Gotta love those Spring Chicks … New Design!

This is what I’ve been working on this past week.  I haven’t named it yet though.   As always, if you have a suggestion for a name, I’ll certainly appreciate it!

I almost don’t even want to show this because the pictures are so bad.They are the best I can do on this dreary snowy day…. not very much natural light. Better pictures will come once I get the pattern finished for this.

This one is a little better to show the colors and details …

This springtime tablerunner measures about 24” long .  What’s nice about making tablerunners is that they can always be eaily adjusted to the length that best fits the table you’re making it for. 

Anyway, I’m in love with this tablerunner.  It was so much fun to make.  I love the long and short legs on these chickies. 

This design was inspired by my “It’s Spring, Chicks!” candle mat design.  I love those cute little chicks and thought it would be cute to put bunches of them in a garden.

Here’s my original sketching of the idea …

The finished table runner turned out pretty close to the original idea.  The final finish is missing that butterfly though.  The butterfly that I wanted to make would have introduced more colors into the design and it took too much attention away from the chicks, so I scrapped the butterfly idea. 

I get asked quite often how long it takes me to make something like this from start to finished item. 

I do stitch rather quickly but for something like this, I can’t really say how long it took me because so much time was involved with the trials and errors of getting the design just how I want it to look. 

Little things like the color thread to use for the cracks in the egg take time.  I used a brown thread for the crack the first time and then took it out because it blended too well.  Then the black thread that I used was too thick so that was pulled out.

It takes SO much time just getting the colors and the shape sizes just right that I really can’t even guesstimate how much time it might take to make this from start to finish other than saying lots and lots and lots of hours. 

Once this is made into a pattern though, I’d think that it could be done rather quickly.  It does have a lot of shapes and pieces but the chicks and eggs are whipped stitched on so that goes fast.  The embroidery is mostly straight stitches for the flowers and grass, so that goes quick too. 

Maybe next time I make this, I’ll keep a log of my time just to see how many hours it really does take from start to finish.

Gosh, I feel like I’m rambling now … I’m going to shut up and go shovel some snow!

Happy Day everyone!