Dogs and Daisies Afghan

My Dogs and Daisies afghan found a forever home this weekend and I am overjoyed!

I made this afghan years ago almost by accident. My girls were young at that time and I purchased an afghan pattern book of animal motifs. The real reason I purchased the book was because there was a teddy bear afghan in it that I thought I'd make for the girls. There were numerous other cute patterns in it too like turtles and frogs, however this dogs and daisies pattern really caught my eye and I started making it instead of the bears.

The girls shared a room and had bunk beds at that time. My vision was to crochet matching colorful animal afghans for them for their beds.

I started the afghan, but as always, life got in the way. This was during a period of time where I made one afghan every year as a Christmas gift for my adult nieces. At Christmas I would let one of them pick out the afghan they wanted from the pattern books I had, then I would crochet it for them for their Christmas gift the following year. I did this for three years in a row for two nieces and my sister-in-law. I always had the afghan done by the middle of the summer so I could enter it in the County Fair before giving it to them for Christmas. Each of the first two afghans I made took First Place in the crocheted afghan category their respective years.

Needless to say, my Dogs and Daises afghan appeared doomed to be another UFO, as in UnFinished Object. The third year though, my sister-in-law picked out the same afghan pattern that one of her daughters had chosen previously. Not wanting to enter the same afghan pattern in the Fair twice, I got motivated and finished the Dogs and Daisies afghan.

This was the second motif afghan I had ever crocheted. The first one, in my opinion, was quite a disaster. The main issue is that it's quite difficult to get everything to line up nice and neat and square unless each and every motif is exactly the same size, meaning your stitching has to be very nice and even. I had come to believe that a motif type afghan could never win at the Fair for this very reason. It's just very hard to make a motif type afghan nice and neat and square!

I entered my afghan mainly because it was DONE. I was pleasantly surprised when it took First Place!

By now though, my girls were older and had moved into their own separate bedrooms and had their own decorating styles... and this afghan did not fit any of their tastes. So, like many of my competition pieces, the afghan went into a storage container.

Several weeks ago I decided it was time to find this afghan a home. Some place where it could see the light of day and be appreciated. I have taken to selling my pieces. I do so because I feel that sometimes when I give things away or gift them the recipient may not be so thrilled to receive the item. Hand made things are not everyone's cup of tea. I want to find people who appreciate what I've made and I know that they really truly want it if they are willing to pay for it. My plan was to list this on my Etsy site... but I found a buyer before it was even listed. Happy happy day!

Hopefully there is a little girl out there that loves her new blanket!