At the moment, I am having a bit of a ‘French phase’ in the embroidery projects that I choose to stitch. This book is the latest addition to my library of books, and it’s a beautiful one.
It is in French, by Sophie Bester-Baque (who wrote the text) and Veronique Enginger (who created the cross stitch designs). It has the typically classy, soft and gentle look that all French cross stitch seems to have – I just love the look!
The book is unusual, in that it isn’t just a ‘how to’ – it takes the form of a kind of journal, as if written by a little French girl, so it’s like reading a simple story. The cross stitch designs throughout the book illustrate that story. So, when the little girl goes to visit her grandmother and reads in the garden, there is a design of the little girl reading a book….you see what I mean? The designs are a collection of images, some small and some more detailed, but all on this theme of the girl and her journal entries.
The watercolours that Veronique created first, before turning them into cross stitch designs, are strewn throughout the book, along with pretty styleshots of the finished projects.
The cross stitch colour block charts themselves are all grouped together towards the end of the book. The colour keys list DMC stranded threads.
These are my favourites from the book – thread winders with little vignettes of a girl stitching, worked in several colourways.
There are also a couple of ‘floral accent’ designs in the book, as Veronique is really good at creating designs of flowers, particularly roses (she has written several other books in her own right, featuring natural elements).
I bought this book via the French Amazon website, as the shipping was cheaper that way than by buying it via the UK one, for some reason. The book cost me £17 (the cover price is listed as 18 euro). The book measures 10 inches square, and has 80 pages. With around 30 different designs in, this is a really good value book to add to your cross stitch library, with designs both small and large to use on all kinds of projects. The fact that the text is in French isn’t really a problem if you don’t speak the language, as the book can be enjoyed just for the illustrations alone….and cross stitch charts can be used by anyone, anywhere, fortunately!
Book: Mon Journal au point de croix by Sophie Bester-Baque and Veronique Enginger
ISBN: 978 2 299 00165 4
18 euro
Published 2012 by Le Temps Apprivoise
It is available from the UK Amazon, or from the US Amazon.
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Janet Granger's Blog 
I have recently bought a design by Veronique Enginger from Les Brodeuses Parisiennes. It shows yellow roses. They look so much like the white rose in this book above that I went to check my chart, and indeed it is by the same person.
I loved your needlecase as well, and the whole three items including the pouch are such a clever idea. I am getting along with my pouch and am very pleased with it now that I sorted out the colours and threads.
I am curious about how you attached the buttons without them being visible from the back of the pouch.
I attached the buttons with some of the thread left over from doing the cross stitch, so it toned very well with the coral colour of the fabric. Then I made sure that when I started to attach the thread, I did very small backstitches only in the position where the button would cover it when it was attached, hiding the threads. It does show a tiny bit on the reverse, but you have to know what you’re looking for!
What a beautiful book and I love the charts. This little thread winders you have made are beautiful too. I wish my finishing skills were better. I love the actual stitching but when it comes to the finishing I do not have the patience.
Thank you for sharing your new book
Thanks for your kind words, however the book isn’t *by* me, I was just reviewing it because it’s lovely 🙂
Hello, can you please tell me if there is a pattern book containing Veronique Enginger’s botanical plates? Thank you.
Sorry, I don’t know. Maybe if you look on Amazon (especially the French Amazon site, as she’s French), you might be able to track the book down.
Thank you. I will try that.
I adore as you the french designs, they look simple but yet beautifully delicate. I will have a look for the book .I was very fortunate to be gifted a beautiful book this Christmas by the same author Veronique Enginger , Montagne au fil des saison . I am very much looking forward to stitching these designs.
Veronique is quite prolific – many of her books are available on Amazon, but not the Beatrix Potter one, unfortunately. But I do love her style!