A Stitcher’s Trousseau

Immediately after my wedding last August, a very good stitching friend said that she would like to send me something to mark the occasion. Susan warned me that it may be a while before I received it but, according to wedding etiquette, one year is an acceptable time frame for sending a gift.

In March, I went to Bournemouth for my Japanese Embroidery course. I took a laptop with me and kept up with emails but for over a week I did not visit the blogs that I follow. When I did catch up with missed posts one, on Plays With Needles, was titled A Stitcher’s Trousseau. At a glance, my eyes took in the first line and photograph. I very strongly suspected that this was about my gift and read no more. Days past, then weeks, but no parcel arrived. I wondered if I had jumped to the wrong conclusion but if it was my parcel I was concerned about its whereabouts. Eventually, some correspondence with Susan confirmed that it was my parcel, it had been sent and it was taking longer to arrive than expected. More time passed and still there was no sign of the parcel. Two parcels that I have sent overseas have never arrived at their destination and I was beginning to fear that I would never receive my longed for gift.

Then in June I received an email from Susan
"Guess what landed in my door stoop today??? YOUR wedding present!
It says it was "Not called for" and was there from 4/22/10 ??? ..."

Well, I didn’t call for it because I hadn’t know that it was waiting somewhere for me but, joy of joys, it was not lost and had safely made its way back to Susan. Then in July Susan emailed again to say that she had resent the parcel and told me the tracking information. Every couple of days I logged into USPS to track its progress and 'virtually' watched my parcel travel across the pond until finally I received a Royal Mail card saying that I could collect my parcel from them. The waiting was not quite over as I could not get to the depot until that weekend.

I collected my parcel first thing on Saturday and could hardly wait to get home to open it.







Susan had put together a Stitcher's Trousseau (I knew that much from my accidental peek at the blog entry). Anything from Susan would have been a treasure, but I should have known that it would have been assembled with such creative thought and care. Everything, from the beautiful box and purple heart koma to the gorgeous fabrics and findings, was chosen to reflect a bridal theme or my interest in all things Japanese. It contains so many treasures. I haven't included pictures of them all here, Susan has done that far better than I could on her blog.

It is a very generous, thoughtful and fabulous gift and I very lucky to have it. Thank you, Susan, for the wonderful gift, the lovely things you said in the enclosed card and you friendship. I will treasure them all.

Happy Stitching