Delivery Trucks

 You would have thought it was Christmas.

Yesterday, shortly after I posted, a parade of delivery trucks descended upon us.

First was the Amazon Prime van, which brought me this:

I bought Hazel Everett's goldwork book a decade ago,  and have found it a good resource of information and designs. Sadly, she died before completing this volume, but her husband and a good friend and coworker completed it. Again, it's a great source of basic information on goldwork. It moves into silk shading, then morphs into combining the two techniques. So, you have some designs that are shown as goldwork, then as silk shading, then as a combination of the two. It's an interesting approach.

Shortly after this gem arrived, the big brown truck from UPS pulled in, and the kit for the Jane Bostocke sampler arrived from World in Stitches.

Jane has been in the back of my mind for decades. One of my dearest friends considered stitching Jane her Holy Grail. Sadly, she died before she accomplished it, and I always thought it would be a way to commemorate her. Then recently, Lauren Sauer offered an online class on working Jane, and I decided it was time. This may be one of my other evening projects in my stitching schedule (notice I didn't call it a rotation).

Finally, the USPS mail carrier strolled up and left this lovely in my mailbox:

This is one of the most finely carved, delicate mother-of-pearl thread winders I've ever seen. Jackie du Plessis has been offering some really beautiful pieces since the pandemic started, and I have been selectively adding a number of them to my stitching accessories. Actually, I think they will reside in a drawer in my double casket, when that project is stitched and finished. (I need to get through Harmony first.)

There was stitching last night. As part of my aspiration (notice I didn't say resolution) to work projects on a schedule (notice that I again avoided the term "rotation"), I put together a couple of stitched bits in my stitched-but-not-assembled pile.

These are two of the little kits that I used to pick up from Jackie's table at Christmas in Williamsburg's boutique. As I've mentioned before, they were my travel projects--small, easy to carry, no extra equipment other than scissors and magnifiers to pack. The problem was that I didn't always get them put together when I was home again.

I think the little birdcage pin cushion is going to become one of my casket toys.  The thistle basket pin keep may match a thistle etui that Jackie designed and which is hiding somewhere in my unstitched stash. Another reason to go stash diving.

I was showing it off to Dearly Beloved, who had the audacity to ask how many pin keeps I really need. For a man who owns, at last count, fifteen hammers, this may be a "Pot, meet kettle" moment.