Little squares.

I have little squares in front of my eyes. But why? Because I'm discovering the joy of GRIDDING! In preparation for my first HAED start - Dicksee's End of the Quest - I thought it would probably be better to grid my fabric, as all that over 1 stitching is likely to make my eyes go a bit screwy \(@)-(@)/ and I thought it might make the whole process a little quicker. I feel like I've been gridding for hours & hours & hours... and in that time (I started yesterday evening & carried on this afternoon) what have I accomplished? About a quarter of the horizontal rows, thats all! Eeeeeeeeeeek!!!!! I thought it would only take a few hours to do the whole thing, but now its looking like it may take a few days. I shall persevere though.... I'm too determined & stubborn to give up now!

As well as receiving my 2 first HAED charts this week, I have had a bit of a bumper week as far as stash goes. Last Friday I got a lovely package from ABC Stitch in the US containing several charts I'd ordered that I'd wanted for a while & hadn't got around to ordering. Then also this week I received a piece of SMF wintery blue silver metallic fabric I'd ordered from Mindy on Ebay and today I got the chart for Passione Ricamo's newest design - Once Upon A Time AND I got my fabric that I ordered in the Silkweaver sale - a mere 7 pieces! Whoops.... ;o) I'm still waiting on a couple of things to come through, but its just so exciting when you're waiting for stash & it all turns up within days of each other!

I started Chatelaine's Watergarden 3 days ago. Poor thing - I don't think its going to get much of a look in now my HAEDs are here!! I've started it on Silkweaver's Blue Diamond opalescent fabric which is gorgeous. I've stitched some of the gold coloured border around the central panel which is in silks & I'm planning on leaving the silks to last to minimise on possible having to wash the project disasters & making the silkies run. The part that I've done looks great on the fabric, but its not really enough to post. I think at last I'm going to have to set up a rotation to fit everything in & I'm heading towards doing a weekly rotation unless something is really calling to me of course!! I'm planning on starting HAED's Snow Princess & the Polar Bear as soon as it arrives too - how on earth will I cope with 2 HAEDs at once?!!! There's no hope really is there!

I had a dental appointment today. Just a check-up, but one of my teeth has been pretty sensitive & sure enough a cavity has appeared :o((( I have to go for a filling in 3 wks time & I may also have to have a 2nd. You all remember how I love to go to the dentist, don't you?!!

The weather has been lovely in the UK today - sun and blue skies & not too hot (I'm really not one for the heat). It even inspired me to get out into my front garden & do a bit of tidying, pruning, digging up my overgrown Choisya (Mexican Orange Blossom). My front garden isn't that big. It had grown much too large & was strangling everything else in the border, so it had to go. Yay! I've got room for some pretty summer bedding plants now and summer is just around the corner. ;o)