Ah, ’tis cruel, ’tis cruel. My dear sister-in-law, who allowed me to have an order of Alison Cole goldwork materials sent to her address in Australia to save on postage, brought the parcel back with her last week. My original plan was for her to leave it at her parents’, where I would then pick it up at our next visit in late May. My second plan was to pick it up from her at her daughter’s wedding, which would be a week or so earlier. Both these plans would definitely exercise my patience, and be a good character-building opportunity. And then she goes and sends the parcel to me – in the middle of a working week and just when I am in the throes of getting some designs ready for publication! It’s not that I don’t appreciate it; I do, greatly. But imagine receiving this and not being able to unwrap every little bit of tissue paper, lovingly decant the sparkly contents into acid-free envelopes and mark them and organise them and play with them.

Oh all right, just the one then!

By the way, this was in the parcel as well, bought from the Embroidery Den with a voucher I got for Christmas from my two step-sons: two shades of Colour Streams Exotic Lights and Ophir. Aren’t they silky and beautiful?