This wallhanging hung in our family room for years and was the basis for many conversations about how "Mom" could get back at her brother...
Many, many years ago (I think I was 5 years old and my brother 10) my folks bought baby chicks at Easter. We played with those cute, fluffy birds like they were puppies or kittens. And then they started getting older... One day my brother made a deal with me and said that I could have his chicken too, but that I had to take all the turns at dishwashing after dinner plus I had to pay him several weeks of my allowance. Can't remember how long this was, but I'm sure at that age it felt like forever. And I was so excited that they were both mine!
And a few days later they disappeared... My mother said that the garbage man had a wonderful farm and the chickens (now much larger and not so cute any more) would live happily ever after. I was devastated and still paying! Do you think my brother heard my folks talking after I went to bed?
It took a few years, but I got older and wiser...you're thinking a little slow, right? Anyway, as I looked at this wallhanging, I would envision sending a whole crate of chickens to my brother. We had many laughs over how we could do this, but alas, I could not be that cruel to the poor chickens. By now, you see, my brother's family pet was a doberman...
I do remember buying the directions for this when we were on vacation sometime in the late eighties. It may have been a lap quilt because it was originally taller and narrow. I had to move chickens around to get the look I wanted...and then "stuffed" them and put those silly little eyes that move around on each chicken. I did know enough to do some crosshatching in the borders.
I did not save the wallhanging when we moved a few years ago. It was smoke stained (I quit a year ago) and I didn't feel it could be salvaged. But if anyone finds a copy of the directions, I would stand on my head to get it!
Mary
