Chicken Scratch Heart

I'm not exactly sure when I finished working on the actual embroidery on this one.  I'm sure it was several months ago.  I just couldn't decide what I wanted to do with it.  I thought about making it into a pillow, but I figured that in a house with 3 boys who like to throw pillows at each other, and two cats that sometimes knead on pillows, it wouldn't last too long.  My mother suggested that I frame it instead, so that's what I finally did, yesterday.  I went to Walmart, hoping to find a nice white frame, and to my astonishment, I actually found one.

When I was younger, I remember my mother showing me how to do chicken scratch embroidery (also called Hoover lace, among other things) and decided to try my hand at it again.  I could remember the general nature of it, but I couldn't remember all of the stitches and exactly how each stitch corresponded to the squares on the gingham.  So, I did a quick search of the internet and found a great tutorial at Pink Paper Peppermints.  It's not hard to do, especially if you stick to the basic stitch, and you can use it to makes lots of different designs.

I'm planning to enter this piece in the country fair, so wish me luck!