When working on anything that will be personalized, double, TRIPLE check the spelling, the event date, the weight and length of the child (if the piece is a birth announcement). I have been burned once on this, and nearly burned a second time on the Beatrix Potter piece I’m working on for my nephew.

A couple years ago, I did a birth announcement for the first-born of friends of ours.  I was originally told their daughter’s name would be Anna. Since I was pretty diligent, and not very distracted by other things (as I am now), I got the cross-stitch completed in record time. Her name was personalized on it before she was even born. Of course, I had to wait until she was born in order to stitch her birthdate and weight on there, so it wasn’t completely finished. Despite being as diligent as I was, I did not know until I had finished that her parents had actually decided to go with “Annabelle” instead of just “Anna”. Too late, it was already at the framers.

On this piece, I was thankful that I had the wisdom to double (and triple) check the exact spelling, weight, and birthdate of my nephew. Originally, I had gone with my mother-in-law’s spelling of “Elliot” (since she was the one who sent out the only birth announcement via email). And even though his name was stitched onto the piece, when I looked at an email from my sister-in-law (my nephew’s mother), I noticed that his name was actually spelled with two Ts. So I un-stitched, recounted (to properly center), and stitched the correct spelling of his name on the piece. Whew! At least it wasn’t at the framers this time.

Similarly, when making a piece for a couple who is about to be married. I’ve often deliberated about using proper first names versus nicknames for friends (i.e. Thomas versus Tom). As much as I’d like to keep these works a surprise, I will often confirm with them if I’m not completely sure how they would want their names immortalized on the gift.

It seems like common sense, but sometimes, it’s just a good reminder to have just in case!