Books: Heart-Felt Holidays

I have had Kathy Sheldon & Amanda Carestio's book, Heart-Felt Holidays: 40 Festive Felt Projects to Celebrate the Seasons on my wish list for quite some time. When I finally had the opportunity to check it out and try out some of the patterns, I found that it was well worth the wait.

Our friends at Lark Books were generous enough to share a copy with Feeling Stitchy for review. Instead of Tuesday's Tutorial, I am excited to share my new favorite book with you.

The book has 40 adorable projects and patterns, organized in a chronological format, with designs to celebrate the holidays and special occasions of each month. Beginning with New Year's Day and ending with Hanukkah and Christmas, the projects in between range from Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Groundhog Day to Earth Day and Teacher Appreciation Day. There are also birthday and baby shower gift and decoration ideas that are darling, and can be used throughout the year. Some projects require the use of a sewing machine, while some are completely hand-stitched.

One of my favorite elements about Heart-Felt Holidays is that the entire book is based on using felt, which is one of my preferred fabrics to work with. Felt doesn't fray and can be cut very easily, it's also inexpensive, which is always a major plus. I tend to keep felt in my fabric stash at all times, and while I didn't have the same colors that are listed for the projects in the book, the patterns looked just as great and had more of a personal touch when I used what I had available.

The patterns for each project are on the last pages of the book. I had to go to a print shop to enlarge some of the patterns, and I have to admit that I might have enlarged them more than the directions called for, but the projects still came out great. Very quickly, Heart-Felt Holidays has become a solid favorite. I can't wait to try out their projects for this Spring!