Beth Russell's Traditional Needlepoint

It is a very nice book if one is looking to do needlepoint with designs of flowers. It is very well explained and has very nice pictures.

I'll start by saying that I LOVE Beth Russell's interpretations of Arts and Crafts designs in this book as well as her other two. She's chosen wonderful motifs and arranged them into lovely, unique needlepoint projects. I speak from experience, as I'm now working on my third project from her books, the orange border design shown on the cover of her latest volume, worked on large canvas to make a rug. I highly recommend all three books for lovers of needlepoint, other charted needlework, arts and crafts design, or William Morris.This book is beautifully laid out and lovely to page through and read, but its loveliness is one of its downfalls: The charts are printed in full color, without utilizing symbols to indicate yarn colors. Although this choice makes the charts pleasant to look at, the subtle differences between yarn colors are sometimes very hard to see in the charts, making working from them difficult. I spent too much time squinting at the latest chart, making little pencil dots on it to differentiate between LIGHT grey green and MEDIUM-LIGHT grey green!I'll be proud of the resulting product, and will forgive Russell's editorial choice. Do consider buying this book, but be prepared for some challenges in using it.

This is not a new book. Don't be fooled. It was published in 1992, and has been released with a new cover photo. Good as it is, don't buy it twice!

The patterns in this book are wonderful. They are not like the typical mass-produced commercial crap that's at every Mervyns in every town across America. The patterns range in size from pillows to small rugs. The colors are great. I recommend using the Appleton yarns.

This is a super book with patterns that cover a broad spectrum - some for beginners and some rather complex patterns. Lots of pillow patterns, but in addition to several rug patterns she tells you how to adapt the pillow patterns into rugs/tapestries. Most of the patterns are adapted from the work of William Morris, or other Arts & Crafts artisans.