A Wonderful Mail Day

I was in bliss mode yesterday around noon, having finally managed to grab some rare stitching time on a blood-red stone after a very hectic week of appointments. The mailman arrived with a stack of mail, including two very special packages and a beautiful thank you card/photograph. Whatever nirvanic state exists beyond bliss is where I floated after opening the goodies.

A hand-addressed green envelope immediately caught my attention. There was no return address, and I couldn't read the postal stamp, deepening the mystery. Inside was a photograph of a winter tree from Peggy, who now owns the Snowglobe Stone, with the sweetest thank you note filled with snow confetti. I feel such a thread of connection between us, with my stitches held dearly in her hands. Thank you, Peggy.

The two packages were the fruits of a bit of post-Christmas Etsy shopping I did for myself, which felt like such a splurge. But I'm so glad that I did.

Lisa at Lil Fish Studios has the eyes of a naturalist and the sensitive fingers of a seamstress. She creates felted items that explode the distinctions between nature-made and hand-made. (Check out her latest mushroom terrarium as one example.) In the brooch that I now wear, a fulled, off-white wool sweater becomes a patch of snow or ice. Within it a wee felted acorn floats. Fine stitches form a series of eddying ripples around it. Wooden beads suggest nature's remains--stumps of felled trees, animal tracks or even scat (!). Thank you for warming my winter, Lisa, with this brooch!

Like Lisa, Sonia of Cozy Memories Shop and Cozy Homemaking blog, is a master stitcher. I treated myself to some of her delicately crafted items, and what I received was an assembled masterpiece of made and found items. I cannot begin to express how wonderful this package was. When I opened it, the delicate scent of lavender wafted out. (I'm glad that nobody was around to see me with my nose buried in the box, as eager as a cat after catnip!) Inside the box were the most delightfully wrapped packages, something for each member of my family; the wrapping paper was upcycled map pages and crinkly printed bags, all wrapped in twine with Sonia's carefully printed tags.

I set out all of the packages on a table, and the collage of items was a piece of art in itself, a definite visual feast that I quietly enjoyed. When the kids came home later that afternoon, we had a little present-opening party. They were so delighted with this special event, not connected to any holiday and such a treat because of its unexpectedness. All of the goodies were exclaimed over, and the sweets immediately devoured.

What I admire so much about Sonia's work is the care and precision of her stitching. The stitches are so tiny and fine and approach the exactness of machine-stitching. But rather than feeling mechanical, they express tenderness and an unapologetic sentimentality. There is a series of seven red cross stitches that tack down a cream-colored piece of French lace on a cuff that Sonia stitched that encapsulates the richness of her approach.

It was a photo from Sonia's Flickr photostream, of her delicate hand stitching, that inspired me to pick up needle and thread again to hand-embroider on wool. Thank you, Sonia, for the inspiration, and for your friendship!

I think it was an altogether fitting morning, as I was stitching "WONDER" and thinking about its many manifestations in my life, that the postman delivered such a large dose of it to me!