Palm Sunday

L on left; A on right

Thinking of You

March was a busy craft month for me. Not only did I make good progress on the bunny ornament I pictured yesterday, I attended Stamp Camp and made cards for a card swap. The swap happens this weekend. Here's the card I made. The theme was Flower Power.

Stamp sets: SU Shades of Nature and Warmest Regards;
Paper: Sage (yes, that's supposed to be Sage), Banana, Brilliant Blue, and White;
Inks: Sage and Bashful Blue; Red Gingham ribbon

Design copied from SU spring mini catalog, 2006

Except for the "Manly Card" swaps, I tend to make sympathy or get well soon cards. The swaps usually have a lot of happy, bright cards, so I like to add something a little different to the mix. Sadly, I also find I have need of more of these types of cards than I would like, and they're not ones I want to be making at the last minute, which is usually when I need them.

Easter Bunnies

Remember this little bunny from 2008 and the Bride's Tree Stitch-a-long?

Shortly after I stitched it, my DH brought home this adorable baby rattle from Germany.

In early 2009, I was inspired by the colors and decided to stitch the little bunny again. It took me 3 tries to get the colors to work (I still think the blue's a little dark), but I finished stitching this just in time for Easter this year.

Sorry for the faded colors; my scanner wasn't cooperating today.
The orange and the blue of the stitched bunny match the rattle closely, in real life.
The threads used were DMC : Orange (3854), Green (164), Blue (3325), Dark Brown (434), Brown (437)
Fabric is a scrap of 18 count cream Aida.

She needs an ironing and some whiskers. I'm going to turn both bunnies into ornaments for my daughters. Maybe by Easter next year.

Happy Easter!

Welcome, Treasurer Hunters! Your letter is L. The pattern for the above chart is available from Free Patterns Online. Your next stop on the hunt is a visit to Christine at The Alchymyst's Study. Want to learn about the Hunt? Visit Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.

A small project I stitched a few years ago.

Frustrating Five

I plan to get back to my Five on Friday, five things that made me smile during the week. First, though, I need to get my Frustrating Five off my chest.

5. Standard Time. I hate the switch from Standard to Savings Time. Now that we're on DST 8 months out of the year, can't we just be on the shifted time all year long? (And shouldn't summertime now be "standard" time and winter be "savings" time?) This week has been particularly tough with getting the girls to bed. All of us have had a hard time waking up.

4. Communication. I feel like the last island in the archipelago when it comes to receiving timely information.

3. Potty training. Just when I think we've progressed to the next stage, some new problem arises.

2. Allergies. This year's wacky winter has released the spring pollens early. I'm suffering greatly, especially on days when I forget to take my medications.

1. Self-flushing toilets. They're never calibrated to flush when I want them to flush, and they scare the girls.

Daffodils

My daffodils bloomed yesterday. Here are photos from last night and today.

Happy Leap Day!

I hope you're all enjoying your leap day. I was hoping to show you a picture of my daffodils in bloom as evidence of what a crazy non-winter we've had in DC, but they've not quite bloomed yet. The buds are on the brink of opening though. The ones by the school across the street are in full bloom. My north-facing yard is always among the last to bloom, but it does mean that I have color in the yard lasting a little later than everyone else. Plus, it's been raining cats and dogs all day, too. I'm very, very grateful that it's rain and not snow, although one work-closing blizzard this winter would have been nice. DDA is sorely disappointed that she wasn't able to create snow angels at all this winter.

There are days when I think I should rename this blog "Stitching 18 inches at a time". That's about all the stitching I did this month - one pull of 18 inches of DMC floss. It's sad.

For your amusement, here are some of the blog posts I starred this month.

Inspirational:

From my friend Michael: No Adventures without Grief

The Happiness Project talked a lot about bed times this month. That's something I need to work on. I have a sticky note at my desk that reads "Eat Well. Sleep Enough. Exercise. Be Creative." These are things that I'm working on, as I know that they will help me feel better and more relaxed and less stressed out about life in general.

Syd talks about some of the things she's doing too.

Coni's 15 minute rule could be applied in many situations, but I love that she's applied it to stitching. Check out her amazing craft room, too.

Recipes:

Homemade Egg Rolls
Easy Meatballs
Power Smoothie (no bananas!)
Curried Butternut Squash Pasta (for DH; I'm no fan of either curry or butternut squash)
This Noodles and Cabbage dish is more my style.
I think these Veggie Nachos or Cauliflower Cheese Fritters would be a hit with the girls.

Crafting:

I love the soft aqua colors in this card.

I seem to like somewhat retro color schemes: here, here, here, and here.

Lisa's use of tone on tone is great. I also like her use of die cuts: flowers and letters.

Especially for Lee, Carrickmacross lace goes runway.

For Valentine's Day:

Stitching Sweethearts
Homemade heart-shaped crayons
Archival valentines

And finally, any suggestions for my friend Christine on a homemade, natural facial scrub?