I just bought a copy of Carolyn Hedge Baird's latest (2015) book, Teeny Tiny Needlepoint Stitches. If you click on this link, Nimble Needle in New Jersey shows off the cover and several of the inside pages. As you can see this is a small spiral bound book.
http://nimbleneedlenj.com/product/teeny-tiny-needlepoint-stitches/
The cover (designed by Brenda Stofft, by the way) is protected by a sheet of plastic. The pages are nearly 5 1/2 inches high by 8 1/2 inches wide but it's pretty hefty as it is nearly 3/4 inch thick. It's small enough to go in a project bag but it'll add weight to your purse if you are taking it on an airplane.
Inside there are 150 pages of stitches, a few pages of plain graph paper to sketch out your own ideas, and indexes that divide the stitches in the book into groups: all the stitches in (mostly) alphabetical order, four-way stitches, stitches for baskets, stitches that include beads, stitches for birds, borders and striped stitches that are only 1 canvas thread high, combination stitches that look good in two kinds of threads, and cross stitches to make bumps in your canvas.
A really nice touch in the front is a list of books by other authors that have great small stitch sections.
Each page usually has 2 diagrams on it, although some pages have only 1 and some have 4. I found a few of the diagrams a little hard to puzzle out since they are in black and white (with occasional gray) and not really large. A few diagrams have a plain white background instead of a grid, which may make it difficult to know how many threads a stitch goes over. Some of the grids are very faint as well.
Most—but not all—of the diagrams have the stitching path numbered in the traditional up at one, down at two, etc. format. The stitches seem to be listed in alphabetical order. It's a great way to browse for ideas but if you find a stitch you sort of like, it'll be hard to find similar stitches that might work better for you unless they have a very similar name (and are thus nearby in the alphabetical listing).
Carolyn will usually explain what she has used each stitch for and often suggests variations or threads she's used successfully in this stitch. Once again this isn't done for each stitch, but it is there for most of them.
A fun touch is the little line drawings scattered here and there in the book. They serve no purpose but they do bring Carolyn's light-hearted personality to life as you skip around, looking at the stitches and waiting for inspiration to strike.
Except for books that are only tent stitches laid out in patterns (like many of Finger Step Designs' books) and Stitchplay's Desert Island Stitches Vol. 1, this is the only book I know of that is especially dedicated to stitches that work well in small areas. If you are constantly searching for a stitch to put in a tiny area, this is a book you'll want to add to your stitching library.
Thanks, Carolyn. I'm going to have fun with this!
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 10, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.
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