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.