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Saturday 2 September 2017

The Zenith of the Zany and Zealous Alphabet Zoo

It's the first Saturday of the month so it's time for detention!

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"


This is it, the final Alphabet Club post for me!  The idea for the Alphabet Club first came about when Chiara and I were chatting over two years ago.  We have been joined by various bloggers each month, although Chiara herself is taking a little break from blogging.  Because of this, I've added the linky for the final month here.  Whatever letter you are doing in September, please link up here so people can come and check out your progress.

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As usual the first piece I will show is from A Dark Alphabet by A Note of Friendship.  This was a partwork mystery sampler which Julie (the designer) and I raced each other to finish!  We have Zombees for Z.  Julie explains why in this post - A Note of Friendship


For those of you who would like to see the entire piece in more detail, you can check out my Danse Macabre post.


The next project I always show is my Stitcher's Alphabet by Brooke's Books.  This month we have a brightly coloured Z for Zigzag:


Here's the final page:


and here is the whole piece laid out on the floor!


The plan is to stitch a title in the gap on page one, next to A and then sew the tops and bottoms of each page together to make a soft book.  I'll make sure I post photos when it's completed.

Z is for also for Zebra, here's a tiny one from an Alphabet Sampler I stitched:


And a pair from Joan Elliott's Noah's Ark:



Z is also for Zombie, as well as Zombees!  Here is a cute Zombie Kitty designed by Carand88.  I stitched two of these for friends who were organising a Horror Festival.


I don't have anything from a designer beginning with Z but there is one big name in the stitching world - Zweigart!   The people who make the fabric, as ubiquitous as DMC in the stitching world.  Zweigart are celebrating their 140th anniversary this year.  They are popular because of the range of fabrics they produce, in a rainbow of colours, the quality of the products and their famous "orange" line trademark in the selvage.  If it isn't orange, it isn't Zweigart!  They also produce chart books and have a blog with some great ideas for how to use their products.
Both the website and the blog have a Translate button on the rop right if you don't speak German.

It's a good thing that Zweigart have a blog, because there are no other Z blogs in my Reader at all.

Which brings us to the final topic, an answer to the question everyone has been asking as we approached the end of the Alphabet -

Q: What are you going to do next?

A: It begins with Z and here are some examples:






Joan Elliott


Three from Maria Diaz:






From SewandSo:

Lesley Teare

Orchidea


Soda Stitch 1 and 2




My personal favourite from Satsuma Street, being released one per month:




But this is the design I am going to be starting this month while I wait for Satsuma Street to release Virgo and Libra!  


They come from this book which I picked up very cheaply from Waterstones Marketplace.  A really good place to find older, out of print books at very low prices.


So there you have it, the plan for the next 12 months is to Stitch the Zodiac.  I will continue to post the first Saturday of each month and add a Linky which will last all month for you to join in.

You can choose a design like I have with small versions of each sign, or a larger design like the Joan Elliott and Lesley Teare, or just the individual signs for you and your family.  But here's the really good part - you don't even need to stitch a Zodiac design to join in.

I'll be starting with Libra for my first post; Libra is an Air sign represented by the Scales.  So you could share something related to Air, or balance, justice, weight, anything that says "scales" to you.  You could even shoe-horn a mermaid or fish in there!  You can look up the birthstone or flower for Libra and show that.  You can show a current piece, a WIP or an older finish.  If you have a Libran in your family you could show something that relates to them.

Finally, I'll be posting the first Linky on Saturday 7th October, which serendipitously is my Grandad's Birthday!  The first in a long line of Librans in my family.  Please join in, it's always more fun stitching with friends!  You don't have to post on the 7th, but that is where you'll find the Linky for the whole month.

You can read all the previous Alphabet Clubs posts by clicking the relevant letter here:

Amazing
Brilliant 
Cheerful 
Delightful 
Elegant
Fabulous 
Gorgeous
Happy 
Imaginative 
Joyeous
Keen 
Lovely 
Marvellous 
Nice 
Opulent
Perfect 
Quintessential
Remarkable 
Sensational 
Terrific
Uplifting 
Valued 
Wonderful 
eXciting 
Yummy




28 comments:

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

Lovely Z stitching and the Zodiac is a great idea for the next Club pieces..even if I do not join in I will enjoy seeing all the different Zodiacs being stitched.

Mary - Lecoeurceltique said...

A great selection as always, Jo. I'm looking forward to seeing your book made up of your Stitcher's Alphabet by Brooke's Books.

Lili said...

Your Dark Alphabet is wonderful! Love the "Z" block!
The Zodiac by Satsuma Street is gorgeous! Your new project is so cute!!

gracie said...

This has been interesting to follow everyone with he alphabet club. The Zodiac looks interesting.

diamondc said...

The Alphabet Club is so interesting to see what everyone does for the letter of choice.


Blessings
Catherine

Barb said...

You did a great job with a difficult letter "z"!

Stitching Noni said...

Well done on getting to the last letter of the Alphabet! My postings fell away months ago along with my blogging time but I have enjoyed reading your posts each month.
I love the idea of a 12 month Zodiac stitch and I will most definitely join in on that plan. I have a zodiac series that I have wanted to stitch for a long time so will have to go and find it over the weekend and get planning so that I can be ready to post in Oct especially as I am a Libran!! :o)
Hugs x

butterfly said...

Congrats on all your posts Jo the Alphabet Club it was fun to see on many of friends blogs .
Look forward to seeing the new Zodiac stitch.

Carol said...

Congratulations on reaching the letter Z, Jo!! Really has been fun to follow along on your letter-themed journey :)

Claudette497 said...

This has been a fun one to follow - it's a little sad to see it end, but I'm looking forward to seeing your zodiacs. Congratulations on finishing!

Brigitte said...

And here is the final alphabet post. I was hoping to see the two whole alphabets, they look gorgeous. And Zweigart will also be in my final post which will appear by the end of this month. The Zodiac is a great idea for Z - and for your future stitching.
Thanks for the link where we can enter the links to our alphabet posts.

Brigitte said...

... and great title again. I knew the word zealous but zany is new to me :))

Christine said...

Great Z post Jo. I'm not much into zodiac type designs myself but I do like those Satuma Street ones

Katie said...

It's been very fun indeed following your alphabet posts. Beautiful progress with your Z's. Love the zombie cat you did. Too cute haha. Good luck with your Zodiac SAL.

Tiffstitch said...

Zounds! Zany zingers abound. :) Great idea for the next 12 months and I have some ideas already. Excellent stitching on everything and congrats on getting to Z.

The Crafty Princess said...

Zowsers! That is a lot of Z stitching. My eyes zigged and zagged with zeal around your post. I love the zany zoology of the zodiac projects too. Zinging zombies made me sigh like a zephyr. I sound like a zealot for Z!
xo Alicia

jocondine said...

Great finished alphabet, the soft book will be a great idea. I have only joined the "W" but the next 3 months will be a perfect timing to join the arrival. Zodiac theme is a nice project which means I'll have to post twice on the first Saturday of October!

RJ said...

WOW you made it to Z, Jo. And so many great Z stitches you have done. Great job and very impressive. RJ@stitchingfriendsforever

Rachel said...

Zombees!! I love that! It's been so much fun to follow your alphabet.

Sheryl said...

Great Z post and zombies. The Alphabet club has included so many interesting posts. sad to see it end.

Brigitte said...

I've just linked up to my S entry.

Astrids dragon said...

Zombie bees and cat, I love it! So much zodiac stitching, who knew?!

Linda said...

I missed this post Jo. Another great alphabet post. Looking forward to the Satsuma Street SAL.

Linda

Leonore Winterer said...

Great post and what a great idea for the next year! I'll have to start making plans...if all else fails I can always use my birthstone ornaments, but it would be more fun to make something new...

FlashinScissors said...

Lovely stitching, Jo!
Sorry to see the end of the Alphabet Club, I have enjoyed reading the posts.
Good luck with the Zodiac SAL, and thank you for the links to Zweigart and Waterstones ..... very useful!
Barbara x

Julie said...

Stitchers Alphabet is fabulous, Z is really jazzy.

Sarah in Stitches said...

This is a great Z post, Jo! :D

telaagujadedal.blogspot.com said...

Me gustan mucho los temas de Halloween. Las calabazas, brujas, pájaros negros...el naranja y el negro combinan perfectamente, y su calendario es divino. Felicidades