And what an Easter it was– we had the entire cast of characters for a nice long weekend.

The Bunny Brothers made an appearance.

Eggs were hidden, then found.
(I still may be finding some over the course of the next few years–
the Bunny Bros. counted and there’s still nine out there.)

The meadow had its first ever Easter Parade.

Baskets were opened.

And peeps were consumed!

Lamb-y Cake was made– and not consumed– it was just too pretty!

All in all, it was one for the ages! And it’s now Tuesday– time to get back to reality.

I frequently remind myself, this is supposed to be a sewing blog, and I’m happy to report, some sewing actually occurred before the food shopping and cleaning and cooking had to happen. I did finish my eight BRIO blocks as I had hoped in our last post. All they need is borders to finish my idea of eight placemats and a three-block table runner.

And the table runner just needs one more round of borders. It is BIG! NONE of this is really going to fit on my picnic table, I now realize. I really have no concept of size in my head. But if it rains for summer BBQs, it might all just fit on my dining room table, fully extended.

On the longarm, I finished the dove pillow shams and I’m fairly pleased with them.

I ain’t gonna lie– sometimes longarm tension can really get you down. I’m not mechanical, so it’s a steep uphill for me. I changed thread types from cotton to polyester and was getting some blobs of thread on the back. (Bird nests for my doves– and for Easter, right?) I really kept my patience and worked through it– it would have been really hard to throw a 100lb. sewing head against the wall, anyway. And I learned a few things, got it sorted out, and am ready to work on my leaf show quilt. It turns out that it’s really dry up here– a few good squirts of Sewer’s Aid solved the problem. Good news about my pillow shams– no one is going to see the backs anyway!

My feathers still don’t bear close inspection– but who’s going to closely inspect it, anyway?

Then, I have an assignment for the upcoming baby shower– make a banner. The color of the baby’s room is coral, so it’s going to be used as a decoration after. It’s easy to make and I had the perfect Fig Tree fabrics for it. I’ll probably embroider the baby’s name, after it is “official.” I’ve seen banners on quilt-y blogs for a long time– but this is my first.

I did get a little hand cross stitch at night done– over the weekend, I sometimes said I was going to bed early, when really I took some “me” time to relax at the end of the day. Gosh– my growing family can EAT. It was constant cooking– I had planned for a lot of leftovers– there weren’t. (Thanks to the DD, I made it through!)

You can see the Appalling Cross Stitch is rapidly coming to a conclusion. I finished the girl and gifts and pet ornaments are almost done. Only two left to finish the column. I had to order some extra green and brown floss which I’m still waiting for. I used Classic Colorworks thread– it is beautiful, but honestly I think I’d call myself a DMC girl, not only for the pricing, but for the ease of buying it locally, even up here.

I’m really going to push to finish it– no scrolling time at night anymore. Why, you say? Because I have decided my granddaughter needs a hand cross stitched stocking! For all the plethora of cross stich being designed right now, no one is really making these anymore– except maybe Herrschner’s, so I picked this up on eBay. It’s been Brand New in Package since 2007! Since I attribute feelings to inanimate objects, I imagined the relief this thing felt to be opened, to breathe, and to hope it is finally getting made.

I have until Christmas– do you think I can do it? I’m betting I can! We’re finally getting some warmer weather, and after this happy family weekend, I’m in high good humor this week. Have a wonderful one, yourself!

xox
Carol