A dozen Easter eggs.....

Yesterday evening I crocheted a dozen Easter eggs for my tree. I happened upon this pattern on Scraponique's blog when I found adorable egg cozies on the same blog. Since I already had a pink yarn out as I am making crochet cherry blossoms, I decided to put them aside and make some eggs instead...

My white lit branches are my Easter tree again this year but in a very different way. They are on top of my hutch and hanging over so the egg ornaments hang free.

The antiqued white metal eggs are ones I have been using for the last few years but the pink crochet eggs work really well with them, don't you think? It is a soft look that makes me think of spring.

Speaking of spring...where is it? It is cold here in Holland with a biting east wind.

Are you making any fun and easy things for Easter this year?

Heidi

Bunny hop!

Every once in a while, I plan a surprise evening for the quilt group. March was our first surprise evening for this year. I had decided to spread my love of making bowl fillers by coming up with this project...

The felt, beads for bunny eyes, ribbon for bunnies and patterns were included in their evening. They were supposed to bring a pair of scissors and needle along with any ribbons, buttons, trims and laces they had. Each time I plan a surprise, it is always an exciting moment for me to see if the group is going to like the surprise. They all happily set to work...

I really had fun making these and hope all the ladies did too. Each will have a cute Easter display this year. I am going to cut out a few more eggs to make this weekend as these are really quick and fun to make...

Heidi

Oh this is so much fun!

This year is my year to give things to others ... handmade things. I am having so much fun being able to surprise people who up to now have had no idea that I was doing anything for them.

This is a WIP roll. It is a mini quilt that is used to roll up your stitching either while you are working on things or for finished pieces waiting for their final finishes. I had this laying in half done for Barbara for ages. My RAK year seemed the perfect time to dig it out and get it finished to send to her. She shares my love for autumn so I knew what I wanted to do with it from the start.

I just got an email from Maine saying it arrived so I can now share it with you. I need to get my March RAKs out now. Wonder where those will show up??? *wink*

Heidi

Of flowers and fairies and sewing needfuls.....

My February RAK gifts are a little late arriving but the first has reached its new home. I made a set of flower coasters for Catherine and sent them on their way. The mail was a little slow but they arrived safe and sound. Catherine and I have fun contact back and forth so I wanted to do something for her to say I enjoy our friendship. Too bad I cannot stop by and share a cup of tea in real life...

I am working on my UFO challenge each month. This little finish was one I forgot to show you last month. I had bought these charms to make a bracelet and never did it. They sat around for about 3 years I think. Yikes! So I had to get out my beads and charms (you will see why in a moment) and decided to finally make my bracelet of sewing needfuls.

 I have included a snail to remind me to slow down and enjoy each stitch, a quilt block, tape measure (to remember to measure twice and cut once), a sewing machine (for my own beautiful Singer called Florence), wooden shoes (as I live in Holland), a cat (as Dagi is my best stitching/quilting/crocheting/lacemaking friend ever!), a spool of thread, heart and hand (handmade with love), embroidery scissors (a love of collecting), thimble, spider (the symbol of good luck), button and iron (oh yes...I love to iron...is that strange?).

I am so pleased with my charm bracelet and love wearing it. I used to have one as a little girl but have no idea what happened to it. Why did it take me so long to get this one made?

Here is the reason why I had to get out my beads...

This fob is made for these adorable little scissors. A quilting friend of mine bought these for her granddaughter at the handwork fair in Zwolle. I offered to make a fob for them before she gives them to her. I hope they will both like it.

Heidi

I can sing a rainbow.....

Do you remember the children's little song Sing a Rainbow? That went through my mind as I put the last stitches in my rainbow shawl last Thursday.

I used two skeins of Scheepjes Invicta Colour sock yarn. The hook 4.5cm gives it a very lacy feel. It was so much fun to make this half granny shawl and watch which color came out of the skein next. I had fallen in love with the many shawls I have seen online using Noro sock yarn but decided on the Scheepjes seeing that it was really pretty yarn for half the price of the Noro yarn.

Friday, I wore it and was really surprised at how warm it kept me. I know it will be worn often as it matches any color I wear. I am really thrilled with my new shawl.

"Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue,

I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too."

Heidi

Extra, extra...read all about it...revisitied!

..."Does this bring visions of young boys in knickerbockers out on the street corner selling newspapers? Actually my father was one of those boys in a time far, far away. But this is news about my new big project. I am going to use the entire year to work on this one. No pressure or press deadlines for me."...

This was part of the text from a blog entry I posted back in March of 2010 (click here to read the original entry). It is about time that this UFO came back to life and got some serious work done. I think I took that "no pressure and no press deadline for me" just a bit too seriously. *grins*

I love this printer's tray and it was hung immediately when we moved into our new house two years ago but it has not been worked on for ages. I want to get a couple of larger projects finished by the end of this year. The printer's tray is one of them.

I used elements of three samplers in the book ABC Miniatures by Francoise Prax to create this sampler. It was fun putting them together to work well for this space. It was also great fun to work on something so small again. This sampler measures a little less than 3-1/2 inches square. 

I am going through my patterns now for the next spaces. I will be filling the four tiny squares next to the row of scissors. I am hoping to keep the momentum going and get them done by the end of March. Wish me luck.....

Heidi