Jo's Hardanger Afghan. First square completed 12th March

[jocellogirl]

As a bit of a break from Herbularius I'm stitching all of Mabel's Floral Lace designs and 8 Song of the Weather designs onto an Afghan. This is a first for me, as I've never stitched on an Afghan before.
I finished the first square, Floral Lace - Thistle, last night.

It's going to take a while, as there are 26 squares, but there's no rush

[Serinde]

Doesn't that look nice!

[littleturtlegirl]

I can't believe that you have never stitched on an afghan before. You can't tell! It looks truly amazing!!!!

[rcperryls]

I love it!!!! Beautiful!!! Can't wait to see the next square!

I have been wanting to do that since I first joined the forum. I even have the afghan and have been thinking what designs I would do. thinking about SOtW and all those Rounds I have. And then I will need something for the middle. How scary was it (or was it?) to cut the threads on the afghan? Not that easy to just pick up and do another one.

Carole

[karen4bells]

so pretty!!

[Squirrel]

Amazing work and oh so beautiful too. Well Done with your first square

I am in awe of you doing this and like Carole would love to know how scary/difficult it was to do the cutting.

[Rose]

Gorgeous work!!!!!!

[tiathyme]

What a stunning design! I just love the colours and the beads... and all of it! Looking forward to seeing more squares!

[jocellogirl]

Thank you all so much. I'm really pleased with how the first square has turned out and Carole and Sally, I spent a very long time looking at the fabric before I put the scissors in!!!! The weave is quite loose, I had to be careful not to stitch the crosses too tight as they could easily have disappeared into the fabric, so I thought that one I started cutting the whole thing would drop to bits!! I needn't have worried though, it was fine. Phew
I think I might stick with this one for a bit as a change from Herbie. A much as I love him I had to frog a whole column last night as it was a square out so I think I need a change as I've been stitching him fairly exclusively since about November.

[vanessanjf]

Such beautiful work

[Oriettait]

beautiful stitching!

[rcperryls]

I meant to ask what fabric are you using? It looks a lot like the Charles Craft Alphabet afghan fabric (18 ct?) which is my favorite fabric as it is thicker and sturdier (imho) than most of the others I have used. What thread are you using also? My thinking has been that I would stick with DMC Pearls as I think they would wash better! I am so looking forward to your next square!

Carole

[jocellogirl]

You certainly know your Afghans Carole
This is indeed a Charles Craft Alphabet Afghan, 18 count. I asked for advice on which Afghan people would recommend over a year ago and you gave this one a thumbs up . Considering hhow many Afghans you have done that was good enough for me, so my mum bought it for me for Christmas 2012. This is me just getting round to using it!!!
As far as threads are concerned, I'm using DMC as they will wash without running and fading, although December Song of the Weather will vary a little. Watch this space . As far as thickness of the perle, I'm using perle 3 instead of perle 5 and perle 5 instead of perle 8, just to give it a bit more thickness and better coverage on the lower count fabric (18 count as opposed to 22 or 25 count). I've had to work out which colours to use in quite a bit of detail, as not all colours which come in perle 5 also come in perle 3.
Thanks for all the interest and I'm slightly less terrified of doing Hardanger on my lovely Afghan now I've finally cut into it

[rcperryls]

YAY! sounds like you are enjoying this one. Are you planning on leaving the center empty? That big wide open space? that is one of the reasons that I first chose that particular afghan (which is what my Amulet and Emmaline HAED is being stitched on). I also found that it is easier to stitch on the threads which make up the connection between the border squares. don't think I would try that though with the Hardangers. When I first started thinking about this, Mabel suggested using Pearl 3 and 5 instead of the 5 and 8. I have the afghan squares she designed then so I will probably see if I can throw them in somewhere also. Now I am really looking forward to seeing your progress and getting itchy to start mine.

Carole

[mags]

Great start, this is going to be brilliant.

[jocellogirl]

I'm going to stitch all the squares first Carole, then I'm toying with the idea of putting this in the middle.

I've measured it all up and it should fit, but I'm going to get the Hardanger edge done first to see what it looks like. I may put more Hardanger in the middle instead of the floral design, I haven't decided yet, but I'm open to any suggestions

[rcperryls]

That would be lovely. I have thought at different times of leaving the center, but that is just too much fabric for my stitchy itchy fingers to not use. The only pics in my gallery are of some of the afghans I stitched before joining the forum. The very first pic there is of a flower themed afghan stitched on the Charles Craft Alphabet Afghan. The center is one large design with flowers and hummingbirds. I think the center is something like 500 x 500 (or more - can't remember) Some of the other afghans are just different designs all over though the borders are usually a bit more planned out. My OCD does show through at times. I did have to turn the fabric so the width of the hummingbird/flowers piece fit.

Carole

[jocellogirl]

Carole, your afghans are just beautiful.
Those hummingbirds and flowers are just exquisite and the little butterflies are adorable.
As for the back and front of your bird afghan, you can't tell which is the front and which is the back. So neat

[karen4bells]

What a beautiful square!!! Very expertly stitched!!

[Cecilia]

That's beautiful.

I think a hardanger centre panel would look amazing (IMHO)