Spring, as in Where did this come from?

My Saturday cleaning yielded a surprise in the form of an unfinished (make that barely started) counted cross-stitch project. I've never been that fond of counted cross-stitch and have done very few pieces. Somewhere along the way, mid-80s from the date of the pattern book I was using, I gave myself permission to quit it.

So, there it was, at the back of the cabinet. Book, canvas, embroidery thread. LOTS of embroidery thread.

Several months ago, I'd dealt with the 100+ colors I'd found by sorting them into two small tackle boxes. As I went through this new find, I figured I'd just open the boxes and add in the new pieces.

Poor, naive me. Very few colors matched. Very few. If I was going to continue with every color/shade/slightest tint into its own section, I was going to need two new tackle boxes.

That's right: I had about 90 more colors.

(I have since made my neighbor swear to not let me buy more thread, no matter the color, nor will she buy any until she comes over and sifts through my stash.)

I go to Walmart to get two new boxes. They had clearanced that particular line before Christmas. Rather than drive all over the area looking for an exact match, I found a larger unit with 4 large divided boxes which would do.

Two hundred and nine, approx., colors sorted by family: red, pink, purple, yellow, gold, orange, brown, blue, green, blue-green, gray, ecru and its strange cousins. White and black are in the small tackle box openings.

Unreal.