My first talk of the new year was my second visit to the South East Essex branch of the Essex Handicraft Association. It is always slightly unnerving talking about a specialist topic to a specialist group but I needn’t have worried. A really friendly group, whose organiser was kind enough to say that they enjoyed my second talk as much, if not more, than my first. I’m still blown away by the standard of their work and the patience required to produce such diverse, yet detailed and intricate pieces. I was asked to judge their competition, something that usually fills me with dread, and this was no exception. Such high standards on every piece that I saw so I tried to pick diverse pieces; then felt guilty because the standard of those I didn’t choose was equally good.