It's a Start!

Remember that PRAIRIE SCHOOLER alphabet project I showed you a while back?

Well, I'm happy to report that I have two more letters finished: H and I.


My mini-goal for this past weekend was to get the I IS FOR INDIAN CORN finished in time for Thanksgiving next week. And I'm pleased to report that I met my goal:


As you can see from the up-close photo, I "cheated" a bit by stitching the corn leaves in long straight stitches. I wanted to get them done quickly and thought they'd look okay for the corn stalks. Hey, it works for me!

I was so happy to have the Indian finished, because that means I can start on the next three letters: D, E and F, on the left side of the same row.

Is there anything more fun than starting a new project? Which is why it occured to me while I was finishing the Indian, that this alphabet project is the perfect project for someone like me who is always struggling with a severe case of "STARTITIS" ... (and for those stitchers who have the same disease, you can certainly relate, can't you?!?)

Within this large alphabet layout, I can approach the start of each letter/block as a separate project ... how fun is that?

Soooo, I've gotta run now -- I'm off to start F IS FOR FRIEND, and can't wait to begin an exciting new block for my growing collection of alphabet letters.....

Still Stitching....

Here's another "FUN" project I've been working on as the mood hits (and my eyes aren't too tired). It's The Prairie Schooler's set of alphabet letters.


The leaflets show these designs stitched individually on 18 ct. fabric, but I'm stitching them en masse, and on 24 ct. Congress Cloth. As the photo above shows, this project requires a really long set of scroll bars. In order to figure out the size of the overall piece, I calculated the size of each design on 24 ct. canvas, then cut pieces of paper to fit. Then I rearranged the paper pieces until I had a suitable arrangement for all of the alphabet letters.

I decided to have A, B, and C centered on the top row, and then there will be four more rows of six blocks - to make 27 blocks in all (the patterns have all 26 alphabet letters plus one extra block.) I forget the overall dimensions of my layout, but it's gonna be BIG. But I figure it will be a truly fantastic piece to see when it's done. And I really am enjoying working on each letter block at a time. Each letter has so many witty details, it's fun to look at while stitching.

Here are my B and C blocks up-close:


The stitch I'm mainly using is the plain ol' Tent Stitch - or Basketweave Stitch when I have the room. But as I stitch, if I can substitute other easy stitches, I do. Check out the little red house on the B block; and the satin stitched leaves on the C block; and also the itty bitty french knot trees in the C block. Nothing too stressful or difficult, but just a change here and there to add interest and dimension to the piece (not to mention speeding up the stitching time).

I was happy to get the G for Garden block done while the work on my yard was underway - it's one of my favorite blocks in the series:


Now.....on to the rest of the alphabet!