Book Review: Feminist Icon Cross-Stitch: 30 Daring Designs to Celebrate Strong Women

As the days get shorter and the air gets crisper a lot of us start to move into homebody mode. Part of this for me usually means getting crafty. And that is why I was excited to get a copy of Feminist Icon Cross-Stitch: 30 Daring Designs to Celebrate Strong Women by Anna Fleiss & Lauren Mancuso.

The patterns are pretty easy, so if you have never done cross-stitch before, most of these are totally doable. And you can choose from bad ass ladies such as Frida, as seen on the cover, and Sojourner Truth, Billie Jean King, and Simone de Beauvoir. Each pattern comes with a quick bio of each icon too! So you're learning something while taking some self-care time to craft.

If you are new to cross stitch you might wonder, what do I do with them when I'm done? OMG! You can keep it simple and put them in a frame. Or you can get frames that are ornaments to hang on your Christmas or Yule tree. You can get hand towels with cross stitch fabric included so you can hang Cleopatra from your oven. The possibilities are endless. There are even patterns of some of our current feminist sayings like "Nevertheless She Persisted" and "The Future is Feminist".

Photo of inside cover & good sample of patterns

This is definitely a great gift idea too, because as the days get colder, the closer we get to gift giving season. And if you do office gift bags you must get this. Now to hit my fave craft store and get some new DMC floss.

Please purchase your own copy of Feminist Icon Cross-Stitch from Powells or Indiebound and support Viva la Feminista.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy as well as a swag tote bag from a publicist.

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I'm still here...

So hey...As anyone looking at this blog can tell I haven't made time for this space lately. The honest truth is that life is fairly good. But that good is exhausting. At this time last year a grant I helped write was funded and I've spent most of my energy working on getting that project off the ground. It is going so well, but I come home pretty well spent. And when I do have energy to do stuff I am organizing with Reclaim Chicago trying to make Chicago the best it can be. Then there's the not so little data point that my daughter is now in high school. She's the best teen you could ask for, but it's still an adjustment.

I am also going to start experimenting with Medium. I wrote a post a few weeks ago, so please go check it out! I'm working on another post for Monday.

But I do want to write more here because I'm behind on my book reviews again. My TBR&R pile is out of control. So watch this space for more! Don't forget to like my Facebook page because I share stories that interest me there. Maybe this site will be more of a launching site for all the other stuff I do. WHO KNOWS!?! All I know is that I let this blog's 10th anniversary pass without any fanfare due to a lack of time and energy. SMH.

Lastly I'm heading out for some travels this week. All work related, but all high fun potential. Keep an eye on my Instagram to see what I'm up to in the next few weeks.

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