World Book Day and in a world of her own

Today my post isn't really about stitching.   Why?   Well I am in the process of reverse stitching my Blanket Stitch Flower which should have formed the pretty centre of my hardanger.   It will....eventually.
But today is World Book Day and I requested this book from the library, telling the HD3QBEM that she would probably enjoy it as Simon had written an interesting review on it.  (My daily dose of Simon's blog inevitably ends in requests at the local library and the exponential growth of the pile of books beside my bed!)

In due course this large print edition arrived and the HD3QBEM is in a world of her own, shared of course by Mrs Harris and her associates.   After a hard day at work I arrive home to be greeted "Hello. I am enjoying that book and want to finish it tonight before I go to bed".   Well, I can take a hint so will do the dishes and quietly get on with my stitching.  
Now in the fading light of an extremely hot day I am going to trace my crewel design onto the linen and before I start stitching that, finish off the hardanger page for the NMMSAL.  
In May I will be going to a weekend stitchers class and the mailman brought the needs list today.   What a good excuse to go back to my LNS.    I also need some more beads to complete this

So near and yet not quite finished.  

I only need another 7 beads but will have to buy a whole phial.   So much for using scraps of linen, floss and beads from stash!   Only with the extra beads will I be able to complete what has turned out to be an epic strawberry adventure.