Beauty of a stash and family issues

One Silkweaver at home, one to come. In other words... Atlantic Storm has arrived! (I really loved the value on the envelope.... $4. Yeah, right. I'm not complaining though.)
And it's so droolable! Is there anything more beautiful than hand-dyed 40 count Belfast linen?! Ok, there may be, but this one is on the top of the list anyway.

And while I'm here blabbering about cross stitch related things I'd keep on going a bit...

It seems to me that there's some trend in things I stitch as gifts for immediate family... Different shades of white which drive me crazy.
First there was Hello Kitty Chef apron I made for bits_2_whole (btw, guess did I brought HK stuff for her from Thailand? (I do still think there's something so wrong with HK whiskey glass) *grin*), and now there's Panda for our brother. Both have several shades of white... Not that I hadn't enjoyed or weren't enjoying stitching them, but you got to admit that huge blobs of white aren't good for your motivation.
Fortunate thing with Panda is that I've quarterly goals with it, so I know that after I've stitched that huge area of different shades of white I can concentrate on stitching bamboo border, and huge area with different shades of grey (Oh joy..).

And while talking of my brother... I've to admit that I'm tad worried of what will happen to Panda when it gets to my brother's family. As some of you may remember I've had my issues with them, or at least with my SIL, when it comes to cross stitched item (not to say that is only issue between us)...
Actually I'm stitching Panda just because my mother asked me to. I had promised not to stitch anything to that household ever again... and I also make solemn promise considering Panda: if anything happens to it, if it's not properly treated, it's last stitched thing ever for them, no matter who asks me and no matter how 'good' the reason is.
I just hope that my brother is wise enough to understand why I did it and how much work it has took. I can only hope that he's able to respect his younger sister that much, and I really hope he proves me wrong with all my doubts. But only time'll tell. And to be honest... I'm not expecting much.