The background image is of two pieces I did about 20 years ago, King Tut's Death Mask and the bust of Nefertiti, both done on 28-count navy Lugana fabric with Kreinik blending filaments. I did adjust Nefertiti's pattern to match the colors in King Tut's death mask, which I did first, but they do go together.
They went so well together my mother, upon seeing them framed for the first time, snatched them up and ran out of the family room to hide them. I did get them back but she threatened to break into my apartment and steal them. She didn't have to; I gave them to her for Xmas, but she did have to wait more than six months to get them. That's another story for another time.
I recently got back into cross stitch because I wanted to make Xmas stockings for six of my grandchildren, in cross stitch, and in time for the holidays. I have four finished completely, one nearing completion, and the sixth is partially done. It is a more complicated pattern and I needed a break. I also needed to do something a little different and saw the ABC afghan and figured it was a good piece to take a break on. I thought it would be a perfect heirloom gift for a friend's niece, Baby Mac, otherwise known on her birth certificate as McKenna. She is an adorable blue-eyed angel and I wanted something special.
When I received the kit I was somewhat disappointed. Not in the materials, they were top quality, but in the pattern. Cross stitching an afghan with one strand of floss was called for but that provides no stability or durability, so I changed things around a bit. I decided to double the thread count, using 2 and 4 strands of floss for the 1 and 2 called for and I changed the pattern slightly (mostly on the fly as I was stitching) to make use of material since I was stitching over 2 threads. The results aren't too bad but I would've liked more time to properly adjust the pattern so the animals look more fluid and less blocky, maybe even streamlining the letters as well.
As you can see the letters are laid out in a positive-negative design. That is, the letters are positive (cross stitched) and negative (denoted by the empty space within a block of cross stitch). I would suggest contacting Wilton and asking for the conversion from their colors to DMC (my favorite) or Anchor and buy enough floss (about 2 skeins per color) to convert from the 1/2 to 2/4 strands of floss. The floss for back stitching is sufficient in the kit, so no need to buy more.
The afghan did turn out fairly well, although wrinkled from its journey from Colorado to Georgia, and I hope Baby Mac will enjoy it and one day pass it down to her children, something she would not be able to do using the original counts of 1 and 2 strands of floss. Enough of my grumbling and on to two more pictures of the finished afghan.
I'm mostly pleased with the design and may give it another shot, although I'm leaning more towards making afghans for the grandkids next year and have chosen some wonderful patterns and kits from 1-2-3 Stitch. I recommend them highly. They have been a great source of kits and materials and they deliver quickly.
In the meantime, I have another afghan to finish. This one is for my cousin Jillian who is getting married on Aug. 11, 2012 to Cyrus, her long time boyfriend. I do hope she likes sunflowers.
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