Welcome to a fellow Western Canadian! How far west are you? I'm on Vancouver
Island

The number of stitches per inch: 16 and 18 respectively. So the larger the
number of stitches per inch, the smaller the finished design.
If you are interested in stitching a sampler, you may find some of them
unsuitable for aida fabric and be better off trying something else such as
linen, lugana, jubilee, jobelan etc.

A really good place to get some info is Kathy Dyer's page:
http://users.rcn.com/kdyer.dnai/

Hi emerald:

I'm in Calgary. I could tell you all about quilting, but where's the
best place here for cross stitch supplies?

Cynthia