Oops!

Not sure how I managed to do it but I completed forgot about International Hermit and Stitch Weekend.  I did do some stitching over the weekend whilst I was having my sporting fix, it was the final weekend of the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament and also the first weekend of the F1 motor racing season.

As I'm getting closer to finishing Henry VIII, I've been debating which project should be next on the list to fit into that slot in my stitching rotation.  Previously I had decided on Mirabilia's Winter Queen:

However after seeing some lovely fabric from Crafty Kitten, I decided to splash out on the fabric and go for Joan Elliott's Celtic Fanciful Fairy from an old CrossStitcher magazine (Issue 227):

It's been on my to-do list for sometime and I've been determined to start a Joan Elliott design this year as I'm a HUGE fan of her work and I've yet to stitch one.  The fabric I've seen is a hand-dyed colour called Dawn Blush and I ordered the 28ct Jazlyn version as it has a lovely sheen to it:

I think it'll work really well as the colours really complement the colours on the chart.  I spent some of the weekend gridding the fabric, I know it's not really needed on a chart this small but I find it much easier to work on evenweave when it's gridded, it also means that it's easier to pick up mistakes....and I'm bound to make a few!

Even though this is supposed to be my reward for finishing Henry VIII, I probably would have started it already but I'm waiting on some of the threads I'm missing!