Bunnies and Birds in Blue and Pink

Hello, my stitching friends! I hope March is treating you well? We've had some beautiful spring weather here and our daffodils just burst into bloom this week. Such a treat to see their golden yellow heads bobbing in the breeze--they sure do brighten up the landscape this time of year! With my grandson (and his mom and dad) coming for Easter, I've made sure to decorate my house for their visit and it sure is lovely to see all the little bunnies and birds popping up both in and outside my home. When I went to retrieve them from the dresser drawer where they're stored, I was a bit shocked to see just how many Easter/Spring smalls I've created through the years! I can't seem to stop making them either--in fact I'm working on six new ones that I hope to have finished by the end of March. For today, I'll just share some of my past finishes and how I've displayed them for the season.

I like to group my Easter decorations by color for some reason. You all know my favorite color is blue so it's no surprise that the majority of my Easter/Spring stitching features that color. This year, I used my two-tiered white metal basket (which I purchased at HomeGoods a few years ago) to anchor the display on the sideboard in my kitchen. I just love how it turned out!

Bunnies and birds in blue!

Here are some close-ups for you--if you'd like more information on each finish, just click on the name of it to be taken to my original post on that particular item...

In the top basket (left to right): "Spring Greetings Bouquet" by With Thy Needle and Thread, "Hello Spring" by Plum Street Samplers, a freebie called "Nest Under the Flowers" by Le Chalet des Perelles, and in the front is the Spring portion of "Four Seasons Band Sampler" from the March/April 2011 issue of Just Cross Stitch Magazine. That adorable gingham dressed bunny on the right was a gift from my sweet daughter-in-law.

Pictured in the above photo are (from left to right): a bunny from Prairie Schooler Book No. 163 "Signs of Spring," robin from the Spring 2020 issue of Punch Needle and Primitive Stitching Magazine by Subrosa Designs called "Bless Our Nest," "Paques" from Les Chalet des Perelles, a portion of "Welcome Spring" by With Thy Needle and Thread, and in front rests a freebie from The Snowflower Diaries called "Tulips with Bunny." The little bunny figurines in the front left are ones I've collected over the years and the blue and white rabbit plate is from TJ Maxx from a few years ago.

Featured here are the other half of "Welcome Spring" (on the left) and "Holiday Hoopla: Easter" both by With Thy Needle and Thread. Isn't that ceramic Peter Rabbit head darling? He belonged to my mother-in-law and I brought him home from Florida after my husband's family home in Naples  was flooded by Hurricane Ian in 2022. 

 

The one piece of stitching featured here is by Tiny Modernist and is called "Easter Wreath." It is sitting on that darling rabbit chair that I found at a thrift shop in Florida for only $5.00--one of my favorite finds ever! You can read about the little chair in this post.

So, there you have it--my blue Easter display. Do you have a favorite? I think mine is the sweet "Welcome Spring" pillow shown below that I stitched last year. It simply makes me smile :)

"Welcome Spring"--my favorite spring finish from 2023

My pink Easter finishes are displayed in my grandmother's old dough bowl and sit in the center of our kitchen table. Again... if you would like more information on each finish, just click on the names in the caption below the photo.

In the back row on the left is a design by Patrick's Woods called "The Heart's Chase," in the back middle is a Prairie Schooler Bunny from "A Prairie Year (Book No. 13)," and that sweet pair on the right is from The Snowflower Diaries and is a freebie called "Spring Bunny Love." In front of the rabbit couple on the right is another Prairie Schooler design from the PS Mini Card Set F. The one on the left stitched on black is a freebie from the Kissy-Cross blog,  and the tiny pillow in the very front is by Just Nan from the "Hummingbead Heaven" chart. 

And how about a favorite among the pink pieces? Mine is that sweet "Spring Bunny Love" couple that I stitched way back in 2013.

My favorite of the pink smalls: "Spring Bunny Love," a freebie from The Snowflower Diaries

Whew! Posts like this (where I link to past finishes) take a lot of time to put together! It's really hard to remember and track down the posts for some of the older pieces--and as my brain ages, it's not getting any easier! Anyway, I've had so many folks, both here and on Instagram, tell me how much they appreciate my efforts--and that it makes it worth all the effort. I've made many more Easter/Spring smalls in green and yellow hues, but I've run out of energy to post them today! However, if you scroll through my March and April posts from any given year, you're sure to find even more Easter and Spring stitching inspiration.

So, I'd love to hear about your plans for Easter... Will you be having visitors? What do you serve for Easter dinner? Do you have any special family traditions? I can hardly wait to spend Easter with 3 1/2 year old (Yes! How on earth did he get so old?!?) Mister B as he is so enthusiastic about all the traditions that accompany celebrations and holidays. Dyeing eggs, hunting for his Easter basket, making a bunny cake, etc. will all be part of our weekend with him. And while preparing for my visitors, I truly hope to squeeze in the finishing of the six small Easter finishes that I mentioned earlier in the post. We'll see...

In the meantime, I look forward to seeing your spring stitching and hearing about your plans for this very special Easter weekend coming up in just two weeks! Thank you all for stopping in today--I always love to read your comments and hear about what you're up to! And just a reminder...if you have a question for me, please make sure to include your email address so I can get back to you.  Bye for now...

Three Birds, Two Bunnies, and One Decadent Chocolate Cake!

Mid-April already??? I can hardly believe it! This is the time of year I would always look forward to the most--the end of tax season and the return of normal work hours for my husband. The boys and I rarely saw him from January 2nd to April 15th when he worked as a tax accountant/CPA. He worked every single day of the week, often not getting home until past our bedtime. I honestly felt like a single mother for those 3 1/2 months every year. Thankfully, he changed jobs about 20 years ago and life has been much better. But, still, even after all these years, mid-April is a time I associate with good things--warmer weather, blooming trees and flowers, singing birds, and digging in the soil (well, not that one so much--I am not a gardener anymore due to the deer who devour things as quickly as we plant them!). It's just such a happy month, don't you think?

I have two finishes to share with you today--one large and one small. The larger piece is one you last saw in September of 2016. But, I actually started it over five years ago! (This is why I tend to stitch one piece at a time--if I put it down for any length of time, it is a true struggle to go back to it). The first time I put it in "time out" was because I didn't know what to do about the "J" that was missing from the alphabet. Yes, I know many older samplers don't include the "J" or the "V," but, that bothers me... So I put it away in order to "think" about what I wanted to do. In 2016, I picked it up and decided to just leave it as charted--no "J." But, then I ran out of Weeks Dye Works "Kudzu!" I mean there is a lot of kudzu in this piece--everything green is kudzu... Just look at all of the leaves, grass, and stems! The replacement Kudzu arrived and I stitched all the way down to the house. And then I put it away again--I was so very tired of stitching all that green! Fast forward to earlier this month and I came across it again and literally said--out loud--"Carol, just get it done!" My husband was out of town so I "stitched like it was my job" and, voilà--here it is! Don't you love it?

"Birds Of a Feather" is finally finished!

"Birds Of a Feather" is a With Thy Needle and Thread design stitched on 40 ct. flax Newcastle linen with most of the suggested overdyed colors. I did change the birds to a bluer blue, but I lost the tag that stated the exact shade and have no idea what the lighter color is! The darker color on the birds is GAST "Dungarees." Don't you love the border--just look at the reds in those pretty tulips? I photographed it next to my husband's grandfather's old pocket watch and one of my grandmother's hankies. The sampler reminds me of a simpler life in days gone by... just like the watch and the hankie...

I want to live in that little yellow house on top of a hill!

Green, green, and more green!

Now, to get it framed!

Bunny stitching... It wouldn't be Easter if I didn't create at least one small bunny pillow to add to my collection, would it? This is from a 1994 design by Patrick's Woods called "The Heart's Chase" which I just happened to see on eBay last year. I don't think I've ever seen this design stitched up before, have you? It really could be either an Easter piece of a Valentine's design.

"The Heart's Chase" finish

The pillow was stitched on 40 ct. flax Newcastle with a combination of overdyed threads and DMC. I changed the large heart color to black (from a charted dark navy blue). If you look closely, you'll notice some specialty stitches... in fact the "stairs" that the bunny on the right is running up are made of satin stitches. Don't they resemble tiny hearts?  To finish this off into a pillow, I used a tiny strip of pink fabric next to a black and white gingham along with some mini-ric rac, a stack of buttons, and some of my handmade cording--I think it gives the whole piece a cheerful, fun look.

Another pink and black bunny pillow for my collection

You don't generally think of pink and black being Easter colors, do you? But, I've found myself returning to that color scheme quite often over the past years. Just look at all the pink and black creations I've made in the photo below! Do you like my bunny chair? Oh, I absolutely fell in love with it when I spotted it at a thrift store in Florida last year. My husband was not impressed--it is very "chippy" and aged looking and I know he wondered what I saw in it. He asked me just how I intended to get that home on the airplane and I told him I'd find a way. I carefully padded it with plastic bags and brought it home in my little carry-on duffel bag. I was so scared it would fall apart, but it arrived in great shape and is now a treasured part of my Easter decorating. Not bad for $5.00, eh? If you'd like to know more about the other bunny finishes in this photo, just click on the name of each one and you can read the description of my finishes: black bunny pouch, two bunnies in black oval, bunny and pink house.

I tend to group my bunnies into groups of similar colors--these are just a few members of the pink group!

More thrifting goodies... I love visiting thrift shops, although I don't go as often as I'd like. I did stop in at my local Goodwill this week and came away with some treasures including that pale pink ceramic basket on the right in the photo above for a mere 98 cents. I spotted the adorable green bunny creamer below and had to have it even though, at $7.99, it was more than I wanted to spend. Yes, I'm very frugal!! 

My new thrifted bunny creamer

Fresh daffodils from my yard that the deer actually didn't devour this year!

I also came home with a new pair of framed 15" x 17" floral prints for my pale yellow sunroom (the room where I take the majority of my photos because the natural light is so wonderful). Aren't these pretty--can't wait to get them hung up. They are double matted and in absolutely pristine condition... And guess how much they were? Each one was only $3.98! Thrift stores offer such a great way for you to find something to change up the look of your room at very little cost.

Two new floral prints from the thrift store

A delicious dessert... Before I get to the winner of the cording giveaway, I'd like to share this decadent Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe with you. My oldest son was visiting from California last month and I made this for his birthday--doesn't it look fancy? Well, let me tell you, this was one of the easiest desserts I've ever made! You can find the cake recipe right here (it is just a single layer) and the chocolate glaze recipe here. I only made half of the glaze and it was plenty. For both the cake and the glaze, I used Ghirardelli's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bars. For the pretty effect on top, I simply sifted powdered sugar over a paper doily placed on top of the glaze after it had dried and then lifted the doily straight up. This honestly tasted as good as it looked--just like an expensive restaurant dessert! Give it a try on your next special occasion...

Flourless Chocolate Cake--oh, my!!

Giveaway winner... I was so touched by all of your kind comments on my previous post--I'm very glad my tutorial on how I attach my cording was helpful. Have any of you tried it yet? I had 32 entries for my eight pieces of cording and the name pulled from the proverbial hat was... drumroll please:

SHELLY (An Arizona Stitcher)

Shelly (An Arizona Stitcher) is the giveaway winner!

Congratulations to Shelly! Please send me an email with your mailing address and I will get these pretty pastel pieces to you pronto. This was a fun giveaway for me to host as I truly love making cording. I'm thinking I'll do another giveaway for patriotic colored cording in a month or two so keep on reading! Thank you to all who entered--I mean it when I say I was very touched by your compliments and comments... I am way behind on emails so I will do my best to catch up with you soon. And please remember, if you have a question, make sure to include your email so I can answer it!

Our Easter will be quiet with just our middle son and his girlfriend here for dinner. I so miss those wonderful family Easter dinners that my mom used to prepare for us--she always made things so very special at holiday time. I don't think you appreciate how hard a mother works at holiday time until you are on your own and doing all those things yourself. So, thank you, mom--I love you so...  Hope you each have a blessed Easter weekend with family, friends, and lots of little chocolate bunnies. Until next time, happy stitching, my friends! Bye for now...

Wishing all of my friends here at Stitching Dreams a very blessed Easter weekend!