There are also small alphabets that are digitized for quilt labels:
http://www.sew-n-2-u.com/shopdisplay...cat=Tiny+Fonts
BTW, why are you concerned about an embroidery taking 1 hour? I've done some that take at least twice that. If you are happy with the way it looks in the software, I would at least start it. You can always stop and discard if it's not going well. Also look at see if there is a stop between each letter. Some software will think you want to change threads after each letter.