It’s Done!

After a year and a half, my alphabet book is finally done.  I can’t believe it.

It was supposed to be a first birthday gift for my daughter, but son #4 stopped napping, and my daughter stopped sleeping at night, about a week before her first birthday.  I couldn’t sew during their dual nap time anymore, and was too tired to stay up at night sewing.  The alphabet book spent the next year in a drawer, waiting.  I picked it up again about a month ago and turned it into a (belated) second birthday gift instead.  I can’t wait to wrap it up and give it to her this evening.

Inchworm, Jay, Moose, Newt, and Skunk

I is for Inchworm

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J is for Jay

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M is for Moose.  This moose is from a photograph of a moose I took on my honeymoon in Nova Scotia, Canada.  It was the first moose my husband ever saw.  We saw another half dozen later that evening, but this one was enormous.

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N is for Newt.  The fabric really made this one.  It is a Red Eft (juvenile Eastern Newt) and they are bright orange with spots

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and S is for Skunk

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I have started skipping around a little bit to be more efficient.  If I have black thread in the machine, I might as well so a bunch of black areas on a bunch of pages.

Garter Snake and Heron

G is for Garter Snake

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H is for (Great Blue) Heron!

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I was planning to get a few more done today, but then I realized it would be much more efficient to stitch around all of the words and letters first, so I get the layering correct and have to change thread fewer times.

The Last Six Pages

The younger kids failed to nap at the same time on Friday, so I didn’t get any sewing done.  I finished my ironing on Monday.  Now to start sewing, if I can get the naps right today!

Six More Pages

Okay, so they aren’t done, but they are halfway there!  And I remembered that I had G and H halfway done already, too.  So only six more pages to iron before I start sewing!   S, T, U, V, W, and X hopefully coming tomorrow.

Alphabet Afternoon

The last week was a nice little post-holiday crafting break.  I finished up a couple baby blankets and knitted a few preemie hats.  But I didn’t do any big projects.  Now it’s a new year, and Miss C turns one this month!  I really have to finish my Alphabet Book.

F is for Frog

I think this is going to be one of my favorite pages.

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E is for Earwig

I’m finally back to work on the alphabet book!

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D is for Deer

I thought about making this a doe (female.)  I mean, the book is for a girl, and all the deer we have seen near our house have been does.  But, I didn’t really trust it to look like a deer without antlers (look, Mommy!  D is for Horse?  Or Dog?  Or… what is that, Mommy?)  And, bucks are flashier.  And antlers helped the visual composition.  And I thought they would be fun to appliqué.  So, it’s a buck.

I don’t like this one as much as the others.  For some reason I couldn’t get the pieces to fit just right and the neck looks short to me.  I’m not going to do it over (probably,) but I’m guessing it will always bother me a little.

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C is for Chipmunk

It was risky doing this one today after a long, sleep-deprived week, but I really wanted to.  Thankfully, I didn’t screw it up!

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