First of all I would like to give thanks once again to B. and his wife S. who made it possible for me to buy this book. S. just left, after we had some drinks and snacks and she's going back to Germany in one week. All is well, I mentioned about visiting them perhaps next spring, now that the flight prices are seemingly going down. If I go I will also be able to meet with some "long-time-no-see" friends out there. So, on to the review :)

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First thing that I noticed was the cover. On the cover there's "The Castle" and from looking at the cover photo I was able to realize how beautiful this design actually is. All photos found online do not do it justice. An interesting thing is that on this photo the design is stitched on Aida.

Next, before the table of contents, are few introductory pages containing photos of Teresa. Quite lovely photos, one of them is her sitting at the table working and next to her a storage of threads and a cat :) The annotation to this photo reads:

"From her home studio that's chock-full of designing paraphernalia, Teresa reveals she believes that serious stitchers love a challenge. "It's very fortunate for me because I really like 'the edge' and love to 'push the envelope' in cross-stitch design."

I think that Teresa should be seen as the best cross-stitch designer to date, because besides the uniqueness and very special feels, the innovations brought in her designs do indeed push the art of cross-stitching toward development and not stagnation. I completely agree that a serious crafter should want and even strive for the challenges she offers.

The book looks strangely thin for having so many pages, but that's no lie - it has 97 pages indeed. Next after the table of contents follow the designs photos with short description of each. The thing to notice there is a tremendously accurate and good quality of the stitched designs. I don't know who are their model stitchers (perhaps it is Teresa for some), but most look absolutely perfect - especially Rapunzel, Castle Sampler, Stroke of Midnight, Pegasus and Unicorn.

The chart's quality that follow next is the best possible quality I've seen by now. Each chart is divided into several pages (sections) and is two-colored: black and red, as red is used mostly to indicate some of the backstitch lines. Although not very large, the symbols are clear and easy to read.

In the end there are general instructions with diagrams and DMC to Anchor conversion chart.

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I am very happy to have this book and be able to work on the designs in it. I will be starting with "The Castle" and after that probably do the "Castle sampler." "Stroke of Midnight" is something that I started to consider as well, although it wasn't originally on my to-do list. But the skill with which this design is stitched is kinda calling to me to try as well. Though I wish the guy would rather had 18-century redcoat uniform, but that's just my very personal (and biased) preference.