Getting ready for the A to Z Blog Challenge

As motivation to get back into the whole blogging regularly thing, I've decided to participate in The A to Z Blog Challenge again. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not - I did get serious blogging burn-out after April last year.  But it was fun and I want to do it again!

For those of you who don't know, the A to Z challenge is where you post each day in April (except Sundays), working your way through the alphabet.  Some people blog on a theme, some people just post randomly.  It's a lot of fun and a great way to discover new blogs.  It's how I met a lot of you. The host blog page has a lot of useful information about the challenge, how to sign up, a list of people who have signed up, and lots of information to get you ready or decide if it is right for you.

My favourite blogs last year, and the ones I'm looking forward to finding again this year, are the people who cross stitch from A-Z (particularly those who were/are stitching my patterns!).  I'm going to be joining them again this year - just making the final decision/s on which alphabet/s to stitch.

Now is a good time to start planning if you are thinking of cross stitching your way through the A to Z Challenge.  You'll need time to get your supplies ready, rule up your fabric, stitch any boards/backgrounds/fancy bits, and of course choose your pattern!  Depending on the pattern you choose, you may also want to get a head-start stitching the letters so you are not stitching until midnight to try and make the deadline!

Alphabet patterns available from Fangirl Stitches

There are a lot of great A to Z cross stitch patterns out there.  A search on Google or Etsy will turn up thousands of different ones in various themes, colours, styles, and degrees of difficulty.  It can be a good place to start though and help stimulate the thinking process while you choose a theme or style.

I'm biased of course and think the ones in my shop are pretty fantastic ;)  To make things easier for people getting ready for the challenge, I've added an extra search category, and now you can find all the alphabet patterns in one handy location.

Alphabet cross stitch patterns available from Fangirl Stitches.  Can you name them all?

 I'm going to be sharing as I get ready for the A-Z challenge, although I'll leave the "big reveal" until the actual Theme Reveal date (21st March).  If you've got any tips or suggestions for stitching your way through the challenge, I'd love to hear them.

Alphabet cross stitch patterns available from Fangirl Stitches

Are you stitching for the A to Z Blog Challenge?  Leave a comment below and I'll drop by your blog to say hello and add you to my "to follow" list.

Are you stitching a Fangirl Stitches pattern?  Let me know that too - I love watching people work on my designs!

Happy stitching!