Well, someone has a sense of humour (or....Aaaargghh! What have i Done?)

After a few hours of contemplation this afternoon, and a little bit of persuasion from Sally, i finally opened up my big cross stitch project packaging. I have to admit to being more than a little nervous - this wouldn't be the first time i have taken on a project only to find that i have "bitten off more than i can chew".

Upon opening the package, i found the "huge" piece of aida, a ton of threads and the charts. I was a little dismayed to find that the threads were not pre-sorted. This is where the "someone has a sense of humour" comes in.......i am colour deficient on blues! Not exactly colour blind, but i find it VERY hard to tell the difference between certain blues and purples.

Now when quite a few of the 27 different coloured threads call themselves shades of blues and purples, i knew that i had quite a job on my hands. It has taken me a while, but i have done it, and hope that i have gotten them right. With some of them it was purely down to the list telling me how many of each i should have - i couldn't have done it without that extra bit of information!

The charts gave me palpitations when i first looked at them, but having looked again, they are not really that bad - the fact that there are more colours simply means that there are more symbols - it isn't as bad as it first seems. I have scanned and printed the charts out a bit larger as well, which will make it easier to mark them off as i do it, plus i won't be marking on the original charts just in case.

I have marked the aida out into quarters using blue thread to help me with the layout and counting. I know that this isn't strictly necessary, but i felt that it would make my life easier, especially as i have done this in "5s", so counting the holes will be nice and simple.

All i need to do now is actually make a start on it! I am trying to pluck up the courage now.......