A flock of my own!

So the other day the mailman left a large squishy envelope on my porch. I saw from the return address it was from my friend Lois in Nebraska.  I thought she had sent me yarn or  made something for me - how cool is that? Well I had no idea what I was going to find when I opened that envelope.

First these two guys dropped out -- oh my goodness how cute are they?

And then the rest of the contents of the envelope spilled out -- OH MY GOODNESS!!!!

I laughed my butt off (oh I wish that was more than a figure of speech - LOL)! And I laughed and laughed and laughed. So many cute cute chickens! A WHOLE FLOCK!!! I think my favorite might be this one .

Those silky purple "feathers" are hard to resist! Thank you Lois -- I love each and every one of them! I'm thinking of using the first two chicken in a display in my kitchen and I want to make a garland out of the others to decorate my sewing studio. How can you not smile when you see these gals? I can't.

And I added some more poultry to my home with this outdoor stack of chickens.

It is a smaller scale rendition of the metal chicken stack I have in my sewing studio. I got the metal ones online about a year ago and didn't want to put them outside for fear they would rust. I picked up this stack which is wooden at Joanns last week. I need to spray them with some polyurethane to prolong their life as the icicles hanging from their tails isn't helping them.

Hope you are having a good day!

carol fun

Here a cluck, there a cluck....

everywhere a cluck cluck! My chickens have come home to roost and are resting comfortably on my kitchen wall.

Oh my goodness, Cass did a phenomenal job on this one! Her quilting has raised this quilt to a whole new level. First, check out some of the girls they have great feathers and... some like Agnes are content.

Bertha is a bit unsettled but I'm sure she'll be okay in a day or so.

And then there is Cher (its short for Chernobyl - LOL!) I think she'll always be a bit addled... it could be that 3rd eye - poor gal!

Maybe she can use that extra eye to keep this little chick close by!

Cass added some wonderful images to this quilt. When she started to quilt this one she asked what I had in mind and I truthfully answered "nothing". After a little thought I came up with BACON! Oh I'm a genius -LOL! Hey, I love bacon with my eggs. Cass even added a fork!

And toast and jam...

And a hot cup of coffee! A complete breakfast!

These gals sure brighten up my breakfast nook - I know we are all going to be happy for a long time.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

What I learned in an Ami Simms workshop

Well first I wanted to say that I had a great time on Sunday in the String Piecing workshop with Ami Simms. There were about 25 ladies in attendance and it was neat to see all the different fabric choices. However it was clear, very early on, that my fabrics didn't look like anyone else's fabrics. Hmmm... there were ladies using Christmas fabrics, reproduction fabrics, some novelties and a smattering of brights but no one else's blocks looked like this -

Yes that shade is pretty close to the yellow they use to stripe streets-- it glows! LOL I've used this background before on a Schnibble - I bought at least 9 yards of it at a going out of business sale. I had no clue why anyone else wouldn't want it - because I am clueless. So here are a couple of close-ups of my blocks.

We have bright birds...

and did you have any doubt there would be polka dot chickens? I didn't think so.

Ami has a wonderful sense of humor. She really could do stand-up,in fact the program she gave on Monday night at the guild meeting "How Not to Make a Prize Winning Quilt" had everyone in stitches. (bad pun - sorry!) Ami stressed in the class that problems with your quilt and fabric are NOT your fault - the humidity is high, the lighting is wrong, the ruler is uneven, there is a shift in the cosmic universe -- but it is not your fault. I like that philosophy.

Now if you are looking for pictures of the workshop I'm afraid I have bad news. I did take my camera, what I didn't take was the memory card that goes in the camera, so basically I had a lovely little red paperweight in my purse. Arghh.... however Heather, our illustrious guild website manager and photographer took lots of pictures and I was going to link to them but they aren't loaded yet. I'll let you know when she uploads them.


Of course if you've read this blog for more than one day you know how happy chickens make me (we will not probe the dark psychological reasons for this, ok?). And lots of other people have picked up on this and have recently gifted me with some wonderful chickens (don't fault them for feeding my habit - they are good people!- LOL). First we have this beauty, a gift made by Cass, the gal that does the great long arm quilting on my stuff. Is this chicken not adorable??

And here is a right profile. The little brown egg has cracks embroidered on it and a little bitty beak is poking out.

I got to show it at "Show and Tell" at the meeting and we were color coordinated. I was wearing an orange sweater with white dots and I had no previous knowledge of what this chicken would look like. Obviously we are soul mates! Thanks Cass!

And my dear friend from Nebraska sent me this crazy chicken...

OMG -a hot pink and orange dotted chicken! All hand crocheted! Love it! The legs dangle and I'm going to put it on the mantle as part of my chicken display. Thanks Amy! Everywhere I go people put chickens in my path - and it makes me smile. Just the other day Beth from Garden Grumbles & Cross Stitch Fumbles was giving a tour of a local garden center she frequents and there was this....

I NEED this!!!! I'm going to contact the garden center and see how much it is and how much it would cost to ship it. Now the garden center is in Oregon and I live in Ohio and I'm afraid it may be a bit pricey. Soooooo here is your mission..... if you see this lovely stack of chickens in your travels let me know. Maybe I can find one closer to home. I would be eternally grateful and your slightly cracked friend forever and ever!


Happy stitching-
carol fun

Putting all my chickens in a basket

Oh my goodness - aren't these little guys just too stinking cute??



These adorable chicks were made by my friend Lois, in Nebraska. They are a birthday gift and I LOVE THEM. She knows what I like -- the chicken wire basket in yellow would definitely go home with me if I saw it anywhere.



And those tail feathers are perfect! I'm not sure how she made these but they are stiff - maybe dipped in starch or glue? I have them sitting on my sewing table so I can admire my new chickens. Thanks Lois -- you have made my day!

Weather here has turned rainy -- glad I spent time on the screen porch when I did. Now I'm headed back to my sewing studio to work on my Charming Stars quilt - only one block to go and then sew them together.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Poultry on parade

Today felt like Spring was right around the corner and I sure hope it is. I started my day by banishing all the snowmen decor on the first floor. I still have the basement family room to deal with but it will have to wait a day or two. My decor change is to chicken.... spring chickens!



I made this quilt years ago and I was going for a more "natural" looking chicken than the polka dot variety I'm so fond of now. Each chicken is a different feathery fabric, each background is a different green. I was so happy to find the barn wood looking fabric for the sashing and the border is quintessential 1990's Hoffman print.








The pattern is from Country Threads and I made the little wing section from a folded piece of fabric so it forms a bit of a pocket. I titled this one Poultry on Parade. I might make this one again someday with bright polka dot poultry.I think this was my gateway chicken project and from this all kinds of chickeny crafts have developed.

In addition to the chicken quilt I put out my chicken plates. They are by Warren Kimble and I have them displayed in this plate hanger in my breakfast nook - nice plump hens.





And here are the chicken pincushions I stitched up last week.



I made another polka dot one with red dots on yellow and I went for a random dot pattern for the little robin's egg blue one. Aren't his eyes great? They are a button I bought at Joann's and it had a shank and I snipped it off. I bought 2 cards of these jiggly eye buttons so I have 3 more to play with.

Check back in a day or two, I'm going to do a giveaway of a bright pincushion and some cute scissors I found at my LQS and chocolate will also be involved. I need to put some finishing touches on the pincushion and take some pictures. I think it will be a fun way to celebrate the coming of Spring. In case you hadn't heard this weekend in the Spring forward weekend for the time change -- I HATE that! Just leave the time alone! It will take me 2 weeks to adjust and I'll be crankier than usual - arghhh!!! Okay that's my rant for the day.

Happy stitching -
carol fun