Well hello April how did you get here so fast?  Spring? it is supposed to be spring but here in East Tennessee this morning it was 36 degrees!!!!  I think this is officially called Redbud Winter.  The Redbuds are blooming and they are beautiful. The buds actually emerge right from the bark of twigs and branches and even parts of the trunk.  You can see this from my picture I took.  Why are they called Redbuds when they actually look purple?  its because when they first bud out they are red and then when they start blooming they turn a beautiful purple color.  Now Redbud Winter is not to be confused with Dogwood Winter. Redbud Winter usually arrives in early April and then Dogwood Winter is later in April. Of course you also have Blackberry Winter which is usually mid May or near Mother’s Day.  But wait there is one more it is called Whippoorwill Winter and this is the last cold snap before the temperatures get warm and stay that way until fall. This is when you will start to hear the whippoorwills in the evening.   I always heard about these winters from my parents.  My husband makes fun of me and says there is no such thing but the temperatures always drop around these “winters”.  The Dogwood trees haven’t started blooming much yet so I can only assume this is Red Bud Winter. Just a little southern trivia for you.

See how the buds are redder when they first appear.

And then they turn a purple color as they start blooming.

What a great weekend!!! How was yours?  A lot of knitting, cooking, picture taking, and reading.  It was so so enjoyable and lazy. Especially on Sunday when I didn’t even leave the house. My work life has been really crazy lately and its like I can’t wait for the weekend to get a bit of downtime. I think when this happens my creativity takes over just to keep my mind off of everything else. So I have been taking advantage of that. It seems like I am coming up with a different project every time I turn around.  I decided over the weekend to make a granny square afghan.  I have several of these I made over the years but I wanted one made of only about 15 or 20 large squares and with a spring color theme.  So here are the colors:  I will add a row of white to each one and then sew them all together using white yarn.  Wish me luck I will let you know how it goes.

Don’t you just love these springy colors.  Reminds me of Easter eggs.

Last weekend I made a quilt top with pre cut quilt squares I bought over a year ago when I was in Hannibal Missouri.  There was a wonderful quilt shop in the small town of Hannibal and I bought these squares.  I had put them aside and done nothing with them so I decided to sew them together last weekend.  I laid out all the colors on the bed so that no two would be side by side.  I then sewed them in rows of seven and then attached all the rows.  I did this with my sewing machine but I plan to quilt it by hand.  I haven’t decided on the color of the backing just yet.  I have a very old Brother sewing machine that I have had for about 25 years.  I love it.  It is very plain and doesn’t do a lot of fancy things but it is just what I need most of the time.  I also have a new Singer machine that I have had for about 10 years.  The Singer can do a lot more but I always go for this one.

A couple of weeks ago my niece Hailey came to spend the day with me.  We went to an Estate sale.  Hailey’s first estate sale, she is only nine but seemed to have a pretty good time.   I bought a few things.  I have been into collecting these small plates with flower patterns on them. I found a couple at this sale.   I sometimes find estate sales to be sad.  You are looking through a lot of cherished items that once belonged to someone. Someone who loved them.  Some of these items are quilts and cross stitched things or knitted or crocheted items that took a lot of time and effort to make.  And here they are being offered to people who probably couldn’t care less about them.  I made Hailey promise that my things would never be scattered through an estate sale. ha ha.  Sometimes when I find a quilt or cross stitched piece, that I know took a lot of time to make, I purchase it or as I like to think, I rescue it.

This quilt looked beautiful hanging up and was said to have been made in the late 1800’s.  But the entire middle was missing.  You couldn’t even make cushions out of it. I had to pass on this one.

                                                              A few of my purchases

You may remember last year when our company decorated a table at our local Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet.  We won third place last year for our table decorations.  This year we did sort of a farm to table theme and didn’t win anything but I thought it was really nice.

Our table at the banquet.  There were so many beautiful ones.

This is a picture of Hailey and Scruffy taken when she came to visit a couple of weeks ago.  She loves Scruffy and he loves her.

Join me again later this week. I am trying an experiment with my blogging and I am trying to post more frequently.  I really like blogging its sort of like keeping an online diary.  It’s fun to go back and read posts from the previous year.  I encourage you to start a blog of your own.  Anyway thank you for being here and sharing a little part of my life with me, and remember:

Love you your day your way

Hello hello happy spring. Let me tell you This girl is more than ready for some spring weather.

Over the weekend I felt especially crafty. Sometimes when I get really stressed out about work and things. I need to get out of my head for awhile. It seems like nothing helps me more than creating something new.  I think I went a little crazy with it.  I made a lot of things this weekend including more lotion bars but more about that later.

My niece Amy R. told me about some gorgeous decoupaged eggs she had made. They looked so pretty I just had to have some too. They are really simple to make just a little time consuming.

So here is what you will need.

1. Plastic eggs. You can buy these at Walmart in the Easter section, they are like $1.98 for a dozen.

2. Some really pretty 2 ply napkins that have a nice pattern that you can cut into small sections.  I found that the smaller pieces were much easier to place on the eggs and decoupage them.  The shape of the eggs make it a little tricky.

3. Modgpodge.

4. A small paint brush

I cut the napkin making sure to get small flowers and figures and leaves that would look pretty when placed on the eggs.

Tear the back off of the napkin or the two ply I should say.  You will want to cut them before removing the two ply back because they are easier to cut that way.  It is easier to cut several at one time.

You will then take your egg and mod podge the pieces of napkin onto the eggs. Again I found it easier to do small bits of the pattern of the napkin and let that dry and turn the egg and add more.  Don’t worry about a few wrinkles or how the egg looks because when it dries it will be beautiful.

I actually left these out on my counter over the weekend while I worked on them and drank coffee. Such a relaxing project.

There finally comes a stopping point when you have to be done.  Amy gave me these napkins. I would love some black and white ones.  The next time you are at Home Goods or one of those specialty stores and you see an awesome pack of napkins grab them, just look what you can make with them.

The finished eggs

This little project cost less than$10.00. Less than that if you already have Modpodge.

Love your day your way!!!!