Letter E of the Prairie Schooler ABCs

Here it is the end of January and I've finished two of my 26 letters! Here is the latest completion on the ABC Bee. I have substituted overdyed floss for the DMC colors listed by the designer. Colors used are Aged Pewter, Avacado, Blue Jay, Butternut Squash, Dark Chocolate, Grecian Gold, Morning Glory, Picnic Basket, Raspberry Frost Schoolhouse Red, and Sunflower by Gentle Art; Envy by Weeks and Snowball and Wild Oats by Crescent. The Raspberry Frost was used to outline the face and Aged Pewter was used to outline the scissor blades; to give them definition.

About my picture - we had about 5 inches of snow yesterday; really fluffy stuff. You can see it in the background here. We hit 10 degrees this morning, so I don't think it's going anywhere fast. I plunked my scroll rods in the weeping cherry tree and noticed I've got lots of buds. We have one more "winter" month to go, so I'm telling myself it's too early to wish those buds blooming!

I changed the design by 1) changing the color of the scissors to match my faux tortoise shell pair from Sajou; 2) put my initial on what she's stitching on the hoop; and 3) removed the blob and inserted a skein of floss.

I hope to follow up with pictures, but for now, here is how I did the skein of floss - - -

1) 3 vertical stitches with your choice of a yellow color where you want the center of the skein to be; 2) take 2 needles and insert them to the right and left of the stitches as far out as you want your floss skein to go - these act as pegs to hold the thread loops as you work; 3) with your floss color come up in the center of the 3 stitches, but not splitting the stitch; 4) * tunnel your needle under the stitches and above the fabric - to the left; 5) loop the thread around the needle on the left; 6) tunnel back under the three stitches to the right; 7) loop the thread around the needle on the right; repeat from * until your floss has reached its desired thickness, end off floss color; 8) again with yellow color, stitch two cross stitches over the area that is covered by the three stitches - gives you the label effect, end off yellow. Remove the two needles and fluff your floss! Let me know if you have any questions.

My Prairie Schooler ABC Overdyed Floss Table

These are the substitutions I have made for the Prairie Schooler ABCs that we are stitching together HERE. Here's the way I'm working this - I prefer Gentle Art floss. However, I am going to use flosses I have on hand before I purchase new. So, what shows up first in the list below (Gentle Art, my preference) may actually be a Weeks floss that I use IRL. I have brightened or changed many of these colors. What this will show you is the DMC color number called for on the chart, the DMC color number I am changing it to (if any), and the overdyed floss or flosses I feel are a good substitution. Let me know if there is any confusion or questions. Photo above is my work in progress using overdyed cottons.

White - GA Chalk, CC Snowball, WDW Icicle, Snowflake
Ecru - GA Oatmeal, CC Antique Lace
3859 - 321 - WDW Liberty
223 - 498 - CC Manor Red, WDW Turkish Red
3722 - 304 - GA Buckeye Scarlet, CC Cupid, WDW Louisiana Hot Sauce
3857 - 815 - GA Schoolhouse Red, WDW Garnet
902 - GA Cranberry, CC Bandana
221 - 814 - GA Claret, CC Apple Fritter
3778 - CC Old Brick
758 - 945 - CC Wild Oats, WDW Cherub
407 - GA Woodrose, WDW Cinnabar
3772 - 3776 - GA Fragrant Cloves, CC Cappuccino, WDW Crysanthemum
918 - GA Terra Cotta, CC Used Brick, WDW Terra Cotta
926 - 3761 - GA Morning Glory, WDW Morris Blue
3768 - 519 - GA Liberty, CC Shamrock, WDW Sky
3750 - 3842 - GA Presidential Blue, GA Midnight, CC Wavy Navy, WDW Twilight, WDW Navy, WDW Peacoat, WDW Americana
924 - 3760 - GA Blue Jay, CC Caribbean Waters, WDW Bluecoat Blue
3835 - GA Blueberry, CC Lavender Louise, WDW Cyclamen
315 - 3837 - GA Purple Iris, WDW Ultraviolet
3726 - 553 - GA Hyacinth, CC Vintage Violet, WDW Peoria Purple
3740 - 552 - WDW Purple Majesty
3834 - GA Black Raspberry Jam, WDW Taffeta
3802 - 550 - GA Cinders, GA Royal Purple, CC Rainy Day, WDW Merlin
3371 - GA Dark Chocolate, CC Black Coffee, WDW Swamp Water, WDW Mascara, WDW Onyx
500 - 3345 - GA Cucumber, CC Spinach, CC Steamed Broccoli, WDW Seaweed
501 - 3346 - GA Baby Spinach, WDW Hunter
501 - 3347 - GA Chives, WDW Scuppernong
503 - 3348 - GA Grasshopper, WDW Meadow
3011 - 580 - CC Meadow Green, WDW Moss
3012 - 581 - GA Avacado, CC Eves Leaves, WDW Pistaschio
3052 - 905 - GA Spring Grass, WDW Lucky
3362 - 986 - CC Poblano Peppers, WDW Envy
523 - GA Celery, CC Green Onion, WDW Tin Roof
676 - 307 - GA Ohio Lemon Pie, WDW Saffron
729 - 728 - GA Sunflower, WDW Marigold
3820 - GA Butternut Squash, CC Golden Star, WDW Squash
3828 - GA Grecian Gold, CC Ye Old Gold, WDW Whiskey
422 - GA Caramel Corn, WDW Straw
420 - GA Maple Syrup
869 - GA Apple Cider, WDW Cocoa
435 - GA Toffee, WDW Bright Leaf
434 - GA Nutmeg, WDW Cognac
801 - GA Sarsaparilla, CC Bramble Bush (dark version), WDW Chestnut
838 - GA Picnic Basket, CC Chocolate Cream Pie, WDW Molasses
738 - CC Finley Gold, WDW Honeysuckle

There are some miscellaneous colors that I may use as substitutions for colors called for in the charts. This will be experimental as I'm working. They are 598 - GA Tropical Ocean; 992 - WDW Lagoon; 597 - GA Peacock, WDW Blue Topaz; and finally WDW Mermaid.

Emma's Hat

Here's my granddaughter modeling the hat I made her for Christmas. Looks like the ponytail hat will be able to grow with her.

A Little More About the Bee Line March Box

I have completed all the stitching (with Kreinik Silk Mori) on the box I intend to submit in the American Heritage (Needlework Division) NSDAR contest. I have also made the special button. What I have left to do are attach the button and make the tie. Then I have to fill out all the forms and write my accompanying essay and submit. I took the box to my chapter Christmas Tea and was delighted to hear this morning that it was mentioned in an article in our local paper. Here's the Newspaper link and another sneak peek at the box.  Want to keep up on the news of the box?  Just click on the label below "DAR".  All the entries that I make about the box will then pop up for you to see.  Wish me luck!

And the Frog Went Hip Hop Hip

Here are the pictures of Emma in her frog towel. Looks like she's enjoying it!

Happy New Year!

I spent the day watching HGTV programs (NOT Antonio, thank you very much - what were they thinking?) and stitching on my PS ABC Bee letter D yesterday. I'm posting that progress to the ABC blog today. But first, I'm going to put up a few things I did for Christmas presents that I had to keep secret. First, the frog towel for my granddaughter, Emma. She likes to pretend to be a frog. Notice in the closeup, that I made the fly detachable so she can try catching it with the tongue. However, I'm told that she doesn't much care for the tongue hanging down in her face right now. We're working on getting a photo of her in it where you can see both her face, and the frog's face.



Then there was the "Pony Tail Hat" that I crocheted for her. I thought this would be a huge hit with her, that she'd really like to have something that would give her a long ponytail. Seems I was wrong. She hasn't formed an attachment to the hat yet. So, all I've got are the two photos I took before it was sent off to Seattle. First shows the overall hat (it goes over the head like earmuffs and the ponytail hangs down in the back). Second shows a detail of the ends of each of the tails that curlique up. I found the pattern for the hat at a website with free patterns. This is the link to the Pony Tail Hat Pattern. Also, to get the look that I have here on Emma's hat I combined a standard Acrylic yarn in pink with an eyelash yarn that was mostly pink, but mixed with other colors. That's how I achieved the overall pink color with the added touches of others. I needed less than a full size skein of the regular yarn and two skeins of the eyelash yarn.