Owlfghan Final--Just in Time for Christmas

Finally got the letter pattern I wanted to use from home. Helpful hint: Never throw any patterns away!

This came with an anniversary cross-stitch kit I made for my parents 25th.

I'm a very visual person so I need to see what her name would look like before I started stitching. Pull out the graph paper!

I played around with the "z" but for lack of space, I decided to stick with the one from the pattern. Knowing I had 42x42 squares to work with, I had to make sure I could fit Liliana's full name, so I mapped it out on graph paper. You can see all my notes and questionable math in the margins.

Liliana Elizabeth Juarez Dovey--gee, thanks, Mom.

I did have to manipulate the "L" and "E" so no letters would be touching.

And now to begin the actual stitching which is a combination of cross-stitch and back-stitch.

Whew! Just enough room.

And the final owlfghan….(drum roll please)…

MERRY CHRISTMAS, LILI!

Owl-fghan

In September of this year, little Liliana Elizabeth Juarez was born to my best friend and her husband.

Awww

I took it upon myself to make a blanket for her when she was still in the womb. Her mother is very much into owls and the other gift I would bequeath this newborn is a cross-stitched Owl Birth Record to be framed with her name, birth date, and 3 owls that was picked out by Mommy. (It's almost finished, I swear!!)

Going along with this owl theme, I decided to buy a white afghan from Michael's and design an owl pattern to cross-stitch onto the afghan. I wish I were talented enough to make an afghan by stretch, but the baby is already 2 months old and I still haven't finished the cross-stitching.

I looked at some owl pictures online and then sketched out my design:

This is what the finished owl looked like:

I had 8 owls in 8 different colors with 25 squares to fill. We needed some hearts.

Sorry for the green discoloration

And owl with a heart:

And now the blanket with owls and hearts:

Last step:
The middle square will have Liliana's name cross-stitched.

Hopefully in time for Christmas!!