Crochet Queen: Royal Ramblings

Crochet Kaleidoscope ~ Shifting Shapes and Shade Across 100 Motifs is a fantastic book.by well-known designer Sandra Eng. You may recall my recent post about the Violet Protest . I have now finished the five squares I committed to send to this exciting project; and I used Sandra's book as a reference for making each square. Along the way, I decided to review the book for you because I enjoyed it so much. Included in the 100 designs are not just run-of-the-mill designs, but unique squares and also chapters on Circles, Hexagons, Triangles and other shapes as well. Publshed by FW, Eng says the book was "born out of her love of crochet, color and geometry." Her readers love crochet and color; geometryis a fantastic bonus that contributes to her unique design abilities. Karen Manthey, named by Eng as " Technical Editor Extraordinaire , has provided her diagram creation skills for each motif." She has been well-known in the crochet industry for years for her amazing ...

The sub-title of this new book by Sandra Eng, Shifting Shapes and Shades across 100 Motifs , caught my attention! While reading her bio, I found that she is a color enthusiast and a practicing psychologist who is a proponent  of the therapeutic benefits of crochet and other fiber arts. To me, anyone who can live through the brutal winters of Minneapolis and still create such a colorful array of motifs like these has got to be a hearty spirit! For all these reasons, I heartily recommend this book!

I will get right to the point: run , don’t walk to buy this book! If you want to understand the thoughts, emotions, and excitement that brought me to this unusual book review introduction, carry on! I could hardly wait to get started reading about the famous and incredibly capable female aviatrixes from whom Denise derived the inspiration for her new book, Leather, Lace, Grit & Grace ! As I began, my first instinct was to search among all the pilots' portraits for a photograph of Denise herself! She is, indeed, a very capable woman, standing tall among the women she has written about. Denise has set the bar very high for anyone who is contemplating a self-publishing journey for their crochet designs! Combining her artistic talent and extreme creativity, Denise has brought us seventeen delightful crochet and knit designs, as well as a good read about twelve women pilots who lived during the timeframes between 1831 through 1975. Some are well-known like Amelia Ear...

Monday, April 15, 2013 We have a fairly new magazine, Fiber Art Now , which follows in the footsteps of Fiberarts magazine. It started in 2009 as a blog called Valley Fiber Life by Marcia Young. Life goes on and I am glad that once again we have a beautiful magazine that strives to inspire and connect the fiber art and textile community like Fiberarts magazine once did!. I have been receiving my Fiber Art Now news on line for a while and have just received my first hard copy with my subscription. I am happy to be in the fiber art loop again and am really enjoying it. Since my upcoming book, The Fine Art of Crochet (June 2013), fits into the genres of fine art and fiber art, I want to be on top of the most current information as to where to share the news. Whether a single issue features crochet or not is not important to me. There is much to inspire crocheters: just the pure color that abounds is sure to inspire along with news of exhibits, shows and manufacturers who may feature c...

Friday February 8, 2013 I've just been so incredibly busy writing about crochet since the new year started that I didn't have any extra time or cro-thoughts to put here for fear of duplication! I've been doing double duty over at Talking Crochet eNewsletter since back in November. We now have chosen an associate editor who will be sharing the job with me. I'm excited to be introducing her in the issue that goes live on February 26. So, you'll have to wait until then to find out who she is. Never fear...I've been totally immersed in crochet as usual. I've been concentrating on working on some art pieces and also covering rocks like crazy. I've just not taken the time to write about it. I also plan to celebrate National Crochet Month (March) by announcing a very special project I have been working on for quite some time. I love surprises! "Take-Out:" Crochet-covered river rocks. Why do I call this "take-out"? I spied these love...