And Even More Cross Stitch Kits...

Last week, I went out with my daughter for lunch and some thrift store shopping. I wandered over to the craft section to see if there was anything intriguing and old enough to take some pictures of. Maybe, if I was extra lucky, there might be an old needlework kit. It's rare that they have a kit at all and if they do, it's probably going to be a goose with a big country blue or dusty pink bow...

Maybe I've been wrong  there are always lots of kits and they're mixed in with the dated quilt and plastic canvas patterns like these were. I found one...and then another... and by the time I'd gone through the whole shelf I had a pile of twenty-one unopened counted cross stitch kits.

Seriously, what happened here? The tags were yellow, which made them 25% off...so  the kits must've been sitting on the shelf for at least a little while.

By the time my daughter had made it through all of the clothing racks, I was still trying to use restraint and figure out what to do about this. Whoever the mystery stitcher was, we share the same taste....even more than the stitcher whose estate sale I found back in July. In the end, I decided that for two dollars and twenty five cents a kit it wasn't worth fussing too much. I put back five kits that definitely weren't my style and the rest came home to live with me.

This one was a total gamble. It looked like a complete kit and I could see trees. Landscapes make my heart go pitty-pat and a corner with trees in it seemed promising. As soon as we got home I looked up the name on the chart. I really, really, need to stitch this.

Then there's this little cutie. Our mystery stitcher had carefully opened the top of the package and added a piece of blue linen, then taped it so neatly that if it wasn't for the second piece of fabric I'd have sworn it was unopened. Now the question is whether to use the original aida or the linen. I know the linen will look better, but the aida will be easier on my eyes.

This one isn't a kit. I might've been affected by the floss and fabric fumes and not realized that it (and the one next to it in the big picture) is just a pattern with the fabric included, but not the floss. I still love the image, and the fabric alone is worth more than I paid.

 If you're going to tell me that this is ridiculous, I already know. And I don't think that I care.