Back to our regularly scheduled programming....

Gee, where to begin? What have I been doing you ask?

Well on Friday, I went to Michael's ("or Mitchell's, or Michelle's..." as my brother likes to say) and picked up multiple skeins of embroidery floss at 3 for $1. Before I left home, I went through my floss box and decided what colours I needed and when I was at the store I picked out my colours, carefully counting in 3's and repeating the total number in my head over and over, so I could tell the cashier. I was so proud of myself for remembering all the way from one end of the store to the other (literally). When I reached the till I cheerfully announced my number of total skeins thinking I was helpful but the sweet girl doing cash said " that's nice but they all have separate bar codes so I have to ring them in individually". Dang, so much for that.

When I got home, I realized that the cute little metal lunch box that my supplies were currently residing in would no long hold my new bounty. JP offered up a wonderful antique metal fishing box. It was wonderful and I set about organizing my colours and winding some onto bobbins. I even added felt feet to the bottom so the old metal wouldn't leave marks on our furniture. I finished my arrangement and carried it to his desk to show him my handiwork. He pretended to care and I closed up the lid to carry it away, when the latch let go and everything spilled on the floor - there I was like a servant girl, scooping up all my threads from the floor. It's happened to me twice since, so I will have to be extra careful when carting it around.

I then decided to do some needle felting. Here is a little chicky - I like how the wings are made- using your scissors to cut a triangular piece (it's hard to see in this photo isn't it?) The eyes are beads and the beak and feet are felt that is sewn on.

I attempted to make a strawberry (from Craft: issue # 2) and an Easter egg, but both are poorly shaped. I think I am too impatient to keep working the roving. Either that, or I need different felting needles however, I am reluctant to blame the equipment.

I think this should be called an Easter Rock because it's certainly not egg shaped: Here is an example of some of my Easter table decorations, several amigurmi chicks are included, along with a chicken kitchen timer, a wind-up chick, some sequined decorations and an Easter tree that I did not make and a basket full of Clementine oranges:

In the collection, you will see an orange coloured stuffed rabbit - her name is Lucky:
Here's Lucky's story: years ago I worked at an importing company and the factories would often send us samples. In one of the boxes of sample stuffed animals was this orange lumpy bunny with pink satin feet, hands and ears. The designer/buyer and the office staff was horrified - they thought she was hideous. I thought (and still do) that she is not. And so I saved her from being thrown in the garbage can and called her Lucky - because no one else wanted her except me.

On Saturday, I gardened and then cooked our Easter dinner, we had: turkey breasts with cranberries, ham with pineapple, twice baked potatoes and Brussels sprouts. For dessert there was a pumpkin pie which we didn't get to, as they boys were most interested in the homemade rice pudding with dried cherries. Yum.

Sunday, was book day at Oscars Art Books on Broadway and lunch at the crepe restaurant up the street - have you ever had a Nutella milkshake? Wow. that's yummy. I'll have to tell you more about that in my next post.

And now, here's a look at some of the sweet flowers already in bloom in my garden:

Miniature daffodils

A flower bed of purple primulas

Hyacinths

Miniature Tulips

Grape Hyacinths