The Vastly Valued and Valiant Alphabet Venture

It's the first Saturday of the month so it's time for detention!

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

I think most of you know the lovely enigmatic Chiara who blogs at The Grey Tail?  We were chatting via email a while back and between us came up with the idea of an A-Z language challenge.  We batted some ideas around and are calling it the The Alphabet Club.  Chiara has the full details on that link but basically she will post a link-up post on the first Saturday of each month (Saturday being detention day in the film) reminding us of the month's letter and we will all link up with themed things, from stitching to designers and local customs.

Do you do voodoo?  There are times when we all want to stick pins in an effigy of some politician or other!  Cross stitch is for when you want to stab something 10,000 times.  Without getting arrested.

(Side note - Getting arrested seems to be a theme with bloggers just recently.  First of all Gaynor was arrested in January, then Jeremiah was charged with chicken rustling and even sweet little Nathan spent some time behind bars.  Thankfully they were all found innocent and released without charge!  Other than a great photo opportunity.)

Anyway, the voodoo block is from A Dark Alphabet by A Note of Friendship.

V is also for Variegated Thread, Valentines and Violets, all of which feature in this month's block from Brooke's Books' Stitcher's Alphabet.

stitched on 28 count afghan 

I already showed my collection of Valentine Hearts for H and we have the Valentine's Blog Hop each year too.

Here's a collage of Valentines from my Secret Stitching Sweethearts this year:

Variegated threads are wonderful to use.  They are a great way of adding texture to a plain block of stitching if you use a tonal thread or you can add multicolours without changing thread every 10 stitches.  I used variegated threads quite a lot in A Dark Alphabet, Kelpie being particularly effective:

I also used them in CCN's Cherry Hill to produce a variety of greens:

They work well for lettering and borders too.

I have only completed one design for V, the Victorian Doll's House in 2010:

For designers I have a trio of spooky finishes from Val's Stuff:

This sweet freebie from Vavi

I also have three samplers from Victoria Sampler in my stash which I do hope to add to the rotation one day.

My blog roll is very slim again but luckily Veronica blogged recently:

Veronica's Vault of Creativity

Finally I have been asked what will happen when we reach Z?  Do not panic, for I have a cunning plan!  I won't be starting again at A just yet but I do have plans for another series of posts and will announce all in the final Alphabet Club Z post.

When is a UFO an FO but not an FFO and yet remains a UFO?

When it's Brooke's Books' Stitcher's Alphabet, that's when!

stitched on 28 count afghan

Spaceship, spaceship!

The latest block of the Stitcher's Alphabet is now complete, it's full coverage so it took ages!  The flying saucer is metallic and there are beads too.  

So it's an Finished Object but it's not a Fully Finished Object as we still have V-Z to stitch but it remains a UFO in the picture!

Progress on Joan Elliott's 12 Days is slow as the Small Boy has decided a 30 second dip in the water is sufficient and then another 10 minutes of being told "Back in the bath".  So no photos until I have stitched this month's block 4 Calling Birds.

My two Sew Many Stitches projects are going well.  In March I started 23 Just Nan Smalls and the plan is to stitch 30-a-day on one until it is finished and then move on to the next one.  I should average one a month that way.  The first is smaller than average so will be a nice quick finish.

Here we have the first six days of Christmas Rose (the first photo is two days' progress not one)

stitched on 32 count Antique White evenweave

Meanwhile Spring in the Square is in it's 95th day!  950 stitches looks like this:

And the full 95 days looks like this:

That last big box is intentionally blank to keep the proportions of the other boxes the same!

Finally, we have exciting events coming up - my 6th Blogaversary this weekend and the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop the following weekend.  And of course, more Bloggers of the Week each Friday.  Life is just one long social whirl!

🌟🌟  Blogger of the Week  🌟🌟

The Uplifting and Useful Alphabet Unit

It's the first Saturday of the month so it's time for detention!

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

I think most of you know the lovely enigmatic Chiara who blogs at The Grey Tail?  We were chatting via email a while back and between us came up with the idea of an A-Z language challenge.  We batted some ideas around and are calling it the The Alphabet Club.  Chiara has the full details on that link but basically she will post a link-up post on the first Saturday of each month (Saturday being detention day in the film) reminding us of the month's letter and we will all link up with themed things, from stitching to designers and local customs.

This was one of my favourite blocks from the Dark Alphabet SAL - Urmahlullu, the well known Mesopotamian Protector of the Toilet.  Half Lion, Half Centaur, and the colour of an Andrex Puppy.  You can read more about him on A Note of Friendship.

The first Saturday of this month is as early as it can be so I haven't quite finished stitching the block on Brooke's Books' Stitcher's Alphabet, which is quite appropriate in a way because it is U is for Unfinished Object!

stitched on 28 count afghan

It's a full coverage block as there's quite a bit to go too.

What other UFOs have I got?  Depends on your definition of UFO really!  I define it as something which has not been actively stitched since the beginning of the previous year.  So anything which hasn't been stitched since the end of 2015.  Now, I did the Longest Day Marathon last year so everything got a little attention!  These are the ten projects which I am counting as UFOs as I have no plans to stitch on them this year and they only got that one day last year!

You can find all the information about each project on The Longest Day post.

U is for Unicorns and I have stitched two.  The first was a Teresa Wentzler unicorn from The Fantasy Sampler.  I stitched the four corner motifs separately, on aida!  With all those fractional stitches too.

I also stitched a Joan Elliott unicorn for a Round Robin back in 2012:

I do have quite a few unicorns in my stash, all in books.

Top left - Julie Hasler

Top right - Julie Hasler

Bottom left - Joan Elliott

Centre - Lesley Teare

Bottom right - Joan Elliott

I don't have any U designers in my stash and there is really only one well-know one; Ursula Michael.  She is well-known for her typography designs, this one is Wicked!

The blog roll is a real challenge this month!  Lee's blog is a bit of a stretch:

Notes from Under the Mountain

We do have Under the Sea Fabrics

and she has a YouTube channel

Lesley LaFleur

I could shoehorn U-tube but I'm saving that for Y.

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Finally, I hope that you enjoyed the double helping of interviews on the Blogger of the Week blog.  If you would like to be featured or if you can think of anyone you'd like to see, please email me.

The Terrifically Talented Alphabet Team

It's the first Saturday of the month so it's time for detention!

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

I think most of you know the lovely enigmatic Chiara who blogs at The Grey Tail?  We were chatting via email a while back and between us came up with the idea of an A-Z language challenge.  We batted some ideas around and are calling it the The Alphabet Club.  Chiara has the full details on that link but basically she will post a link-up post on the first Saturday of each month (Saturday being detention day in the film) reminding us of the month's letter and we will all link up with themed things, from stitching to designers and local customs.

T is for Things that go bump in the night from A Dark Alphabet by A Note of Friendship.  The charts are no longer on the blog but do drop Julie and Becky an email if you are interested in stitching the design yourself.

T is for Tatting and Thimble as seen in this month's block from the Stitcher's Alphabet by Brooke's Books.

Do not speak to me about this block.  If the Queen Stitch featured as one of my favourites then the Lazy Daisy is NOT.  I loathe these things but there was no getting away from them for this block.

I think I would rather have learned to do actual tatting than stitch this letter.  Gracie does some beautiful work and sent a tatted heart for the Valentine's Hop this year:

T is for Teacher's Samplers as a Thank You.  When the Large Boy was at Primary School I stitched a small sampler for each of his teachers and I continued this with the Small Boy.  Here's a collage of just some of them:

T is also for Travelling Pattern.  We used to see a lot of these, I've done three myself but not recently.  Here is the very first one I did where I stitched the previous stitchers' names down the sides:

Triple T here - Thine is the Trick and the Treat by Prairie Moon:

T is for one of my favourite designers - Teresa Wentzler.  Here's a collage of my TW finishes:

I have the remaining three Byzantine Ornaments on my "17 in '17" list this year along with Twelve Days of Christmas by Joan Elliott.

My blog roll has a lot of T blogs but I ignored all the ones beginning with "THE" or we'd be here for ever!

Tales of a Stitching Mouse

Tangled Threads

Tea and Stitches

Ten Hour Stitcher

Thoughts & Musings

Threads, Thoughts & Notions

Tickled Pink in Stitches

Time 2 Xstitch

Tiffstitches a Blog

Today I Found

Twisted Stitcher

There's a whole lot more who haven't blogged for over a month but there's quite enough there to be going on with.

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Finally, we have a new blog on the block - following the demise of Cross Stitch Collection magazine and their popular feature Blogger of the Month we now have - Blogger of the Week -

I have sent some questionnaires out to various bloggers and we will feature one interview per week.  Usually on a Friday because that's when I have the most time.  If you would like to be featured, please email me and I'll add you to my list.  Also, please promote on your blog because I would love to have new-to-me people to interview too.

The Sensationally Super Alphabet Society

It's the first Saturday of the month so it's time for detention!

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

I think most of you know the lovely enigmatic Chiara who blogs at The Grey Tail?  We were chatting via email a while back and between us came up with the idea of an A-Z language challenge.  We batted some ideas around and are calling it the The Alphabet Club.  Chiara has the full details on that link but basically she will post a link-up post on the first Saturday of each month (Saturday being detention day in the film) reminding us of the month's letter and we will all link up with themed things, from stitching to designers and local customs.

S is for Skeleton from The Dark Alphabet by A Note of Friendship Blog.  The charts are no longer available on the blog, but contact Julie or Becky via their emails and ask if you are interested in stitching this project.

S is for Sampler, this month's block in The Stitcher's Alphabet by Brooke's Books:

stitched on 28 count afghan

Here is the page I have just completed.  I plan to make a soft book out of these when I finally finish the stitching.

So, Sampler, I love Samplers!  Modern ones, reproduction ones, large ones, tiny ones. I just love them.  In fact the first project I ever cross stitched was a mini sampler:

14 count aida, stitched in 1993

I won't attempt to show every sampler I have stitched, that's what The Happy Dance blog is for.  But here is a collage of my older finishes, these were all completed in my pre-blog days prior to 2011:

S is for Speciality Stitches.  Apparently Americans say "specialty" instead of "speciality", another example of the missing vowels to go along with all the missing letters "u" in words.  This little sampler is one of my favourites for speciality stitches, there are 14 different stitches in a piece 3 x 2 inches in size:

Love by Drawn Thread

There are plenty of designers beginning with S to choose from too.  I counted 16 on my Happy Dance blog!  Three of my favourites are Satsuma Street, Shepherd's Bush and The Sweetheart Tree, so here's one design from each:

Pretty Little London by Satsuma Street

Bilberry by Shepherd's Bush

Tudor Rose by The Sweetheart Tree

S is for SALs, you can see the full list on my WIPocalypse post or you can click on the icons in my sidebar to visit the hosts.  SALs are a great way to keep you on track with your stitching and your blogging.  They are also a good way to connect with other stitchers and feel part of our community.  There's nothing like knowing that people all over the world are thinking "there's a new moon, time to show the world my ORTS" at the same time as you are!

Now the really hard bit - the Blog Roll.  There are so many S blogs it would be impossible to list them all!  Again, I have a list of blogs I follow in my sidebar if you want to check them out but here are a few who comment regularly and I have followed the longest.

A Stitcher's Story

Stitch Niche

Stitching with my Furbabies

Stitching Lotus

Stitch Bitch

Sarah in Stitches

Sewing After Seven

Stitchers Anon

Stitchyangel's Treasures

and lastly, because she's pretty much the only S blogger without the word "stitch" or "sew" in her title:

Shebafudge

Finally, a whole slew of S's - Secret Stitching Sweetheart!  The next blog hop I am hosting is for Valentine's Day.  All you have to do is send me a photo of something you have stitched which is suitable to send to a stitching friend.  I will send the photos to the participants who will post on their blogs and then we hop around to find out who sent which photo.  I need the photos by Friday 10th February please to give me time to sort them out.

The Remarkably Ravishing Alphabet Rally

It's the first Saturday of the month so it's time for detention!

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

I think most of you know the lovely enigmatic Chiara who blogs at The Grey Tail?  We were chatting via email a while back and between us came up with the idea of an A-Z language challenge.  We batted some ideas around and are calling it the The Alphabet Club.  Chiara has the full details on that link but basically she will post a link-up post on the first Saturday of each month (Saturday being detention day in the film) reminding us of the month's letter and we will all link up with themed things, from stitching to designers and local customs.

R is for Raven from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's A Note of Friendship blog.  Ravens will feature on the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog when I get to do R there.

R is also for Redwork, Rose and Running Stitch all of which appear in this month's Brooke's Books Stitcher's Alphabet block:

stitched on 28 count afghan

The chart shows all the background being stitched first, then the R being stitched on top.  Not going to happen!  Not with the amount of time I had to do this one in thanks to OAAT on the 12 Days of Christmas.

Here's another Rose, a freebie from La-D-Da:

We also have Reindeer, these ones are from Daffycat:

And Rapunzel from Teresa Wentzler:

I don't have any R designers in my stash but Rosewood Manor do some lovely Quaker designs and Renato Parolin has a wonderful selection of different tree designs.

What I do have for R is a Rotation.  I had a very successful rotation last year based on four different SALs for each weekend and one focus piece per month.  This year I am changing it to suit my current projects.

The rotation will start on the 26th of each month.  It may seem random, but that's the day for the ABC SAL I am stitching the Enchanted Alphabet for.  Then I will move on to the next Brooke's Books' letter to get it done in time for this post on the first Saturday.  Once I finish the BB letter I will stitch my piece for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL and then the piece for the Christmas Ornie SAL.  Once those have all been done it should be the end of the first week of the month which leaves me three weeks to stitch on my focus pieces.  I might do one piece for all three weeks, I might do three pieces for a week each.  We shall see.

In my Reader we have the following friends:

Random Ramblings

(home of IHSW)

Random Thoughts from Abroad

The Return of..

Ramblings of a Biscornu Addict

Reading and Stitching

Ricamire

Relaxing Stitch and More

Riverside Stitching

Rosy Stitches

(who has the La-D-Da Rose in her header!)

Finally, it is traditional to give Roses to your Sweetheart on Valentine's Day but on this blog we prefer to send stitching!  If you would like to join in with the Secret Stitching Sweetheart blog hop this year, click on the Heart Photo and scroll to the bottom of the post for more details: