our darling clementine: Easter Sunday

We had a quiet Easter this year. We stayed home and shared a delicious meal of ginger-marmalade ham (done in the crock pot), home-made gluten-free French bread, Hasselbeck potatoes, and chocolate truffle brownies. We were all grateful to be able to spend a peaceful day at home, especially after the busy week we'd just had.

antique Easter image

As usual, it snowed on Easter Sunday, preventing us from playing outside or hiding eggs. Clementine has yet to see a snow-free Easter in her five years. This year, we planned ahead and are going to recreate Easter festivities with Dan's family this coming weekend. The weather is supposed to be overcast, but will hopefully cooperate and be snow-free so that we can hide eggs and celebrate with Spring-like temperatures. Either way, we're looking forward to spending time with Dan's parents, his sister, her husband, and Clementine's cousins.

antique image

I decided a few months ago to make the toys for Clementine's Easter basket this year, but it took me till late last week to decide what to make, and I then spent most of last Saturday sewing. I managed to finish a pony and some bunnies. Nothing like waiting till the last moment, you know?

antique image

Dan did the cooking on Sunday, allowing me to finish the embroidery on the pony's saddle and bridle. I am so thankful to be married to a thoughtful, sweet husband who always encourages me to be creative. Dan is an excellent cook and did a fantastic job with everything. The only thing I did this year was grocery shop, plan the menu, and enjoy a delicious dinner.

Clementine's Easter pony

Part of the reason it took me so long to start is that I decided to make the pattern for the pony from scratch. I've made simple toy patterns before, but this was most complicated by far. Made from wool felt, the pony is hand sewn, has several gussets, lined ears, and though you can't see them in the photos, cute little hooves. The saddle and bridle are brown wool felt, embroidered with daisies and French knot flowers in several colors of floss.

Easter pony with carrots

The pale orange carrots are long triangles with green felt fringe at the top - I don't use a pattern for small items like these and so each carrot is slightly different. I left the threads from the floss about an inch long at the end of each carrot to represent the rootlets at the ends of real carrots.

bunnies bunnies bunnies!

The bunnies are from a pattern I've had for several years, not my own - I'm not sure where it originated, but it became separated from the directions at some point, and I have a feeling that I placed one of the gussets incorrectly. I think now that it should have gone in the head, not along the back. If I make them again, I'll definitely try placing the gusset in the head and seeing if that makes any difference. The green bunny is the only one made with acrylic felt. I used acrylic to test the pattern since I didn't have any directions and didn't want to waste wool if I got it wrong. Which I probably did anyway.

Clementine loves them though, which is all that really matters.

the bunnies and their carrots

I found several yards of wool felt at the thrift store a while back, and as soon as I saw it, I knew that I'd be making toys with it. Clementine always responds well to toys made from wool - it holds the warmth from little hands and feels so nice and soft.

flowers on the saddle

Since she received the pony and bunnies, Clementine has played with them non-stop. There is something special about home-made that resonates with children and I've been asked to make several more ponies for her stable. I guess I'd better get busy.