Easter Sunday finishes and a Sunny Saturday walk.

Yesterday I finished off four mini Easter Spring pillows.  This first one is courtesy of Cheri Payne Friendship Group,  Her name is Ester Rabbit and I made her half size.

This is Plain Jane ready for Easter also by Cheri Payne.  Cheri is allowing members some of her patterns free in this group.

 This was another free pattern I found on line by Rose Johnston of Thread Bear Creations, click here for her page.  This one is Bunny Butt, I changed slightly the body shape and foot pads.

 Paulette shared this pattern with me from an unknown source that was another freebie.

 The tallest is about 8" high and the smallest is 5" square.

 Yesterday was a beautiful sunny warm Spring day and as they are calling for rain today I went to take some pictures in the courtyard and along the quay of some of our Spring blossoms.

 I look at these trees each day from my condo in the four seasons they change a lot.

 View from the boardwalk of our courtyard and trees.

 Grape hyacinths are in full bloom.

 These rhododendrons have been blooming since late January and often bloom in the late Summer again.

 This condo has some lovely red and white tulips along the front of the property.

 The daffodils are in full bloom.

 Also some tulips with more to come.

 Snow on the local mountains where it should be.

 A bit closer view of the bridges and mountains.

A later blooming Magnolia tree by my friend Rita's condo.

 Hyacinths along with some daffodils on the way back.  The trees have yet to leaf along here.

Have a lovely Easter Sunday with family and friends.

Wool Baskets 3 and 4.

Despite a nasty flare up of my arthritis I've plugged along on my two wool baskets from Dawn Heese and am very please with the results.  The first basket is a lovely shape and I decided to mimic the same stitch effect on some of the flowers from my previous basket.

 I love the pistil stitch effect on the red and pink blossoms.

 These red ones took forever to blanket stitch around but they are fun.

The second basket is one filled with tulips one of my favourite Spring flowers and reminds my of my maternal grandparents who were born in Holland.

 Love the mottled look of the purple tulips and of course I had to throw in some pink and yellow blooms.

 The plaid is from a skirt I felted that I found in a thrift shop.

 Here are blocks three and four side by side.

And here are the first four blocks together.  If you want to get three and four click here for a direct link to Dawn's blog.

Looking forward to her next set of two blocks.

Seems Odd to Say This Today...

Give me a L!

 Give me an E!

 Give me a T!

 What do you get?  LET it snow first three letters all stitched up.  Do they not look great together.  I'm pleased how my adaptation of the female Cardinal to a female Blue Jay turned out.

 I did go out and check out some of the lovely Cherry Blossoms.  Unfortunately the day turned grey and rainy so we didn't have a spectacular blue sky to show off the blooms.

 Here are some huge white star Magnolia trees on the same street.

 You can see the pink Cherry trees farther along.

 A mix of a Camilla Rose, Star Magnolias and Pink Cherry blossom through the mossy trunk.

 Another mix of white Star Magnolia trees and pink Cherry blossoms.  Soon those cars will be covered in petals.  Often there are people posing in the middle of the street for pictures with cars trying to navigate their way.  I had to honk to get one lady to move, she almost got run over by two cars.

 Love the moss on this tree.

 The grey skies and a couple of people standing taking photos.

 Such a delicate pink.

 The trees have been peched to arch over the street.

Cherry Blossom time in Vancouver, breath taking yes?

Welcome to the First full Day of Spring!

Last night at about 9:30 P.M.  Spring arrived on the West Coast, the earliest arrival in over 100 Years!

Today is the first full day of Spring and also the anniversary of my dad's birth.

I started stitching my next Buttermilk Basin Let It Snow block.  I changed out the female cardinal for a west coast female Blue Jay.  Here is the link for the free T or to purchase the first two letters. Each letter is available free for the month and then you have to purchase the block or kit.

On Friday I also cut out the next two free blocks from Dawn Heese Linen Closet Designs.

Here is the my interpretation of her second block ready for stitching.

Saturday morning my friend Rita and I went to the Creative Stitching show in Abbotsford and I got this lovely bright cotton from Quilter's Dream Fabrics; you can visit her on line store here. Here shop is in her home in Vancouver.

I got these lovely bright wools from Wool Penny Rugs, Uschi dyes some lovely bright colours.  Uschi lives up in Sechelt.

My wallet took at hit at The Steam Trunk. She is another local vendor who carries such things as Sari Ribbons.

Lots of tiny unique buttons.

Snowflake buttons I've been looking for to use on Let It Snow.

And the top bee and snowflake ribbons!  She is located in Tsawwassen where you can catch a ferry over to Vancouver Island.

I got the linen music, and polka dot ribbon from A Threaded Needle also in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast.  She also carries some lovely Japanese fabrics and hardware for purses.

A new vendor to the show was Wonderfil Threads who make Sue Spargo's Eleganza threads. I decided to get this sampler of Easter Thread colours with the brown for a basket to hold them!

One last vendor that I love to visit is Carola's Quilt Shop also in Sechelt. I was able to get some individual spools of some of the variegated Sue Spargo threads.  She also has a full array of Aurifil and some lovely Batik fabrics.

Hope you enjoy your first full day of Spring.  I'm going to be stitching for part of it and then taking my mom for a drive to see the Quilt Display at the Van Dusen Gardens. Check out this on line post about the garden and a tease of the quilts on display.