated on showing how to make variations of the Byzantine Weave. THAT is what the book is about, and David does it brilliantly. One reviewer wrote that they were not interested in knowing how to make rings. Excuse me, but no serious chainmaille artist just buys rings, we do make our own in most metals. The book is also not exactly a "Beginning Chainmaille" book, even though it is possible for a complete novice to make the Byzantine Weave from David's superb instructions. You just have to look at the pictures and then READ the text along with the pic.....Duh!!!!! To prove my point, I showed the book to my adult daughter who had never made chainmaille. In 30 minutes she had made about half of a beautiful bracelet.
Five starts to Mr. Plumlee for an excellent book.

Perhaps its just me, and my personal preferences, but I was not impressed with the designs in this book. As far as I'm concerned, the only good thing about this book is that it has 3 patterns that I use semi-regularly, so it isn't exactly collecting dust on my book shelf. The desins in here are, to put it really nicely, very bizzar, and not very pretty. And I don't mean "not pretty" in a girly sort of way, either. I mean, I wouldn't even put them in a man's knitwear item--not aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. I wish I hadn't wasted my money.

Not only did I buy this book for myself (I would consider myself an intermediate) knitter but also for a friend who really has only knitted scarfs and baby blankets... it is so practical and if you don't quite understand the instructions - google. I have made a baby bonnet, a christening dress and am working on a pillow.....
Happy Knitting

It's a great book. A lot of knitting and purling stitches. The book is well written and the instructions are very easy to follow. I hope there will be a new one with other types of stitches, so I can buy it. You can really be inspired by this book.

This book is beautifully done. I enjoy the written instructions and the clear pictures of the stitches.

While I like the organization of the new Harmony guides based on type of stitches, the original guides have a lot more examples.
In this guide all the slip stitch patterns have been eliminated along with color variations of many of the stitches. What a shame - as I found the variations and the slip stitches really inspire me when I am thinking about modifying an existing pattern or creating my own. Also no charts when there was plenty of room to make them. The only charts are the charts that are found in the original guides.

I love stitch dictionaries and have many in my library. When I looked at this I decided that the original harmony guides are a better deal and I recommend buying those guides used when asked.

Wonderful bit of history relating to the underground railroad and slavery. Must have if you study the history of quilts.

I've nothing but rave reviews for Barbara Brackman's books - this one is another "keeper". The first hand accounts of the freed slaves are very interesting reading. There are excellent photographs throughout this book and the quilt patterns have me itching to cut up some fabric!

Great history of quilts during the Civil War and slavery. Very informative and interesting reading. Highly recommend.

A fascinating insight into a bygone era with the reliable details and research we have come to expect from B.Brackman. It is also a revelation of man's inhumanity towards man and the arrogance of white people towards anyone different. As a student of history I could have done without the quilt patterns though. When will publishers realise there is a market for historic facts without the frills? If I want quilt patterns I will buy a book devoted entirely to them, when I want history I would like to have it without the added patterns.

A fascinating book by Barbara Brackman on the history of slavery & quilts. She goes into depth on how slavery originated, emancipation & integration of slaves, or lack thereof. She didn't quite hit the mark disproving the link between escaping slaves & the role of the underground railroad quilt in sending directional messages, which was an area she briefly glossed over leaving the reader dissatisfied & still questioning the outcome.

The quilts portrayed were attractive but not as outstanding as the projects in her many other wonderful books.

As a book on the history of slavery, this text is excellent. In disproving fabrications between underground railroad quilts & escaping slaves, I feel it falls short. A worthwhile read, however.

highly recommended. beautiful photos - clear instructions - gorgeous designs. As a vintage ribbon work lover, this book has it all.

when you want to make a gift special this book will have your flowers very creative and lets you pick those special colors with out a lot of mess. great book

Excellent. Very easy instructions and easy projects. I was immediately able to make beautiful flowers out of ribbon. Highly recommended.

This book is all you need to know - materials, techniques, inspiration for projects. If you'd like to learn ribbonwork, this is the only book you need.

This is the 3rd book I've bought on making ribbon flowers and it is certainly the one to make it easier for you. Her flower directons make your ribbon flowers look like the ones you buy.

I really liked this book. It has so many clever ideas on using simple techniques for creating some lovely greeting cards. I have used it extensively and feel it is well worth the cost. The ideas are easy to use and there are many illustrations to guide you.

This book is spectacular. It provides easy to read and understand strategies to create creative cards. I particularly liked the pictures of the different approaches for each sample. It let you know you can create more than one type of card from one simple template. I found the templates for the envelopes confusing but still need to play with them to see if I understand how to set up the size, etc. Definitely worth the purchase if you enjoy a quick yet creative approach to making cards.

As a graphic designer, I like the outlines for the card layouts. They are asthetically pleasing, and could inspire you to design a multitude of two-dimensional art pieces such as cards, scrapbook pages, ads, wall displays, etc. However, many of the examples given are over done! In addition, they use store bought embellishments, so they are not very original.

This book is great... I have been looking for a card sketch book for some time now. Tons of amazing ideas! Every cardmaker needs this book today! I love that it is broken down into different size cards to make choosing a sketch even easier!

Loved this sketch book! Besides giving you the sketch, it
also gives you a few card ideas for each. Totally helps you think outside of the box. Get ready to create lots of fun new cards for family and friends!!

I got this for my 12 year old daughter and its been a big hit! The results are quite impressive. She's made earrings, a charm bracelet (of colorful Chinese lanterns) and several necklaces. The kit comes with several sheets of patterns to mix and match. They range from cute to sophisticated designs. If you are looking for a gift for preteens and up, this is a perfect choice.

I'm always saying I'm bored but when I got this cool craft book for Christmas, or Hannukkah or Kwanza or Diwali, whatever you prefer, (I guess I'm every religion) all that changed. Now whenever I say I am bored I just think about my craft book and head for the kitchen. But today when I was making jewelry, things didn't go as planned. When my projects were in the oven they started to shrivel up and not uncurl, because the two sides were stuck together!!!! I couldn't uncurl the sides so I made a new one but the same thing happened!! I made another one and I thought the same thing had happened but I left it in the oven and the sides uncurled on their own. So I put the next batch of jewelry in the oven. This time I had cut the holes too close to the edge and they ripped so I made another one. It all came out beautifully and I get so many complements on my jewelry. Despite all this, I give my jewelry book five stars !!!!!!!!

I bought this for my granddaughter and she enjoyed it so much that I bought two more for her to give to friends. It's a very special idea and kids have such fun with it.

Leave this one for the kids. It's a good value, but I think this book is for kids. The first clue is the girl on the cover.

Tired of spending large sums of money on my daughter's friend's b'day presents and knowing how much my daughter enjoyed art, I picked up this book and told my 14 year old that if she would use it to make gifts, I would pay for it. I figured it would be a win/win situation. She went to town making earrings and bracelets, wearing a new one each day to school. Her 18 year old sister came home from college and wanted everything she made but instead sat down and made her own. They shrinky dinked so much that I am ordering a refill pack and another book for my daughter to take back to college. Moral: kids of ALL ages will love this (including me). One of the most fun Klutz books we've gotten (and we've gotten a lot). And with a friend's b'day party coming up next week....

This book has a number of good designs, but I think it's misleading to call it Jelly Roll friendly. Very few of the designs would make efficient use of the number of strips contained in a Jelly Roll -- you'd either need more strips, or additional fabric (FQs or something) or you'll end up with strips left over. A much better book, with designs which use the Jelly Rolls more efficiently, is Jelly Roll Quilts by the Lintotts, mother and daughter. I can't remember the mother's first name, but the daughter's is Nicky. It's available here on Amazon.

What is a quick, easy and fun way to make a quilt? Use Jelly Rolls!! This book provides patterns that can be used by quilters of any ability from beginner to beyond. They can be used as shown or adapted in any way that you can think of so this book can be used as a jumping off point for your own designs. It has lovely photos and user friendly instructions. The quilts are beautiful and you can make your own 'jelly rolls' so that the content of each pattern becomes unique. This book provides patterns that are easily adapted to each quilter's level of ability and their preferred colour palette.

I got this book as a surprise...and then I was surprised when I read through it. I've been aware of Jelly rolls offered in the quilt shops, but wasn't all that interested, until now. What I like greatly about this designer is that you cut the WOF strips in two so that you are just working with a 22 inch strip as opposed to the 44-45 inch width...therefore it will make for better managabiltiy of the strip sets. I have not tried any of the patterns, but I am totally interested in the concept. It is best to read the instructions when previewing a book, not just looking at the designs of the quilts...but that's difficult to do on amazon....

Have you seen those "Jelly Rolls" in your favorite fabric store? Ever wondered what on earth you could do with them? Ms. Martin gives you a whole book on just that subject---10 quilts and 3 other projects --- a tote bag, a pillow and a Table Runner. With the 13 projects, you will be busy for a long time.

OK, so you don't have Jelly Rolls and you don't want to spend the money on getting one. Grab some of your favorite fabric and make your own 2 ½ inch strips. The first 17 pages provide you with basic techniques on how to make your own strips, the tools you will need and how to appliqué and quilt. There is even a suggestion for a quick and easy "light box".

Each project shows a photo of the finished item and a paragraph about the item. It gives the finished size and finished block size. A materials and cutting list is provided as well as how to put the blocks together. There are LOTS of graphics so you can be sure you are following the written directions correctly.

The final pages provide the templates needed for one of the projects as well as several paragraphs about the author. All in all, this is a wonderful book that will have you sewing far into the night.