Jo Verso's speciality are these little cross-stitched figures that look like Lego people, and represent modern life. In this book, she used the twelve months of the year.
There are all the major sports events like the Superbowl, the World Cup, Ascot and Wimbledon. There's holidays in the sun or the snow, back to school, spring-cleaning (the lady in a smock and with a scarf around her head - I so want to do that one!), Crufts Dog Show, the Last Night of the Proms, Punch and Judy, Remembrance Day, pantomime, agricultural shows, the maypole dance, and a hodgepodge of other seasonal activities, mostly British, but with a nod to the Americans too.
Every month are motifs to represent that month's flower,Zodiac sign and saint's day, and these can all be put together into attractive samplers in their own right. There are band samplers for each season, loads of old country proverbs, four samplers of seasonal alphabets, and my favourite is the cover design, which is one of four pictures showing the same modern couple in a modern garden during each season - put together into one sampler, they would be stunning!
A lot of this kind of subject matter is not covered by other designers, except in some British cross stitch magazines.
The main stitches are cross stitch, back stitch and French knots, with some half-stitching, and some speciality stitches in the band samplers (but the instructions are really clear for those.)
The motifs can be stitched individually for quick stitches like cards and key-rings, or be put together into larger and more detailed samplers based on your life or a theme.
Love the book; intend to stitch every single motif eventually!
