Book excerpt: From flowers to cottages, birds and bees to holiday and sampler-style motifs,100+ Cross Stitch Patterns to Mix and Match is bursting with exciting cross stitch designs to make! The motifs and alphabets are designed to coordinate, and with more than 100 motif and border patterns, the fun is in choosing how to put them together into your own unique designs. It’s easy to combine them (Jane teaches you how), and you’ll be ready to make a special stitched piece for any occasion. The 21 unique cross stitch alphabets bring just the right personal touch to your sentiments. Beautiful borders add professional polish. Each motif is presented in chart form with a color key for ease of reference and a finished, worked example to show how the pattern should look when complete. If you are new to cross stitch or to designing, an introduction to the craft covers all of the tools and equipment needed and demonstrates basic cross stitch techniques from start to finish, in addition to giving instructions on how to graph and use your designs. Based on a simple grid and one basic stitch, cross stitch is easy to learn and master, so get started mixing and matching these beautiful designs into your one-of-a-kind creations!