Oh dear! I’ve been having a bit (a lot) of recent retail therapy on eb@y and it was all so totally unnecessary lol. I already have more than enough to keep me crafting, in all areas (xstitch, knitting, crochet, patchwork, sewing etc) for quite a few years to come and I certainly didn’t need to add more. But I did !
In my defence, I got some absolute bargains, as I think you’ll agree, once I’ve shown you photos. In fact, I thought listings were too good to be true when I first saw them on eb@y but decided to take the gamble anyway. By pure chance, while browsing, as you do, I came across a private French seller who was listing dozens and dozens of xstitch kits, with a “buy now” option of only 2€. As I say, I couldn’t believe it at first. Could almost hear my Mum’s wise voice, in the back of my head saying “if it’s too good to be true . . . “. But still, I thought I’d give it a go and I clicked & bought a couple of kits. They arrived in due course, with some extra gifts in the parcel and everything was perfect. I therefore couldn’t resist keeping an eye on seller’s newly listed items and buying some more.
Here’s an example.
Three Faye Whittaker kits, all sealed and “as new” despite little price stickers giving ancient price in French Francs (bearing in mind we moved to the Euro in 2001).
The matching pair of “Night” and “Day”.
Three more, because for 2€ apiece, they were just too tempting not to buy . . . and what a surprise when they did arrive! Inside the white tiger kit, I found the original receipt, dating back to 2009. Original price paid: 79€.
By this time (several parcels later) I’d already worked out that the seller had obviously been lumbered with the task of moving a family member’s stash. She seemed intent on selling things as fast as possible. It was literally an “everything must go” campaign that lasted several weeks and seeing how little she was charging for postage, she was almost giving everything away. I saw Mirabilia and Lavender & Lace charts being sold for centimes. Dozens and dozens of vintage kits being snapped up. Packets of linen, aida, evenweave, mountains of skeins of thread. I resisted. I could only imagine other stitchers, like myself, all poised in front of their computers, waiting to see what was going to come up next lol.
Anyway . . . above are some of the kits I snapped up myself. I also snapped up something for our daughter, Lindashee. So excited when I saw the following: complete kits, for only 2€ each.
Spring, Fall and Summer: three designs by Teresa Wentzler (designed back in 1991 and 1993 – discontinued now). Lindashee had always dreamed of stitching a Teresa Wentzler design one day so when I saw these three, I swooped and bought. Thanks to Avis, I then became aware of the Winter horse kit in auction in the UK . . . so I was patient and swooped to win that (for a lot more than I paid for the other three, but I think it was worth it).
So . . . lots of gorgeous kits have come to join my stash, as well as quite a few unexpected items that the seller added to each parcel as a gift. Following photos of probably the best gift which left me speechless.
I’m not 100% sure what it is exactly, but it appears to be a rope of tapestry yarn. Colours are gorgeous, and it feels like pure wool. All I know is, the “rope” weighs 1.5kg and is ever so long!!!!
Apologies for the messy kitchen, but here I am holding the big yarn rope looking like some giant snake. I’ve never seen yarn sold in this way before, and am rather unsure of what to do with it at the moment. Saying that, I’m sure I could knit or crochet with tapestry wool, so I’ll be keeping my eyes open for inspiration.
Another thing I’m sure about is: I really must stop buying in more stash, because all I’ve done here is displaced a problem! One day, my family is going to be lumbered with sorting through my stash, so instead of buying in more, I should be working on reducing the amount of crafty gorgeousness I already have!
