I think I'm calling it.

Finished, that is.

Nesting Chickens
From Vanessa Ann's Holidays in Cross Stitch 1995

I MIGHT have missed some of the back stitching on the brown chicken, but no one will ever know!  As much as I don't like color charts, I must admit that in this case, a color chart would definitely have helped.  Trying to find the black outline on a black and white chart was darned hard....even with the model pic to squint at.
The finished size is about 6" x 6", and I think this will be finished as a pillow.  But for now, no more chickens!  Maybe tonight I'll dive back into La-D-Da's "The Ark," or Cross-Eyed Kat's "Labyrinth."  Both deserve to be finished this year...must resist the siren song of the stash cupboard.....

What came first?

(right now, I'd have to say the chicken!)

 

This is the piece I posted last week - it is from one of the annual Vanessa-Ann "Holidays in Cross-Stitch" books (1995, maybe?).  I've decided to try making a "chicken basket" for my mom for Christmas this year!  She and my dad started raising chickens last summer, and as much as she says they drive her crazy, I think she kind of enjoys it.  And I know she loves the fresh eggs!  So I have a cute little handled basket, and I'm going to put together a collection of chicken-y things.  I'm thinking this piece will be framed - it is about 6" x 6", and I have a friend who makes frames from reclaimed barnwood.  Totally appropriate!  And the red-brown hen looks just like the Rhode Islands Reds they have.  I also have some smaller patterns to make a few ornaments, maybe put on a shirt or a breadcloth to line the basket.... I just hope I'm not getting too ambitious here!  LOL

(Another crummy cell phone pic -- I'm sorry.  And I've made a bit more progress, since I was home all day today after spraining my ankle while out jogging Wednesday night.  Ugh.  I'm such a klutz!)