SuZy Murphy Books: A Review

Three of SuZy Murphy's Books

Until recently I had never seen any of SuZy Murphy's books.  Living in the Back of Beyond as I do, bookstores that carry stitching books for me to browse are few and far between.  It's been at least 10-12 years since I found a stitching book in Borders Books or Books a Million.  The trend now is self-publishing books that are not released in regular bookstores and I simply don't visit a needlepoint shop often enough to see these books, much less have time to study them.  Fortunately, this last week I bought the latest in her series (Mini Stitches) and a friend sent me two of her SuZy Murphy books since she doesn't use them much now that she is more of a knitter than a needlepointer.

A Peek Inside

I spent the weekend studying the books.  They are all stitch dictionaries and the format for all three books are the same.  Stitches are organized into categories:  straight stitches, cross stitches, diagonal stitches, small stitches, etc.  Each chapter covers one of these categories.   There is a diagram for each stitch, a few notes about how to stitch it, a list of things this stitch is good for (such as Water, Clouds, Walks)  and a black and white photograph of each stitch done on NP canvas.  The diagrams are small but usually there are 1-2 drawings in each diagram so you can see the numbered sequence of one full stitch, then see a group of them so you can do rows.  In the back of the book there is a series of colored plates of each stitch and opposite each plate, each stitch from that group labeled.    See the photo above for more information.  Mini Stitches and SurpriZe Stitches has a stitch index (a list of all the stitches so you can look one up if you remember the name) and an effects index (where you can find all the stitches in the book that are appropriate for hair, etc.).  Small Stitches doesn't have the effects index, just the stitch index.

I was surprised to find that stitches don't repeat between books.  It is easy for authors to forget they already put a stitch in an earlier book, but SuZy Murphy is very organized.  Small Stitches and Mini Stitches explicitly say that many of the stitches described (but not all) are good for small areas.  It's nice to have a place to see stitches that cover small areas but I have to say just because a stitch doesn't take up much space doesn't mean that it is good for a small area.  Some stitches, such as Serendipity, have to have room for many repeats before the beauty of the stitch will reveal itself.  What I'm trying to say is don't count on each and every stitch in these books being appropriate for a tiny area.

My own opinion is that SurpriZe Stitches and Mini Stitches have more unusual stitches in them than Small Stitches does, but Small Stitches takes common stitches and diagrams variations of them which are unusual and useful.  An example is the Tent Stitches chapter in this book which starts out with basketweave and skip tent and Alicia's lace, then diagrams all sorts of variations on these stitches for the stitcher who likes to use them but is looking for something different this time.  Almost every stitch in Small Stitches has a variation listed, which is quite interesting and useful.

I recommend these books for the intermediate and beyond stitcher.  A beginner might find the small diagrams a little confusing, especially since only one stitch unit is numbered, but someone who is experienced or very adventuresome will find plenty of ideas in SuZy's books. Remember that Portable Stitches combines Small Stitches and SurpriZe Stitches into one book.  Portable Stitches is also available as a digital download for smart phones. Here is a complete list of the SuZy Murphy titles.
http://www.amybunger.com/books.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow