Kits A kit contains a chart and all the materials you need to make it. Some I bought myself, some were given to me as a present. I encountered this tail of a whale surfing the internet. I instantly fell in love. A long quest brought me to Changing Threads in Alaska. The prise of the kit (fabric, more than enough skeins of DMC and the grill) was $26.00. Shippingcosts were a staggering $22.60 !!! Luckely the Euro stands good in regard to the Dollar. (But in retrospect I had better ordered the grill only.) It was showed with a passepartout of three layers with interesting corners. I suspected it would cost a fortune to let the frame-maker copy that. That is why I have embroidered this effect. The upper half is filled with stitches with one strand. The lower half is stitched with two strands. That and the choice of colours make the huge depth. I saw this design in an issue of "Cross stitch quick". After a long quest I found it and ordered it at an Ebay-shop. In December 2007 I could sent a picture of my three wise men as a Christmascard. A pity that a lot of recievers of this card didn't recognized I stitched it. I had my fun though. You can't have it all in life. Clearing up the attic I rediscouvered this woolen embroidery. (right picture) It is after the watercolor picture of a young hare by artist Albrecht Dürer. (left picture) David gave me a kit with these three little X-mas bags a very long time ago. Every year when we take our X-mas things from the attic they pop up. At last I have scanned them to show them here. These little kits I bought myself on our homeymoon in Scotland. The Scotch thistle, Scottie the dog and bagpipes, all little kits of Textile Heritage TM. The different colors of the backstitches are all black on the charts. That is why you absolutely need the color pictures to do it right. This Martinair-airplane was purchased by my parents when they were on their way to a remote holiday destination. (Thea Gouverneur) There are 5 herbs on this clock: summer savory, dill, watercress, St John's wort, thyme. With two AA-batteries it will even give you the right time. One of my brothers and his wife gave it to me. (Karweipost nr 4020) In the past century Dutch children learned to read with Hoogeveens system. It contained a board with several pictures, named by word or name mostly containing one syllable, and a little tin with a lot of separate letters. You had to put the letters in the right place on the board. It started with aap, noot, mies, ... (ape, nut, kitten named Meese). There were also readingbooks telling stories about the figures on the board. In the seventies cross-stitch kits of the separate pictures were available. The nut on the left is one of them. Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) gave it to me. (Nouvelle T1200-2) You can still purchase a kit of the complete board. You see an image on the right.(Le Suh/Nouvelle 012008) I don't think the separate items are still available. Love is ... for everybody and everybody ... I totally agree with that. (Lanarte 33515) This sweet sleeping kitten (Permin designnr 12-2454) was given to me by Anja. She reactivated my passion for cross-stitch.