Embroidery is one of the least intimidating needle crafts and you only need a few, inexpensive supplies to get going. It allows you to personalize any fabric either with your own designs or the patterns of others. We love these alphabet patterns by Alyssa of Penguin and Fish. She's working on the whole alphabet, but here are a few to get started.

D, E, F and U are now available in her shop, Penguin and Fish. $6 (each) gets you a 4 page PDF file with two copies of the pattern (one in reverse) for tracing, an image of the finished pattern for reference, a stitch and color guide and basic embroidery instructions. If you need help, two of our favorite embroidery resources are Primrose Design's Stitch School (look for links on the right-hand side) and Pimp Stitch.

Alyssa will be adding more letters - you can check in with her on her blog and even nominate your favorite animals for her to work on.

(Via Pikaland)