eBay Live and Learn

I have been wanting the Mirabilia chart "Mermaids of the Deep Blue" despite the fact that it's way beyond my capabilities to stitch, and usually I haven't particularly taken to stitched designs of people. There is something about this pattern that just grabbed me. I figured it could go into my stash and someday maybe I would be able to drum up the courage to try it. So imagine my pleasant surprise when I found a kit on eBay that included the chart and the floss for it, for a very reasonable price with Buy It Now. I was a little bit surprised about the floss and even wrote to the seller to make sure it was there, which she said it was. The picture looked right, and I checked and all the feedback was positive. So I bought it. No doubt you are already shaking your heads at what is coming next. What I received was a Chinese knockoff of the pattern, with cheap floss. I went back and looked at the listing and saw that the name Mirabilia was nowhere to be found. I'd been had, and have no one to blame but myself. I looked again at the feedback and although it was 100% postive I found two neutral ratings that warned about Chinese fakes - I hadn't seen that before. Though I am sorry I am out the money I am even sorrier that I unknowingly contributeed to fakes being sold. I'm not quite sure what to do now. The seller didn't falsely advertise because she didn't say Mirabilia, but I certainly won't use what she sent, nor will I pass it on to anyone else. I guess I will just chalk this up to a dumb mistake, and be much more careful next time.

In happier news, Kathy blessed me with a Best Blogging Buddies award - Kathy I am so honored and grateful. You have been such a great supporter and this means so much to me. I will pass on the award to others very soon.

I just arrived back home after spending a weekend with my sister at a "women's wellness weekend" that was held at a YMCA camp in New Jersey. We spent two days partaking of lots of activities ranging from quilting and scrapbooking (no cross stitch, alas) to archery and hip hop dancing, with lots of all-female cameraderie. It was great fun and very relaxing. I got a little bit of stitching done on the first tree for Gingerbread Cottage, though I realized after awhile that I had been stitching half crosses and then back again with overdyed floss rather than making my Xs as I went. Fortunately there is not a lot of color variation in this floss so I think I didn't do much harm. There's so much to remember with this stitching art!