Learn all the secrets to creating a beautiful embroidered portrait of your home. Find out the techniques you need to create fabulous dimension, realistic effects and the little details that will make your embroidered house portrait as unique as your home. With over 200 pages of techniques, tips, beautiful imagery and inspiration, Hand-Stitch House will take you step by step through the entire process of design, stitching and finishing your embroidered home. What you learn from Hand-Stitched House will help you to create a lovingly handmade piece of embroidered art. Whether it's an heirloom memory for yourself or a gift for someone special; your embroidered house will be treasured for many years to come.

Jill Gordon, best known for her vivid portrayals of nature through her tapestry designs, now recreates her observations in cross stitch.Fourteen stunning new designs reflect Jill's unique interpretations of the natural world, encompassing animals, landscapes, gardens, fruit and flowers. With the whole fabric worked, the images produced are as full and vibrant as nature itself. Striking zebras quench their thirst at a shimmering savannah watering hole, and brightly coloured macaws inhabit the tropical beauty of a rainforest. Watchful owls are illuminated by moonlight, while a lizard lazes the day away in a succulent cactus garden of exotic aloes and yucca. Cows are found grazing beneath the blossoms of a summer orchard, and topiary hedges and trees adorn a formal garden. Jill's own watercolour sketches, from which she has taken the designs, offer extra inspiration.While many scenes are finished as simple framed pictures, Jill shows how easily the stitching can be transformed into eye-catching and unusual items to adorn the home. A wall hanging, footstool and box lid insert are just a few of the exciting ideas featured. Step-by-step instructions accompany every project, while the comprehensive techniques section includes hints and tips for successful stitching. However the finished work is displayed, these designs are guaranteed to bring the beauty of the outside world into any home.Jill Gordon started stitching and painting in 1971, producing her nature inspired art as beautifully in textiles as she does in watercolour. While designing kits for the John Lewis Partnership, she also produces her own needlepoint kits under her own name.Jill lives in Waterhouses, Staffordshire.

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Enjoy cross-stitching your favorite people and create high-quality, fun, personal works of art! Stitch up all the most important people in your life with this one-of-a-kind method that solves technical challenges for you but thrives on your creative input--only you know how to bring these characters to life. Using the PixlPeople method, select from a huge swath of elements that go beyond generic patterns and exact replicas--body types, skin tone combinations, hairstyles, outfits--and just follow the provided templates for each element. Add pets, hobby and career accessories, facial expressions, and even zodiac signs to round out your PixlPeople. This method works as a great introduction to cross-stitch, as well as a fun new type of project for those with more experience. Tips on design techniques will help your finished work stand out as a high-quality craft and charming gift.