Pussy Willows (a Little out of Season)

 I love decorating with pussy willows late winter/early spring, and I've long admired DusiCrafts's beautiful patterns, so I bit the bullet and bought one. And then I made two ornaments, one for my mom and one for me:

The nice thing about DusiCrafts's patterns is that she offers a lot of options -- several different versions of the pussy willow branches, some with buds and some just with catkins, Easter eggs to add to the design, and different sizes and shapes for the ornaments themselves. I liked being able to customize them a bit!
 

Egg Hunt

 Done! 

I’ve been working on Satsuma Street’s Egg Hunt since the pandemic, but only for a couple of weeks around Easter each year. This year when I pulled it out I saw how close I was to finishing, so I made a big push to do it. Now I just need to find a nice frame for it. 

Bead Candy Eggs

Cath Thomas has a wonderful modification of her bolas tutorial to make beaded stripey Easter eggs. So of course I made a bunch (you can't stop at one!), playing around with colors and sizes: 

 I've got decades of experience in mentally flipping stitching instructions from left to right, because I'm a lefty in a world of righties. But this tutorial defeated me; there was no way I could figure out the join until I finally turned my beadwork inside out to force it to match the images in the tutorial.  The zipping up, though, is the best part 😍.

Yellow, Yellow ...

It wouldn't be the end of a holiday season if I didn't have a last-minute finish. Tomorrow is Pentecost, so today I blog about my needlepoint Easter egg:

The pattern is Elegant Egg by Julie Sackett. I love the Watercolours thread I used -- Carnival -- and I had fun picking matching threads. I finished it by sewing it to yellow ultrasuede, and disguising the inevitable lumpiness with the palestrina stitch along the seam. It's a great stitch for neatening things up.

Back to the Stitch 9 Challenge!

Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop

Welcome! Jo from Serendipitous Stitching is running her annual Easter blog hop. It's not actually Easter yet, although Lent ended yesterday; for these few days we are waiting for what comes. This was a challenging Lent for me this year, with a lot of suffering and penitence -- as I guess it should be -- and I'm looking forward to the Easter season and all things joyous and springy. And to start it off, I have not one but two finishes!

ignore the wrinkles

This is April from The Snowflower Diary's Joyful World series, with some thread changes to accommodate my stash. I'm not doing all twelve months, so I changed "April" to "Easter." This was also one of my nine cross stitch projects to finish this year, as part of Farm Girl's Stitch 9 Challenge, so: Yay! Finish number 2!

I was also itching to stitch some felt, so I made this egg:

The flowery fill is taken from Wendi Gratz's Continuous Stitching pattern, and I'm quite pleased with the result. Except for the shape of the egg; it doesn't matter how carefully I trace an egg shape, my stitched eggs end up lumpy and misshapen. Sigh.

But enough of my inexact stitching! You are here for a letter, and here it is:

Go to Little Stitches Art for the next letter.

Happy Easter, happy hunting, and happy stitching!

What I’m Stitching

Easter Eggs

I did a little pre-Easter crocheting:

I found the patterns here, here, and here, but because my wooden eggs were different sizes from the ones recommended (and my yarn was a lighter weight), I adjusted and added to the patterns quite a bit.  The one on the left is for my mom, the middle one for me, and I'm not sure what I'll do with the third.

Bunny Foo Foo Now Has an Egg

Pattern from here.  I used a plastic egg (the kind for kids' egg hunts; there are currently a bunch floating around my living room) rather than a styrofoam one.

1 Year of Stitches: Week 15

The picture's not great, but you can see the little motifs I stitched this week -- a crown of thorns, a lamb, and an Easter egg for the holidays.  I also saw the Mummies exhibit at the Museum of Natural History, and was inspired to stitch a creepy little Chinchorro death mask.  There was some beautiful embroidery on some of the wraps that I wanted to sketch, but Beadboy1 had other ideas (mainly, to go home) and he pretty much dragged me as fast as he could through the exhibit.

Happy Easter!

Little Bunny Foo Foo

Last month I itched to start crocheting again, maybe a cute little brown bunny to sit next to Maggie Rabbit.  After searching pinterest and ravelry, I settled on this pattern by Lisa Power.

I used buttons for the eyes, and felt for the nose.  There weren't any specific directions for sewing the bunny parts together so I had to figure it out myself, with mixed results.  Originally I planned a dress for her like Maggie's, but then I was inspired to make a crown of flowers from some scraps of Liberty fabric (and they hide the messy joinder of the ears to the head!).

Here they are together:

Just in Time for Pentecost

I managed to finish one last Easter egg:

It's a Lizzie*Kate kit, "A Little Grey Hare," and the last thing I bought from my beloved local needlecraft store, Lazy Daisy Stitchery -- they've closed their brick-and-mortar store, but are still open online.  I omitted the little beads on the Easter eggs (they didn't stand out enough and there weren't enough of them to make them worthwhile) and made the tulips solid-color (just a preference).

Easter Crafting

I'm not getting nearly as much done this year. In addition to increasing my hours at work and dealing with Beadboy3's terrible twos, it seems I can't finish anything I start, whether because I lack the right materials or I can't solve a design problem or even I just lose interest.  But I did get some Eastery stitching and crafting done.

Shiny Happy World's Fancy Felt Egg:

An egg wrapped in fabric strips:

There are a ton of tutorials out there for this.  I cut not-very-precise 1/4 inch strips and wrapped them around one of the kids' plastic eggs, using Modge Podge to hold it all in place.

I like to display my eggs in a big bowl on the mantle, but because I've used so many techniques (and bought some made from all sorts of materials), I've tried to get a more cohesive look by limiting the color palette -- pinks and purples, greens, and teals:

I can't resist a cheery yellow, though, so I got a little bowl for them, too:

I also stitched Down Grapevine Lane's Bunny in a Hoop:

Rather than lots of floss colors, I used the Caron Collection's Waterlilies silk thread in "confetti."  Easter lasts 50 days, so I should be able to finish the hoop, ha ha!

Why Be Subtle?

The Bohemian box of beads I got from Blueberry Cove Beads had some very large brass filigree pendants that I didn't really know what do with -- they were far too big to fit on the necklace, and weren't really my style, anyway.  But their Facebook page shared an image from L'annexe de Marie, who has absolutely gorgeous fiber art and jewelry, including stunning pieces made of brass findings sewn onto felt and embellished with beads and embroidery.  Now I knew what to do with those pendants!

I love them -- enormous and colorful and fun to wear. Kind of like Easter eggs for the ears!

After making two pairs of earrings from the brass filigrees that came with the box of beads, I hunted through my stash until I found two matching brass findings to make a smaller, more sedate pair. The big ones with a coral background are for me; the other two are for sale in my etsy store.

This Year's Eggs

I've had Easter egg embroidery patterns (from the defunct Needlecraft Magazine out of England) for almost 20 years, and this year I finally made two of them:

The rabbits were for me, the cross for Beadmom.  As usual, I embroidered perfectly egg-shaped eggs that became lumpy when I sewed and stuffed them.

These earrings are from a Fusion Beads pattern:

This year I decided the Beadboys would dye blown eggs, that way I could keep them for future craft ideas.  Over a week I carefully blew out eight eggs, and Easter Monday we sat down to dye.  Only I didn't think about the fact that hollow eggs float, so we had to hold the eggs in the dye with our fingers.  And I didn't add vinegar to the dye because we were also dying marshmallows, but that meant the color didn't take as well as I wanted.  The sad result:

One of the eggs didn't survive the process

The kids didn't care, but I did.  So a few days later I brushed on some watercolor paint, keeping it streaky for a homemade vibe (... yeah, that's why they are streaky):

Enjoy the rest of the Easter season!

Easter Wrap-Up

After dying the Easter eggs it seemed a waste to throw out the dye, so I searched pinterest for some ideas.  Dying yarn looked intriguing, but there were too many steps and I had no white wool yarn, so that was out.  Paper towels, on the other hand, I had.  I dipped them in the dye and squeezed out the excess, and hung them to dry.  The pretty stack:

I cut each towel into four pieces, and folded each piece three times:

I then strung them onto Fireline thread (strong and flexible), using my patented random-lookalike technique:

Next year I'm thinking of having the kids dye blown eggs, because Mr. Beadgirl is the only one who likes hardboiled eggs and there are only so many he can eat.  If we do that successfully, maybe I'll restring the dyed paper, interspersing eggs.

I also finished the cross stitch bunnies from a couple of years ago by backing them with some sweet calico and gluing them onto a ribbon:

Unfortunately, top-stitching around the ovals stretched the bias, making the edges a little ruffly.

Finally, for Easter Sunday I made the New York Time's Clementine Cake, and it was delicious, especially with the chocolate glaze. I'd show you, but apparently I forgot to take a picture.  The candied clementines, on the other hand, were not delicious -- they came out brown and burnt-tasting.  I hate it when a recipe defeats me*, so the next time I try this I will not top them with the second baking sheet and/or lower the temperature to 200 degrees and/or watch them like a hawk.

*This is apparently an Easter tradition.  Two Easters ago this lemon cake was a major fail, and last Easter (-ish, humor me) a pink lemonade cake I tried -- twice -- came out both burnt and under-cooked.**

**Actually, I now suspect that recipe was based on the evil lemon cake recipe from two years ago, which would explain the fail.

A Carrot, Just Because

I made it using peyote stitch and seed beads, size 15 orange and size 11 green.

Body of carrot:

Rounds 1 and 2: String 12 beads onto a length of nymo thread, and pass through the first bead again to form a circle, leaving a fifteen inch tail.

Rounds 3-12: Peyote stitch, adding 6 beads total for each round.

Round 13: Peyote stitch around, but decrease once by passing through two beads of the previous round without adding a new bead; add a total of 5 beads.

Rounds 14-16: Peyote stitch, adding 5 beads total for each round.

Round 17: Peyote stitch around, decreasing by one bead for a total of 4 beads added this round; try to place decrease on opposite side of carrot as previous decrease.

Round 18-20: Peyote stitch, adding 4 beads total for each round.

Round 21: Peyote stitch around, decreasing by one bead for a total of 3 beads added this round; try to place decrease on opposite side of carrot as previous decrease.

Round 22-24: Peyote stitch, adding 3 beads total for each round.

Round 25:  Peyote stitch around, decreasing by one bead for a total of 2 beads added this round; try to place decrease on opposite side of carrot as previous decrease.

Round 26: Peyote stitch around, adding two beads total.  Pull stitching tight to close, and weave and end thread.

Top of carrot:

Thread needle with tail and peyote stitch around, decreasing by one bead for a total of 5 beads added. 

Repeat, decreasing once for a total of 4 beads added.  Pull tight, and weave thread through a few beads to secure, before exiting through one of the last four beads added.  Do not cut thread.

Leafy top (branched fringe):

String 9-13 beads; skipping last bead added, go back through 4-5 beads and pull snug. 

Add 8-12 beads, and skipping last bead added, go back through 3-4 beads and pull snug. 

Add 4 beads, and skipping last bead added, go back through three beads. Go back through the rest of the beads that are on the "vertical" line (i.e. not part of the two little branches you made).  Exit the very first green bead you added, and pass through the next orange bead in the last round. 

Repeat three more times, for a total of four fringes.  To finish, weave thread back through the carrot and clip.

Egg Hunt

I did NeedleKnowledge's Easter egg SAL:

Hooped up, the egg shape was near perfect, and I was careful to sew just along the outside edge of the chain stitch, yet the stuffed egg is all lumpy and weird.  Sigh.


It's not a major holiday if I don't do a Martha Stewart craft:

I didn't actually have styrofoam eggs, so I took styrofoam balls and hacked at them until they were vaguely ovoid.  I love the roving; I used the teal one to make one of my favorite pairs of earrings.

Tiny beaded eggs, based on a pattern from Fusion Beads:

I didn't have size 8 seed beads in Eastery colors, so I made them with size 11 beads.  And originally intended to make earrings, but I couldn't decide on a favorite color way (also, I really have a lot of earrings).  Perhaps a charm bracelet or necklace?  Or some sort of ornament?

Finally, traditional Easter eggs, dyed by the Beadboys:

Yes, that's two swords on the red egg.  It's kind of Eastery, I guess.  I had lots of dye left, so I tried a couple more projects with it, which I'll write about later.

Egg Cookies

I thought I'd try the new Martha Stewart recipe for Painted Egg Cookies; less for the cookie recipe itself and more for the unusual glaze -- tempera, or egg yolk mixed with a bit of color.  I find decorating cut-out cookies tedious, but this seemed like a good shortcut, because one simply brushes on the dyed egg yolk before baking.

And it was a good shortcut!

Mine, of course, aren't anywhere near magazine-quality, but they were good nonetheless.  I did learn that it is wise to let the yolk rest after mixing in the dye, to reduce baked-in air bubbles.  And next time I think I will try adding a pinch of sugar to the yolk.

Easter Crafting

The Buttermilk Basin pattern ("My Wool-Crazy Years" -- April) I bought at the quilt show:

Beadboy2 saw me working on this and was inspired to make his own version:

A wool egg for my mom, to replace the one mice nibbled on (Little Stitches Needful Things pattern):

Happy Easter!

The Good Thing About Liturgical Calendars

is that they give you more time to finish projects.  It's still the Easter season, technically, so it's ok that I only now just finished the bunnies I've been stitching:

The patterns are from the "Bunny Collection" by JBW Designs, which was oddly insistent that they be used as baby gifts.

I'm not sure how I will finish them -- perhaps make each into an oval ornament and link them together with ribbon.