Anway, there are lots of examples of unusual patterns in both books. Admittedly, some of the colorways in the 1974 book are ...bold? But if you use a little imagination, you can come up with your own beautiful interpretations.
Here are a few of mine.
All of these include one Waterlilies overdyed silk from Caron Collection,
and Splendor Silk from Rainbow Gallery. 
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Bargello experiments
I can't tell you why, but I've been doing some stitching experiments with bargello. I am fascinated by the various patterns and ways to combine colors to acheive different effects.
Some time ago I found this great book, copyright 1974, on needlepoint bargello patterns.
And this book is fairly recent. I got it from Nordic Needle last year I think. It includes a lot of information on how to modify or create your own patterns. It is available here.