Ideas for Afghan

[Lessa54]

I've just found out that one of my good friends is pregnant - actually she's about 6 months pregnant - she lives abroad and works really hard so our contact is perforce a bit intermittent. Anyway I offered and she has accepted a cross stitched afghan for the new arrival. Problem is I don't have much of a clue what to stitch and I'm having difficulty finding just charts rather than full kits.

I'm thinking something along the lines of a beatrix potter afghan would be nice (if it exists) or something with animals on as my friend loves going to exotic places on safari etc. I don't think she'd want an alphabet or number themed one though. Can anyone help?

[Sarah Gixxer]

You could try looking at EMS which have free downloads available. I just type "EMS forum" into Google and it comes up. It has a download section which includes a set of "babybook animals" - I think there are 12 animals including puppy, duck, piglet, sheep, cow, cat, rooster, bluebird and others. There is also a zoo collection. Each animal only measures about 30 x 30 stitches, perfect for afghan squares.

If you want to look at how they stitch up, I used the babybook animals on an afghan myself recently - if you look in the Stitch-a-Long section it's entitled "Sarah's Baby Afghan" and won't be far back as I recently posted on that thread.

[KerryT]

Hi Lessa

I have a 21 page booklet for an afghan Safari that we could do a deal for if you wish !


Let me know if you are interested


kerry

[Sarah Gixxer]

Wow, that's gorgeous, Kerry! Good job I've already done mine, I'd be after it myself.

[Lessa54]

Sarah, many thanks - I remember your afghan and it was lovely. I don't think I want to committ to stitching the name though so will have to think whether the EMS animals would vary enough for it.

Kerry that does look fun! If it's ok, I think I'll give it a couple of days for everyone to comment before coming to a final decision but will definitely keep your offer in mind.

[Nachstenliebe]

Sarah's afghan was very gorgeous! I really like Kerry's too.. oh dear the decisions!!!! Glad I don't have to decide
Faith

[KerryT]

Sarah, many thanks - I remember your afghan and it was lovely. I don't think I want to committ to stitching the name though so will have to think whether the EMS animals would vary enough for it.

Kerry that does look fun! If it's ok, I think I'll give it a couple of days for everyone to comment before coming to a final decision but will definitely keep your offer in mind.

No probs Lessa just let me know if you want it

[Lessa54]

Done some more digging looking at more general charts and found this:

http://www.sewandso.co.uk/cgi-bin/find/ ... ch_results" target="_blank

Wondering whether this would look right stitched on an afghan? There are 12 designs and I found on another site that the widest is 81 stitches wide and the tallest is 133 high, though I don't know whether that includes text or not.

What does everyone think?

[Sarah Gixxer]

I bet it would be lovely, however, it sounds like some of them might be a bit big - my afghan was 16 count and at 133 stitches high that comes out at over 8 inches. Afghan squares are usually about 5 x 5 inches.

[willow]

Are you going to use an afghan with lots of small squares or one that has a large central square? I've stitched 3 afghans, 2 where winnie the pooh and 1 was popcorn they were one large design in the middle of the afghan. What about doing the precious moments two-by-two which is an ark with animals on it?

[Lessa54]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your ideas. In the end I've decided to go with the beatrix potter afghan kit. I really like the wildlife safari one but when I looked into it, it requires Zweigart Hearthside fabric and I could only find that in the US. In the end, getting the kit from sew and so will work out quicker and easier and a bit cheaper which is a factor given I've got to post the end result to Belgium.

Will post an SAL thread, probably after Christmas