A start or a finish?

Last time we spoke (wrote/read) I mentioned a possible new BAP, remember? Or were you all so eager to skip right to the comment section in an attempt to score goodies (for which there is still time, mind you) that you didn't get to read about that?

You all know I love words, right? And I love to stitch alphabets. And single letters. And words and even phrases, sentences, lists of names, quotations, sayings, book titles, fairy tales, poems, exclamations or expletives - well, not those, particularly, but you get the idea. I love letters. In every way, shape and form. So I thought: wouldn't it be nice to hammer a couple of nails in the wall (say, six) stitch a complete set of at least 26 letters a couple of letters, leave them in their petite wooden hoops and hang them up so as to form a word. That way, I can have a little word fest every day. My wall can become a Word of the Day Wall. That is, if I get to stitch the entire alphabet, or at least a good portion of it.

Now, I know myself. You know me. BAPs usually end up in the UFO pile never to be dug up again (remember the Prairie Schooler Christmas BAP? I rest my case). So I thought I'd start small, with a five letter word that makes sense every single day of the year, and then build around that, if I feel so inclined. You will be very pleased to know, I think, that I have finished that five letter word and here it is:

Isn't it awfully fabulous??? Aren't I clever? I could even mix up the letters and spell lepel (Dutch for spoon), or even plee (Dutch slang for toilet). And the best part is: I only have to stitch an N and a T to be able to spell lente, which is Dutch for spring. I could stitch my blog name and take a picture and make my own header! I would only have to stitch 10 more letters!! The possibilities are endless!!! [insert maniacal laughter here] [and possibly that song... oh, how does it go... They're coming to take me away, haha][heehee] [haha]

The letters I used so far all come from the book Lettres et Abecediaires au point de croix (excuse the absence of accents) and I'm using scraps of fabric and a mishmash of threads for stitching. One letter takes about an hour or even less and gratification is just about instantaneous. The slight problem is that I have only one tiny wooden hoop and I need a couple more :o)

In case you're thinking, 'That Annemarie is brilliance personified': don't. You know me (we'd already established that), I told you I have not one original thought in my head, and this, alas, isn't one of them either. A couple of years ago I found a blogging lady at Chez Sucre Chez who did exactly this: stitching letters and selling them, too. It played around in my head for ages, wanting to copy her ideas SO badly and last week, when I found that blog again, I just went for it. Even though this lady sells her stitched letters on Etsy and doing a very good job of it, too (how clever is SHE?), apparently she doesn't mind if other people steal her ideas, so that's what I'm doing. With great vigour.

It's deadline week this week, so I'll be working my sizeable arse off for a couple of days. But methinks there's always time for a letter or two!

Yours wordily,
Annemarie.