Building on the success of her previous books Alison Holt shows you how to produce incredible seascapes using various combinations of just two simple machine stitches. The techniques are broken down into clear step-by-step instructions & there are five stunning projects as well as many examples of Alisons original & exquisite work to delight & inspire you. Alison paints her threads on to h&-coloured backgrounds blending her stitches & achieving stunning results. The raised effects of the embroidery produce a beautiful three-dimensional look & her clever use of perspective is effective & easily achieved. This book covers everything including the materials required; how to compose a picture from photographs that have inspired you; painting backgrounds; & all the basic stitch techniques you need to know. Detailed instructions explain how to create realistic scenes from the sunlit glow of the Mediterranean to the drama of a stormy windswept beach in winter. Alison also introduces a new technique that combines paper fabric & stitch to produce embroideries with a more abstract feel. This is an inspirational book for artists embroiderers & textile artists alike & a must-have instructional book for anyone interested in learning about free-motion machine embroidery. ...

Embroider leathers silks synthetics & chiffons successfully every time! When you love to machine embroider you cant wait to add your special touch to clothing accessories & decorative items. For many fabrics your tried-&-true methods work fine. But what about those other fabrics? You know the ones that pucker & run...buckle & stretch...break your thread...or bury your embroidery in mounds of plush pile? With the expert advice in Machine Embroidery on Difficult Materials you can embroider even the most challenging materials with consistently beautiful results. Deborah Jones has embroidered it all from slippery synthetic sheers to the thickest velvet. In this authoritative reference she unlocks the secrets to embroidering on 18 of the most tempting yet challenging

Materials: Unstable fabrics: Lightweight knits stretch knits bulky knits gauze Densely woven fabrics: Lightweight nylon coarse nylon polyester satin & acetate silk charmeuse Pile & napped fabrics: Velvet terry fleece faux fur Sheers: Natural-fiber & synthetic Unfabrics": Vinyl faux suede leather This complete reference puts everything you need at your fingertips: Which needles stabilizers marking & hooping methods work best for each fabric Clear empowering explanations so youll know why these challenging fabrics behave (and misbehave) the way they do 18 beautiful projects (how many embroidery designs & how many projects) Bonus CD-ROM with more than 20 fabric-specific project designs in 12 file formats"

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' Some bright kid's got a gun & 2000 rounds of live ammo. & that gun's no peashooter. It'll go through a brick wall at a quarter of a mile.' Chas Mc Gill has the second-best collection of war souvenirs in Garmouth & he desperately wants it to be the best. When he stumbles across the remains of a German bomber crashed in the woods
- its shiny black machine-gun still intact
- he grabs his chance. Soon he's masterminding his own war effort with dangerous & unexpected results......not just the best book so far written for children about the Second World War but also a metaphor for now."
- Aidan Chambers " Times Literary Supplement"."


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Machine Embroidery is hugely exciting in terms of its potential as a creative medium & is part of a flourishing creative industry both in design & production. MMU hosts a specialist embroidery department which has been instrumental in artistic & educational innovations in this area since the 1960s. The lecturers graduates & students have remarkable expertise in machine embroidery & MMU is home to a rich & unique archive of machines samples & artwork both historical & contemporary. This book will celebrate this archive as well as providing the only definitive record (and exploring the potential) of the huge number of machines currently in use from the traditional Irish Embroidery machine to the new generation of computerised sewing machines. The book will demonstrate how key machines can be applied to the artistic industrial & domestic practice & shows machine embroiderers how to combine techniques & develop their ideas using machine embroidery. Each contributor gives their own individual perspective on machine stitch. ...

' You talk as if a god had made the Machine cried the other. I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it do not forget that.' E.M. Forster is best known for his exquisite novels but these two affecting short stories brilliantly combine the fantastical with the allegorical. In The Machine Stops" humanity has isolated itself beneath the ground enmeshed in automated comforts & in " The Celestial Omnibus" a young boy takes a trip his parents believe impossible. This book contains " The Machine Stops" & "A Celestial Omnibus"." ...

The diversity of horticulture & its machinery is catered for in this book by sections on two & four-wheeled tractors cultivation sowing crop protection & harvesting equipment. Further chapters cover grass cutting turf care grounds maintenance irrigation & glasshouse equipment. ...

Every Mac user knows how to work with windows & icons but there is a wonderful application behind the scenes
- the Terminal
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Have you ever wondered where comedians come from? Why is it that one person is a funny bloke down the pub while another actually makes a living by standing up in front of an audience telling jokes? & where does all that material come from? Well young Lee Mc Killop used to wonder that too. Growing up in his parents' pub small & wiry in a world of bigger & chunkier specimens Lee quickly learned that cracking jokes was a way to get attention. After a somewhat random series of jobs which included being Red Rum's stableboy & a bingo hall barman it was as a Great Yarmouth holiday camp entertainer that he had his first crack at telling jokes on stage. It got him some laughs the sack & a punch in the face.* Now as Lee Mack he's one of our best loved & most successful comedians both as a live st&-up & on television. In Mack the Life Lee tells the story of how he got there & gives extraordinary insight into what really makes comics tick. Hilarious & brilliant it's the kind of book which reminds you why you learned to read in the first place. * Nearly. ...

Have you ever wondered where comedians come from? Why is it that one person is a funny bloke down the pub while another actually makes a living by standing up in front of an audience telling jokes? & where does all that material come from? Well young Lee Mc Killop used to wonder that too. Growing up in his parents' pub small & wiry in a world of bigger & chunkier specimens Lee quickly learned that cracking jokes was a way to get attention. After a somewhat random series of jobs which included being Red Rum's stableboy & a bingo hall barman it was as a Great Yarmouth holiday camp entertainer that he had his first crack at telling jokes on stage. It got him some laughs the sack & a punch in the face. Now as Lee Mack he's one of our best loved & most successful comedians both as a live st&-up & on television. In Mack the Life Lee tells the story of how he got there & gives extraordinary insight into what really makes comics tick. Hilarious & brilliant it's the kind of book which reminds you why you learned to read in the first place. Nearly. ...

This title is Highly Commended in the 2006 British Medical Association Awards! an incredibly thorough book which is very well illustrated
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