My secret decoder ring came!

Has every child ordered something off a cereal box  and then expected it to come very quickly? A friend said his 4 year old daughter was asking where her toy was about 15 minutes after she put the order form in the mailbox. I've outgrown the desire to order a flying beanie hat or secret decoder ring, but I worked myself up into an absolute dither of anticipation this month after I ordered some prepared, ready-to-embroider temari balls on Etsy. (Temari are an ancient Japanese craft in which thread wrapped balls are embroidered.) I had lots of embroidery thread.

I had some temari balls to inspire me. I had books from the library with directions and lots of pretty pictures.

   I waited more and more impatiently. In due time, the seller agreed that even taking into account massive blizzards and holiday mail snafus, my order had been lost in transit. She started preparing another order and I waited some more. Every time I saw the mailman come I got in touch with my inner 5 year-old. Are they here yet? Are they here? Yesterday they came and they are beautiful.

They are wonderful colors and squishy and very round. They are carefully divided so that I don't have to learn how to do any measuring until I feel a little more confident. They have little rattles inside so they make a delightful noise when you shake them. Once I learn how to embroider them I think they will be even more beautiful. I have begun.

Details: I purchased my balls from TemariKai's Etsy shop. To see lots of beautiful finished temari balls on Etsy, just do a search.