Eggs-tra-Special Easter Egg Treats!!

HAPPY EASTER!!! - HAPPY SPRING!!!

Hope you are all enjoying sunshine and a nice weekend, although I know that storms have caused major problems in some parts of the country. It's sunny here in Minnesota and so nice to go out without a coat!!
Now, just as I did at Valentine's Day, I wanted to share with you my little miniature scenes and these are my Easter Gift Boxes.................. however, blogger is really making it difficult today! For some reason, photos start to load and then the process stops. I have loaded off and on for over an hour just to get these pics posted! I took individual photos of each so that you can see the details so you can double click on the photos to enlarge and see the details in the boxes. The largest box is only about 8 to 9" tall and the items in the boxes are on a scale of 1" = 1'. I used lots of clay, bits of ribbon, rims and all sorts of odds and ends to create the little scenes. :-)

Inside the yellow Gift Box there is a table made of an orange concentrate can and covered with a daintly little tablecloth. Those are real tiny twigs that I painted white for the egg tree. The little eggs are made from Fimo clay and so are the pink bunny on the floor of the scene and the "chocolate egg" on the table and the imitation "Cadbury" egg. I used white craft paint to simulate the white and yellow creme center for the eggs. The basket is made from needlepoint canvas that has been softened in warm water, then shaped over a pill bottle, fastened in place with a rubber band until dry, and then excess fabric was trimmed away. A bit of paint adds color and embroidery floss was used for trim and to wrap the wire handle.

While most of the items in the boxes are just whatever I could create from odds and ends, the little rabbit in the pink dress is the design of Donna Parker. I was a member of the Midwest Miniature Guild for more than 20 years and at one of our workshops we were all taught how to make Donna's little bunny folk. Really sweet, isn't she? It's just a wire amature and then wrapped in fleece and dressed up.

The dress was created using a product by Dureen Ruff called "The Mini Pleater" which allows you to place a length of fabric in this mold of sorts and then press and Poof!! you have pleated fabric. I made several of these for family and friends because they were just so cute.

I pictured the three smaller Gift Boxes all in one photo.........

There are more Easter Baskets and pom-pom bunnies and chocolate bunnies made from Fimo. Oh, and the little chicks are the tiniest of pom-poms that have little dots of paint for their eyes and teeny tiny beaks and feet cut from orange construction paper. piec

My favorite of all the Easter Gift Boxes is the little gray bunny made from two pom poms. I glued them to a felt base and then with sharp scissors I clipped and sculpted until I had the shape of a bunny. Then I added felt ears and a little white cottontail. His little eyes are black beads and his mouth is formed with black thread stiffened with Tacky glue. As noted, the little imitation Cadbury egg is made from Fimo clay. :-)

The Easter Boxes, and those shown at Valentines Day, were all created in 1991. I entered them in the Scott County Fair and earned a Blue Ribbon on the set of five. I also earned a Blue Ribbon on the Valentine boxes. Come October, I'll show you the Blue Ribbon Halloween boxes and more in December that took a Grand Champion Ribbon. :-) I did these for my kids to have some piece of what I made with my hands. I had made a lot of the boxes for sale when I was working parttime at a nearby elementary school. I set a goal to make a holiday set for my own family and after that, I never created any more for sale. Lots of time and energy goes into the boxes and when I transitioned to working full time for a computer company, it was no longer viable to make them and sell them.

Hope you have enjoyed this little tour of my miniature Gift Boxes. Have a lovely weekend!

Sandi

The Easter Egg Tree!

I love eggs! Like to eat them and love to decorate real eggs. I like to make eggs from felt, too and so I wanted to show you my egg tree from 2004. I designed this little egg pin pattern and enlarge the eggs a bit to create the ones on the tree. I didn't make all of them, though. I asked my friends to make some for me. I gave them the pattern and asked them to make an egg for my egg tree. I love looking at it because it reminds me of those friends and all the fun we shared while stitching. This one is actually in a large gold picture frame (about 24" x 28").

In 2005, I made another egg tree wall hanging. I made this one as a sample for National Nonwoven's booth at Fall Market that year. This time, I made all the eggs and the bunny in the flower pot base.

I recently gave this pattern to the members of a swap on my Wooly Buddies group. We had a fun exchange with each of us making a little egg as a pin and than adding other goodies to send to our partner. I would show you a picture but blogger is not letting me load the one I want. I am just not having good luck with the computer these past days. :-( Anyway, the pattern for the eggs, the tree and lots of other projects involving these eggs is "in the works" as a small pattern booklet and will be available this fall, 2009. I'll keep you posted on when it will be available for sale.

Time for lunch. Back in a few with more eggs-tra-special egg projects!

Sandi

The Great Easter Basket Adventure!

It started simply enough..........Last October our women's meeting at church was all about planning the calendar for 2009. Everyone volunteers until the calendar is filled. I said I would do a program for April on Easter traditions and then said "and then let's all bring an empty Easter basket and fill them for donation to the Foodshelf". Good plan!! I thought we might end up with a little more than a dozen baskets because there are only about a dozen who regularly attend the meetings. I had lots of eggs and grass on hand and thought I would buy candy and some little toys for the baskets.
Fast forward to just three weeks ago, when Carmen our Guild president said "I think I'll mention it to the congregation" and so she did. The next Sunday, several people brought empty Easter baskets to church and then someone handed me a $10 check and another person handed me an envelope with $10 cash and both intended for candy and gifts for the baskets. An hour after church that day, Carmen called to say someone had made an anonymous donation of $50 to go toward the Easter Basket project!! Oh, my word! Wow, and we hadn't even had our Guild meeting yet!!
So come Thursday, April 2nd, we held our meeting and attendance was 20 that day and here's what everyone brought.............eggs, candy, grass, toys, and a whole laundry basket filled with yo-yos, card games, and more that were donated from a company that is no longer in business. It was too much stuff to fill the 27 baskets that were donated at the church so I took them home to my dining room table. That night, I walked around and around my table evenly distributing the candy and treats among the baskets. The next day, I went shopping and got 17 more baskets, more candy, grass and eggs and added them to the pile on my table. More walking around and around the table (I actually got dizzy) evenly distributing the goodies. And here's what we ended up with............ 44 filled Easter baskets that I delivered to our county Foodshelf last Saturday morning! They were very much appreciated!

Two views, one from each end of the table. I filled each egg with chocolates and each basket got at least two toys, plus bubbles, and candy, some stickers and all the goodies kids enjoy finding in an Easter basket!! :-)

On Palm Sunday, I made an announcement and thanks for everyone's generosity and let the little ones know that we were only assisting the Easter Bunny here, not taking his job away or anything! LOL! We are going to do this again next year and need to put together five times as many baskets to reach the children in need in our county but we can do it. The Easter basket is not the reason for Easter but to a child receiving that basket is a special rite of spring. Giving a child a smile is a real joy..........which reminds me, when Sister Ann at the Foodshelf wrote in the receipt book the weight of the baskets, she noted "59 lbs. of Easter Joy!!" And the bonus in that is that all items are weighed and logged in because there is some kind of matching funds program. This whole adventure was a great deal of fun and we all remembered the joy of getting that Easter basket, dressing up on cold spring mornings, and then off to church for Easter service. So, if you celebrate Easter, may this weekend be one of real joy with friends and family and many blessings!!

Sandi

Cupcakes!!!

I made some treats for Easter and you can read more about it if you pop over to my "Tea and Stitches" blog. There is also a cute little Easter basket project that can be done many different ways. Take a peek.........just click here

An update on my BOM mailings........I am caught up to February and working through those who sent e-mails in March. I may have missed some of you so please send me an e-mail if you have not received any blocks by next Monday.

An update on the Emma blocks........I have received blocks from Claire, Debi, Emma, Linda, and more plus some local quilters have now contributed blocks. I am only waiting on blocks from four bloggers and if I don't receive them by Friday I will send an e-mail to see if blocks are being sent or not. Thanks to all of you that contributed blocks. I will post more on this after Easter.

Last week at this time, I was preparing a message on Easter traditions and thoughts that I was to present at our Women's Guild meeting (held last Thursday). My next post will be about the awesome story of what transpired last week. All I'll say right now is that we really helped the Easter Bunny out a lot this year! :-)
More soon.
Sandi

It's Tulip Time!!!

The wind is blowing at about 30 mph outside my sewing room window and if there were any tulips budding outside they might look like this one!! Surely spring will bloom soon!!

This is a simple design that can look so different depending on the color you choose for your tulip. If you want more than one tulip, add a couple and make it a "bunch". :-)

Here are the pattern pages..........

And while there is still some snow on the ground here in Minnesota, there are spots where some tulip bulbs are beginning to pop up next to houses and soon they'll be blooming all over!!

You can stitch the design above in Redwork or traditional embroidery, anything you wish. If you want to do it as an applique block, then use the pattern pieces below and back with fusible web to apply to the block.

Now, as promised in my previous post, I will be e-mailing the pdf files to those of you on my e-mail list. I received many new requests to be added to the list and will be sending to everyone who has e-mailed me since January. I will do a mass e-mail of these blocks in pdf file and then I will be contacting each of you individually to make sure you are receiving the blocks. This could take a few days as there are about 300 of you on the e-mail list now. I have had offers from two bloggers who have ideas on how to create a more efficient mailing list and of a site where I can post pdf's and you can go there and retrieve them. I have looked into this and will probably make some of these changes over the next few weeks. I have a very full plate from now til May 4th and so the blocks for May will not be posted until May 8th. Thanks for sticking with my blog. Keep watching as come mid-May I will be sharing my plans for my one year blog anniversary. Can't believe all that has transpired since May of last year!! What an interesting journey and so much fun!!

Speaking of fun, while I didn't go any further for my spring break than my sewing room, I did enjoy hearing about my son's trip to New York City. He designed some artwork for a CD cover for someone (sorry can't remember her name) and went to New York for the opening night of her CD. He and his girlfriend, Stacia, had a great time and it was fun to hear how excited he was to see the sights and sounds along Fifth Avenue. I was there 36 years ago at a time when we lived in Dumont, NJ. We took my parents in to see Times Square, the Statue of Liberty and more and then up to West Point. My mother still talks about that trip. Ya never know, someday I may get back there yet!

Time to fix supper..........

Later then....

Sandi

Back from Spring Break.....

On my first day of my Spring Break, I was awakened by the sound of the dog barfing. That was not what I wanted to hear. The day got better, though. I found an on-line source for white wool when I contacted Stephanie at the Amana Colonies. I want to do some dyeing when spring finally comes and can hardly wait to the get the Ivory wool I ordered. Later in the afternoon, I had a nice conversation with Jim at TheGentleArt about their hand-dyed threads. He had sent some samples and I used them for the tulip penny rug that you see in the picture. I love the variation in the color as it gives variety to the stitched design. I used a pale yellow Perle cotton for the scalloped border.
That first day of my "Spring Break" was the only day that I really spent much time in my sewing room. I started working on controlling the chaos but didn't get very far because of an Easter Bunny project that multiplied. More on that later. :-)
When I closed my post last Wednesday, I was upset with myself because my sewing room was such a mess, I had misplaced the thread to finish the tulip penny rug (it was stuck by static to the side of my sewing chair), I couldn't find the sketch for the April Snowman (I had drawn it at the end of February so I'd be ahead of the game in April!) and there was loads of stuff going on that you don't care about but it needed my attention here. There's still a lot of stuff going on so I may not be blogging regularly for a couple of weeks here. Fortunately, the thread was found and so was the April Snowman sketch (attached to my yellow clipboard and lost in a stack of magazines and designs). Some chaos has been controlled. :-)
It has definitely been an interesting Spring Break with some sun, some fun, some rain, some drama, some shopping, and some SNOW!! I can't believe how long Spring is taking to make her appearance her in Minnesota!
Today, I'll be finalizing the patterns for April and will get them posted. Then on Tuesday, I will e-mail the pdf files to those who are on my e-mail list. Some of you need blocks from previous months and I will be going through individual e-mails to verify that I have sent you the correct blocks. I am looking at other options that would make this easier but have not made any decisions yet. I am so not technical. Learning lots though but it takes my old brain longer to process it all as nothing clicks as quickly as it did when I was younger. :-(
Back again by the evening with the April BOM patterns........
Sandi

No foolin'.........yep, it's a long post.........

That's right........no foolin', we got snow last night. It will probably have melted by the time I get up in the morning. Not the case further north where they got much more snow and blizzard conditions. All that on top of the flooding!! Yes, here in Minnesota, March definitely went out like a lion. Hopefully the waters will slowly go down and the danger of more flooding will soon pass.

So, have you been fooled yet today? I have no plans to fool anyone. I will be heading out to the post office in the morning so I will be watchful for those that might want to fool me. I am sometimes quite easy to fool which is not always a good thing. My son describes it as "mom is a little gullible". I guess that means I would have bought the Brooklyn Bridge. LOL!!

I am nearly finished with that penny rug I posted yesterday. I would be completely finished if I hadn't misplaced the thread I am using for the final border. I've looked up and down and it's just not showing up so I will try again in the morning. In my search for the thread, I did get my box of threads all organized so some good did come of misplacing it.
Speaking of misplacing things, I must now confess. I would have posted the April blocks but I have misplaced the snowlady I drew a month ago. I was going to be so organized and got the sketch finished so I could post on April 1st. Well, I have pulled so many files and papers in preparing for programs and such in recent weeks, that my sewing room is in a terrible state and I cannot find the stack that has the sketch in it. Yes, I am that messy that I have misplaced the sketch.
I think it's time for me to take a vacation. I haven't had one since a trip to San Diego in December of 2005. My trips to Iowa don't count as vacation. I'm talking about a spring getaway type trip. I imagine a warm climate. San Diego in fact, would be just right. There would be a trip to Rosie's Quilt Cupboard that would make me smile, then dinner at Casa de Pico or Casa Guadalajara in Bazaar del Mundo in Old Town San Diego. Then we could go to the beach and watch the sunset and delight in the fact that we didn't have to wear a winter coat. Sounds divine, but it's not gonna happen anytime soon.
I do need a break though, to get re-energized and bring some order to my sewing room so here's what I'm going to do............. I'm taking a break from blogging for the next five days. I'll be back on Monday. I'll have the blocks for April for you and will finally post the ornaments on my Christmas blog and will have news to add to the crazy quilting blog. Also, I mentioned earlier this week that I am going to be making some changes to my blogging and here are two............first one is that I'm going to take Sundays off from now on and not do any blogging at all. Several bloggers follow this path and I think it's a good idea. Second thing..........I had originally set the 1st Wednesday of the month for my Tea and Stitches post but last month and again this month, I want to do the tea just before the holiday in these months. So, from now on, the date will not be the first Wednesday of each month. Instead, I'll post the date for the next tea in the upper right corner of the Tea and Stitches blog. There are other changes coming, too, but that's enough for now.


Now before I take off for my Spring Break in Sewing Room, MN, I have to share the story behind the yo-yo cross you see in the picture. My mother, Mary, made it in September of 2007. My dad was in the Care Center and my mother was living in an apartment nearby. To cheer her up on her birthday, I asked as many of my quilting friends as I could think of to send her a card and include a fat quarter. Didn't have to be a new one, just one that she could use for hand-sewing blocks while she visited my dad. My friends came through big-time and sent cards and wrote notes and included multiple fat-quarters for her. She brought the cards to the Care Center to show to my dad and he thought it was so cool he was sure it should be written up in the local paper. There were all these cards from all over (some friends told their friends, etc. so some cards came from people I didn't even know) and it was a really neat thing. She decided she would make yo-yos from the fabrics but wasn't sure what she would do with the yo-yos once they were made. That was all in September. A little over one month later, my mother fell ill with complications from kidney stones and developed sepsis in her blood stream. The outlook was not good. My brother, sister and I spent long hours at the hospital while she was in intensive care. I brought my dad to visit her and it was so hard for him to see "Ma" so sick. I would stay the night at the hospital and my brother would come after he took his daughter to school and I would go to my mom's apartment to shower and then return to the hospital. I had Kaiser, our beagle, with me and my cousin, Faye, walked him when I was at the hospital.
On the fourth day that my mom was in intensive care, I was at her apartment and Kaiser was snooping around when he started chewing on something. I thought it was a bundle of fabric until I picked it up and saw that it was something made of yo-yos. Then I realized it was a cross. I took it with me to the hospital and I taped it to the wall at the foot of her bed where she could see it if she woke up. And after five long days, she began to respond with just the tiniest squeeze of her hand - hard to feel because she was retaining so much fluid - and eventually she got stronger she moved from ICU to a regular floor. She left the hospital after a couple of weeks and was transitioned for rehab to the Care Center where my dad was living. He was so glad to have her nearby. I learned that she had made the cross just shortly before she fell ill. It hangs now in her living room. There have been many ups and downs for her with her health in the last year and the passing of my dad last spring made it even a little harder. But this is a new spring and she's doing well and as you know, we get out and do some serious shopping and such when I visit her. :-) So where am I going with this.........well, I'm not sure, I just know I wanted to share the story. This is, for lack of a better word, a "tender time" for us because it was just a year ago about this time when my dad's health failed rapidly and he passed away. We all grieve in our own way but I think when this spring comes and we see the headstone and green grass and share more stories, it won't seem quite so sad. It's funny, though, because my mom said that sometimes she'll read something in the paper and think "oh, Melvin would like to read that" and then, of course, she stops herself and knows he's gone. I do the same thing, too. I thought I was crazy until someone on one of the Yahoo groups that I'm in said that they did the same thing. It takes time to heal. And so, I need some time right now, need to take a break. I'll see you on Monday and be fresh and ready to get back to blogging.
Thanks for listening.
Sandi