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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

In the Secret Magic Garden with Farm Girl Sunbonnet Sue.... Granny's Chicken Scratch Pillow

It's that most wonderful time of the week again...yayyyyyy...it's Vintage Things Thursday. That lovely time when we all go visit Suzanne at Colorado Lady
and see what all the vintage wonders are this time. Come on..I can't wait to see...............

This is a post combining two of my vintage loves....Sunbonnet Sue,Hannah and Sarah....looking beautiful in embroidery......... and Chicken Scratch Embroidery.
We begin with the girls..Sunbonnet Sue,Hannah and Sarah. May,Molly,Elizabeth and a few other girls could not make it today... their mothers had other chores and plans for the girls. After grandfather plowed up some ground for them..the girls planted some flower seeds that was supposed to grow tall,tall,tall. And here we find the three girls, in their magic secret garden that is taller than themselves.

While the smaller girls are playing..the bigger girls are playing as well. They were making pretty aprons, quilts and pillows doing a stitch called Chicken Scratch. It was said that it was called that because some of the stitches looked like chicken scratching. :)
This is a pretty pillow form, put into a large hoop...I already have a very large pillow cover with the same color gingham and the same basic pattern. When I came across this at a thrift store..I just had to have it.

I love this stitching on gingham...it goes way back..and soon, I'm gonna do a post on this almost lost/given up on crafts. I so hate to see any of the needle arts go by the wayside.

25 comments:

  1. I love the idea of putting the pillow cover in a hoop. I have to try that. I'm looking forward to your chicken scratch post.

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  2. I have been wanting to give this a try. I have saved an image...maybe from you....of a dachshund and I have even got the material and thread...just no time to try it yet....Happy VTT!

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  3. Thanks, CC, for keeping the needle arts alive and well. I have the greatest admiration for those who can quilt, sew, embroidery and do all manners of needle crafts. Sunbonnet Sue is my very favorite along with the Southern Belles and Crinoline ladies. Vicki

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  4. I have heard of chicken scratch before. It looks like it is fun to do. I have a couple craft type books that have chicken scratch projects. At least I think I do. It would be fun to try it out. Yours looks wonderful. Happy Thursday!

    ~Linnea

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  5. I never heard of chicken scratch before but surely sound like a fun project to do! Might give this a try! thanks for sharing!

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  6. Morning, I have never done in kind of needlework except Swedish Weaving, if you can count that. Your work is beautiful and my husband does beautiful needlepoint. Maybe someday.

    HappyVTT.
    Barbara

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  7. Brown gingham has a nice old-fashioned look. The first skirt I made in home-ec was brown gingham with smaller checks. I used to enjoy looking at the different sized checked fabrics in the store.

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  8. I remember Mother doing Chicken Scratch. Love the Sunbonnet Girls' garden. It's a wonder. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. I love those sunbonnet girls! Too cute!

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  10. I wish I had the eyes to still do this kind of work. You have some really nice patterns.

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  11. I too love vintage embroidery. The transfers are so cute! I like to collect embroidered pillow cases. Very pretty.

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  12. It really is sad to see handstitchery forgotten! Girls these days don't know how to sew, only how to text.. . . so sad! I love the stichery on gingham too!

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  13. what a delightful post CC..i love your sunbonnet sue pattern and the gingham chicken scratch is gorgeous!!..it's nearly 2am & i'm still wide awake, i just got home from the concert..it was awesome!!!

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  14. What a great idea using gingham. It's like super large cross stitch squares! I could see those!
    Dawn

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  15. CC,
    Ahhh, chicken scratching! I used to do that years ago. It's pretty fun and easy to do. What a nice piece.

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  16. Oh! I can't wait to read the chicken scratch post. You will go into explicit , hold my hand directions, right?
    I just love gingham. Even the word.:)

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  17. They are so lovely! I love them and have tried but my hands don't cooperate so I get to frustrated and gave up long ago. But i do love them!
    Hugs, Lisa

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  18. I love Sunbonnet Sue too! The Chicken Scratch is interesting. I 've heard of it but don't know that much about it. Yours is very nice!

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  19. I love chicken scratch, I haven't seen it in years but I remember gasping when I did see it. I tried it but think I always do something awry. Looking forward to your post on it.
    Love sue, she is another icon that is just so sweet.

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  20. I love the Sunbonnet Sue pattern. When I was a little girl, my Granny made me a Sunbonnet Sue quilt and I used it and loved it until it finally fell apart and sort of disintegrated! Happy to see that the pattern is still around. This was such a great post!

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  21. I just wanted to let you know that I did quite a bit of Chicken Scratch many years ago. One of my favorite things to make was an aqua colored square dance dress that I made with 8 panels of Chicken Scratch on the skirt. I always received lots of nice compliments when I wore it to dances.

    Ann Marie

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  22. Handworked linens are such lovely things to have in the home.

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  23. Cute story and I love the embroidery transfer. Thanks for sharing!

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  24. I LOVE chicken scratch embroidery! I haven't done it since... well... let's not talk about that! I haven't done it IN A WHILE! (0; I still love Sunbonnet Sue, but I'm looking forward to seeing more of this too! Oh!.. and even though I've really been one for a while now, I've just OFFICIALLY became a follower! ~tina

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