It is school holidays, and yet I am still thinking about school! I have spent many years on various school P&C committees and parent committees, and for the past couple of years I was a fete coordinator as well. This year I am taking time away from school politics and fete organisation, and instead, I am running the fete’s tombola stall (technically my second child is in charge, but I know who will be doing the bulk of the work!) and creating objects for the craft stall.
Over the years I have made many things for the craft stall; hair clips, amigurumi critters, bookmarks, fairy wands, cotton wash cloths, soap savers, Christmas ornaments, key chains… I have knitted, crocheted, beaded, glued and glittered, but up until now, I haven’t actually sewn anything to sell on the craft stall.
So that’s where the little chooks come in. I am having a few days at Therese’s house without much of a plan to do anything. I was lazing about in the studio talking quilts with Therese and Amy, who are both finishing up their next show quilts this week, when I had the idea to make some little chooks.
The chooks pattern is over twenty years old now, but was one of our all time best sellers. They are just so adorable!
Luckily for me, Therese keeps a tub of pre-cut squares cut from the leftovers of other projects. There were plenty in just the right size for making little chooks, so I didn’t even have to cut the squares myself. There was a huge range of colours and prints, so every square could be different if I wanted.
It has been a while since I did any patchwork, so I didn’t get every corner matching, but it was fun putting the chicken sides together!
Then I added a beak, comb and tail to each little chook. This all went really well until I accidentally sewed one of the tails on sideways. The poor thing looked very deflated! Had to get out the unpicker and have another go at that tail.
After a while I got tired of sewing the tiny squares together, so I made some chooks out of larger squares too. Therese also had pre-cut squares in the right size for these chooks. No cutting for me! Well, apart from the combs and beaks.
In the end I made 6 patchwork chooks and 10 plainer chooks. I stuffed them, sewed the gap up and added little buttons for the eyes. And now I have a small army of small chooks ready for the fete craft stall.
Sara
