Sheet of cross stitch tattoo-style flash designs

Your chart has been pinned above the potting bench since Tuesday, where the afternoon light from the garden door lands on it and turns the grey cloth the colour of wet slate. I keep finding squares I have not yet filled. The swallows under the eaves have been back a week and they dive past the window while I count threads, so the blue ones come out a little crooked, as if they were flying too.

I started with the cherries because they were the easiest to count, two little clusters of red with a green stalk, and then I moved on to the roses along the back wall, which are coming on too. Bert says I am making a mess of the bench with floss, but the cotton is only a bit of pink and some yellow that matches the marigolds. Every evening I work until the midges come up off the lawn and the grid goes blurry, and then I cover it with the tea towel the way Mum used to cover the bread.

The last piece I have left is the heart with Love You on its banner, down in the bottom corner beside the flower. I have stitched the heart and both bows but the lettering is still bare cloth. I cannot decide whether to finish it or leave it for you, since you are the one who always did the words. Tomorrow I will carry the chart out into the sun and see which way the light falls.

Your loving sister, Evelyn