The Danse Macabre

Well, what else would you call a Happy Dance for A Dark Alphabet?

Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre (French), Danza de la Muerte (Spanish), Dansa de la Mort (Catalan), Danza Macabra (Italian), Dança da Morte (Portuguese), Totentanz (German), Dodendans (Dutch) according to Wiki here.

Yes, I have officially finished the entire piece, and here it is in all it's glory:

The title block uses the A and D from Julie's design, the lower case letters are my own design.  Cute little witch comes from one of the blocks.  Can you spot her elsewhere?  Where's Winnie?!

The signature block feature W from Julie, Capitals by me based on W and lower case by Brenda Keyes as are the Roman Numerals for the dates.  Annis Domini is the plural of AD and means "in the years of our Lord".  I love the word "wrought" as it's often used on antique samplers so it fits this design perfectly.

While I was stitching I was thinking about each letter and I wrote a little poem as I went.  I say poem but it's more rhyming couplets of doggerel.  Just for fun, here it is along with each block:

A is for Apple and temptation from snakes

B is for Brimstone and the fiery pits that it makes

C is for Coven and witches three

D is for Devil, a Dutch spinning monkey

E is for Eek, disturbing the peace

F is for Furies, three women from Greece

G is for Gargoyle made out of stone

H is for Headless Horseman on a bay or a roan

I is for Inky Darkness on a black night

J is for Jack-in-a-box who gives you a fright

K is for Kelpie the Scots’ water-horse

L is for Lightning Bird and its storms, of course

M is for Mummy with a bandaged head

N is for Necromancy and raising the dead

O is for Occult and fortune telling

P is for Phantom singing in his underground dwelling

Q is for Queen of the Night and her Dark Power

R is for Raven who lives in the Tower

S is for Skeleton made out of bones

T is for Things that go bump and their ghostly moans

U is for Urmahlullu the Protector of the loo

V is for Voodoo, a doll which looks just like you

W is for Wyvern, like a dragon with only two feet

X is for Xaphan and demonic bellows fanning the heat

Y is for Yggdrasil the legendary Norse tree

Z is for Zombee, yes – an undead Bee!

This is the whole of the Dark Alphabet

In memory for Lisa who we’ll never forget.

For my new followers and those of you who've been living in a cave all year, the Dark Alphabet was designed by Julie from A Note of Friendship in memory of Lisa Roswell, the designer who sadly passed away last year.  Here's where it all started last March.

A letter was released as a free design every couple of weeks on Julie and Becky's blog.  Julie designed the blocks and Becky did the research.  I stitched every block and sent them photos for their blog and generally cheered them on!  The Large Boy and I played "Guess the Letter" each time and even suggested a couple.

And this is what I received in the post today:

Yes, it's a coffin!

 And inside was not a dead body, but a selection of goodies!  A headstone thread winder, a skeleton pin keep with a dinky pillow and pins, a great witch's cat (this will become a fridge magnet) and the most gorgeous little scissors with a spider web dangle.

Close up of the cute scissors.  We just don't have cute scissors like this here.

The cross stitch mags never even mention scissors beyond the basic stork shape.  I wonder why?

Julie sent me these lovely things as my prize for completing the alphabet before she did!  A while back I did challenge anyone to try finish before me but sadly no-one did!  Hahaha.  The Large Boy has commandeered the coffin but the rest is mine to keep and love.   The customs form made me smile - it said "Hallowe'en ornaments", I wonder why it didn't say "miniature coffin and contents"? LOL.

What a great adventure the last year has been stitching this design.  I've learned so much too, Becky's blog posts are always full of information and links to more information.  On both the subject matter and the stitching.  Several blocks contained stitches beginning with the same letter.  Bargello being an obvious one.

I stitched the design 1 thread over 1 on 28 count evenweave, tea-dyed by me.  Using mainly the recommended DMC.  In some places I used variegated DMC and in some places I stitched the bottom /// in one colour and the top \\\ in another.  This is a great alternative to tweeding when stitching using one thread.

Phew!  What a long picture-filled post, hope you enjoyed it!  I suppose the Finally should be "don't forget to enter my giveaway".  I'm so pleased I offered a free choice of charts, everyone is picking such diverse designs I could never have chosen just three to suit everyone.  Good Luck to you all.