Jill Gordon's Needlepoint

I checked out  Jill Gordon's Needlepoint from the library and it rode around in the back of my minivan for weeks before I brought it into the house. 

As soon as I saw all of this gorgeous eye candy, I was on Amazon ordering a copy to add to my sewing room bookshelf because even though I don't do needlepoint I can drool...and it's charted in a way that makes me sure I can stitch these as counted cross stitch if I can figure out the right floss colors.

I can't get over the pictures of the finished projects -- and if that's not enough, there are the watercolors that inspired the projects, and closeups so detailed you can make out the threads of the canvas behind the stitches.

Do you see the cushions in front of the window? Those are part of the needlepoint! 

The book also has fish and other pretty images, but it's the gardens that made me swoon.