This book is from Jenny Hart, who made the super-cool Stitch It Kit, also reviewed on this site. Designed for the embroidering newbie, it has easy-to-follow instructions on a variety of stitches and tons of patterns (with a convenient storage pocket to keep them all in). However, because I already own the Stitch It Kit, I found this book a disappointment. Most of the text is a rehash of what was in the instruction book that goes with the kit, and I found the patterns to be a bit lame. While there are some cool patterns (bacon & eggs, margaritas, aliens), the majority are quite boring: flowers, birds, dogs and cats, creepy baby heads. If you want to learn how to embroider, my advice is to buy the Stitch It Kit instead. Once you are done with those patterns, head to www.sublimestitching.com to buy some of Jenny Hart's very cool and affordable ($3 US!) reusable embroidery patterns. She has everything from roller derby girls, to tiki heads, to dancing vegetables. You can get this book @ Amazon or www.sublimestitching.com.