Happy Easter

Easter is finally here!  After a very long, cold and snowy winter, we are now looking forward to the awakening of spring bulbs and flowering trees.  In the Chicago area, the jonquils have broken through the frozen ground but not blooming yet.  Neither are the redbud or flowering crab.  Everything is later than normal.  Even Easter is late this year!  I love this time of the year and am looking forward to my son and his family coming for Easter dinner.  Because I have 2 little grandsons age 5 and 7,  I wanted to have things decorated to make the holiday as special for them as possible.  I have to tell ya that the one thing I got the most excited about this year -- Kool Aid dyed eggs!  Who knew?  One of our granddaughters told me about making hard boiled eggs in the oven using a muffin tin.  Now I have to admit that I thought she was a little nuts but decided to try it and it worked!  Place an egg in each muffin receptacle and cook at 325 degrees for 30 min.  They get some brown spots on them but when you place them in the dye those all disappear.  The colors are wonderful!  So, the table is decorated using my parents collection of Vintage Grape flatware, my grandfather's buttermilk glasses, a set of wine glasses from the 1880's that my dad purchased years ago, some of my white ironstone pieces and a ceramic rabbit that my mom made when I was a little kid.  Lots of memories for me and I hope new ones for my grandchildren.  One of my favorite memories of Easter was the year that my dad chewed up carrots and left a trail throughout the house for me to follow in order to find my basket!  I think I was 5 or 6 at the time.  Happy Easter everyone!

Show and Tell Fridays

Springtime in the South

Just returned from a short trip to Asheville, NC area to check on my home that is for sale there.  I decided to drive this time because I thought the redbud and dogwood would be blooming which makes for a beautiful trip.  And I was right! Lots of things blooming and welcoming the long awaited spring.

Easter Santa

As a chid, I loved Easter!  The chocolate of course, the fun of dying the eggs and waiting for them to be hidden, and the new outfit to wear to church Easter morning.  Now, it's still the chocolate but I can appreciate the colors of Spring -- the many shades of green from new leaves starting to open, the flowering plants and bulbs that have broken through the ground after a long hard winter.  Oh yes, did I mention the chocolate?

Every month I have been showing you a Santa that I did in counted cross stitch on Aida cloth #14.  This one is so cute because Santa has on his bunny ears and is busy painting and decorating eggs.  A basket of completed eggs sits at his feet and a stuffed bunny watches from a shelf.  One of my favorite patterns in this 12 month set.  Happy Easter!