embroidery book

All that embroidery talk in my last post reminded me of a big inspiration - an embroidery book I picked up at Kinokuniya Bookstore about four years ago. That was around the time I realized that they carried incredible craft and art books, and I would spend hours looking through them, trying to decide which ones to get. This one was a no-brainer!

I think I'm most inspired by the looseness and vitality of the embroidery in this book. The designs themselves are really clever, and cheeky, and the sketch-like quality of the embroidery really enhances that. I tend (as I mentioned in my last post) to get hung up on creating perfect little stitches when I embroider - taking one look in this book helps me get back on track.

I think I could use a little less perfectionism in my life, in general. Life lessons through embroidery!

Anyway, there is no English title listed on the book, but its isbn is 4-277-32109-7 and it was published by Ondori. The illustration is by Nagasaki Kuniko and the embroidery by Hamaguchi Aiko and Otsuka Ayako. There are tons of designs - including robots, aliens, UFOs, birds, cityscapes, spiders, shoes, bats, and hot dogs. In other words, everything that matters.