Surprises all round!

This afternoon I came home tired after a hard day at work and there was a surprise package waiting for me.   Packages with Royal Mail on the top right hand corner are always welcome in my house and look what this wonderful surprise contained.

Already I am designing (in my mind) an etui using some of the linen and the wonderful lining fabric.   The colours of wine red, blue and a hint of beige work wonderfully together.  
Can you see the small royal blue ort bag -  that will help me be a tidy Kiwi!
This next photo is of a surprise I am making for my friend Kazumi.  

You didn't think I was going to show you the whole piece and spoil the surprise did you?   No way.   Her husband reads my blog and he might drop a hint to her  ;-)  
I am stitching with DMC perle on a 28 count variegated linen which came to me in a gift package from the USA.   The star in the centre is a Tallesyning Star -  as opposed to a Hardanger Star.   After stitching both I am now convinced that Hardanger is easier but that could possible be because I am copying these Tallesyning stitches from photographs and am finding that a whole lot more difficult that a chart.
Tonight I think I need some colour in my life.   For some weeks now I have stitched tone on tone and I am feeling more than a little colour deprived  so plan to look out a multi-colour project to start.   The HD3QBEM and I are going for a few days holiday in a couple of weeks and I will need multiple projects for that trip.   That, good friends, is my rationalization for starting yet another project when I haven't completed those already on the go.

My "experiment in frugality" is almost complete.
The Confetti of Hardanger only needs to be cut out.   
The hardanger tassel only needs to be cut out and constructed.  
The self-designed tallesyning hussif needs to have two ends worked before I can construct the cylinder.   Oh yes and then there are a couple of small needlework tools to go inside the cylindrical hussif.   Yep.   Quite a lot more work on this one :-(

The "angel hardanger" bookmark has six more angels to be stitched before I can cut it out.

Oh dear.   I'm not really as near completion as I had thought.   But I definitely need some colour.   Surely if I stitch only from stash I could consider a new project to be frugal??