A creative mess is better than tidy idleness. ~Author Unknown
Any day spent sewing, is a good day. ~Author Unknown
I love sewing and have plenty of material witnesses. ~Author Unknown

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Chicken Scratch

A few weeks I posted about "Chicken Scratch" on my blog.
My best friend Vicki  has a customer that does chicken scratch and then makes quilts.
Vicki fell in love with this art.  So she started watching her and then learned how to do it
herself.  This is her first attempt at chicken scratch.  I think it is perfect. 
She is gonna teach me too!  She brought me a  instruction book today that her customer
let her copy. I cannot wait to learn this!!!

When Vicki first shared this with me I searched the internet trying to find something about it.
Chicken scratch is a revival of a lovely needlecraft which has been known by other names. 
 You may know it as one of
the following: Tenneriffe Lace, Depression Lace, Chinese Pinwheel, Tic Tac Toe Embroidery, Hoover Star, Mountain Lace, Gingham Lace, Norwegian Embroidery, Snowflake Embroidery or Amish Embroidery
I thought I might share some links that I have found.
These look like great  instructions.
Also, click Here and Here.
And here are a couple of blogs about it:
Click here and here.

******************
I hope that you enjoyed this as much as I did when Vicki shared it with me.
I can't wait to learn and then I will show you what I have done.
We take a little trip together in May so I am planning on Vicki teaching me then.
Do you know how to do chicken scratch?
I would love to see some of your projects.
My blog is http://www.lifeslittlegarden.blogspot.com/

9 comments:

Barb said...

That is interesting, I believe this is the same thing a friend is going to teach me, if she does and if that is what she calls it, I will come back and post what I have learned. I am not much of a stitcher so it will be interesting.

CJ said...

Ms Val ~
THANK YOU sooo much for this post!!! I'm amazed at all the different names there are for this needle art! This has been on my "want to learn to do" list for quite a while now, so you are inspiring me!! :)
Thanks also for all the links - I've bookmarked them.
Hugz,
CJ♥♥

Cathy said...

Oh Gosh, I am going to show my age. But this was not the first thing I emboridered but was about he 6th. Back in the 80s, I think, this was big. I made placemats, and I actually still have 2 of them. I made pillows, wall hangings, all sorts of stuff. I know it as chicken scratch. Great walk down memory lane. Thanks

Ann said...

Several years ago I came across a book for chicken scratch and thought it was awesome. I never did much with it but I had fun learning it. A quilt sounds like a great idea

Unknown said...

Wow I am like Cathy... I have done this to along with candle wicking. It's awesome to see that there are ladies still taking up this very old needle craft. About a year ago I purchased a vintage apron with chicken scratch on it. I gave the apron to my step monster. It is her favorite apron out of all of them she has received from me.
Ps loving term for step mom *step monster* she came in to my life when I was a wee one. I thought she was very mean then!! I love her to pieces now ;)
M

ladybug loves lilacs said...

Beautiful! I have a few aprons that my grandmother did this on. I have never tried it myself but now I sure am tempted to give it go!
thanks for sharing!
Denise

Val said...

Oh I just love hearing all of your stories. Thanks Cathy for encouraging me to post on here. I love this chicken scratch and I am determined to learn it. Thanks to my BFF Vicki for sharing this with me.

Anonymous said...

My wife says my hand writing looks like chicken scratch :-)

bjhuff said...

I love to do chicken scratch!! I recall my grandma having a brown apron that had a cuff like on the bottom that was done in chicken scratch!!!