Celebrating the Successes

Today's Stitching Blogger Question asks us to consider this question: Have you ever stitched something as a gift and later realized that receiver doesn’t respect your stitched gift a bit (for example it’s never on show, or you have other reason to suspect that it may even be nonexistent or at least placed in some dark storage room corner)? If so, what have you done? If you’ve been lucky enough to avoid such people what would you do if it’d happen to you?

But I think I've answered that before.

So I'm going to turn the question around a bit and ask what's the best reaction you've ever gotten from a stitched gift you made?

And now I am going to have to go off and think of an answer. I will answer...it's my question!
Edited:
I think that many of my gifts have been deeply appreciated. But only two bear tales worth repeating, at this time (ever the optimist!). The first comes from my father's sister. Every year, we'd do secret santas for that large side of the family (and cheap too, they'd rather buy just one present!). Every year, I would make a cross-stitch picture to give. Since it was the only gift for this side of the family, it could be a bit larger. I did some really nice ones. Every year, my father's youngest sister would announce, "I want Nikki to get me!" Every year, I didn't get her. Then I finally did. She was so thrilled with the Sweetheart Tree sampler I did for her, she cried. (It wasn't that great.)

Another year, on the same side of the family, I made a stitched piece, a kit from the Stitchery, for my cousin Anik who had just returned from study abroad in Africa. The design was a tall African woman carrying fabric on her head, her little son trailed behind her. The whole background was stitched in half stitches. It was bright and beautiful. (Sorry, I didn't take a picture...) Anik adored it. She used to bring it to her classroom, she taught kindergarten, to show her students and talk about life in different countries.

I know other people appreciate what I've stitched for them because they all display it. Except the afghan I made my mother, but she asked if it would be okay to store it until company came, so the dogs wouldn't destroy it. Asked. In fact, she's taken all the pieces I've ever made for her and hung them in the stairway. It's like my own little gallery!