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Today’s entry in the Needle ‘n Thread Archives from A-Z series – where we’ve been delving deep into the archives of the website and resurrecting past projects, tutorials, articles, and more – features a hen.
H, you see, is for Hen.
Ok, fine. It’s not necessarily a hen. I originally called it a chicken, but it’s not even necessarily a chicken. Given the proximity to Thanksgiving and the situation of that tail, we could even go so far as to call it a turkey. But that really would be a stretch.
All I know is that it’s a stylized bird, designed for Schwalm embroidery, that I adapted for embroidery on paper and made into a card, calling it “The Christmas Chicken.”
Behold, the Christmas Chicken.
Or the Holiday Hen, if you will.
Do you ever look back on past projects and wonder to yourself, What ever possessed me?
That’s how I feel about this thing.
Oh sure. It’s cute. But for heaven’s sake… Whyyyyy?
When I worked this little … (masterpiece) … I was playing around with embroidery on paper. I had presented some classes for local kids on making embroidered cards, and it was super fun.
There’s a delightful sense of satisfaction in producing a pretty embroidered card. And the kids really seemed to enjoy it!
And then somehow, I got sidetracked one day into making this thing.
Was it because I had red paper on hand? Was it because I was exploring Schwalm work at the time? (I had recently reviewed this book by Christine Bishop, which is where you’ll find the original little bird designed for Schwalm.)
I have no idea what compelled me to adapt it for paper embroidery, but I do recall that the chicken took a loooooooooong time to finish.
I’m 99.99% certain that I would never put that much time into an embroidered piece of paper ever again.
You see, the thing about embroidering cards and the like is that they generally work up quickly. In relatively little time, with no complicated stitchery, you can produce a very attractive and absolutely unique card.
That wasn’t the case with this piece. It was a time hog. A time gobbler, if you will. (Forgive me the fowl pun.)
Now, don’t get me wrong. I do not despise the Holiday Hen. I just don’t understand why I hatched the idea in the first place!
If you want to read more about this project, you’ll find two articles about it way back in the archives of 2008. Here they are, in chronological order:
Keep in mind, those were the days before the advanced digital camera technology that we enjoy today had really come into popular use – back when, if you wanted good pictures, it was helpful to know something about how to use a camera, and it was helpful to be able to afford a good one. I had a 2 megapixel point-and-shoot, which was pretty high end for my budget back then and suited the extent of my camera skills accordingly.
Happy Monday, peeps!
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