Happy Easter

I made a chick and three eggs out of felt for Gracie's Easter basket. For the eggs I used a pattern from Lola Nova. I had planned to embroider decorations on them but ran out of time. Maybe next year! The Easter grass is strips of tissue paper cut on the paper cutter.

The chick is from this Vogue pattern from the 70s. I made some chicks and the gingham and rickrack eggs for my family way back then.

I baked hot cross buns for our Easter brunch.

I used this recipe from one of my favorite cooking sites, Simply Recipes. They came out really well!

Arboretum

My birthday celebration continued on the weekend, when we started the day with biscuits and later went to the Arboretum.

It was a mild spring day, and so nice to be outside in nature, walking the tree-lined paths. It's so nice to know there are places like this in the middle of this 

big city.

One of the highlights was a wildflower meadow, the path was lined with bluebonnets.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's birthday season at our house! All of our birthdays are within 10 days of each other.

Mommy's friend Diana sent her a present from Biordi, an Italian ceramic importer in San Francisco.

Gracie likes the pretty paper.

She helped me open it.

Two very pretty plates. Thank you, Didi!

Art gave me two framed Gracie photos.

My parents sent gifts, including a set of number 

cookie cutters.

My friend Susan sent me this card, which is very special because it turns out that I know the artist!

Meanwhile, Miss Gracie was enthralled with this envelope.

And wanted to tell us all about it!

For dinner I wanted a cheeseburger so we went to Burger Guys. Gracie is enjoying a slice of toast while we wait for our dinner.

Thank you to all my family and friends who sent cards, gifts, and birthday greetings! I felt very celebrated.

Party Gift

I was happy with how this gift bag and tag came out.

The butterfly on the tag matches the butterflies on the fabric of the softie ball I made for Savannah.

More Softie Balls

Two more softie balls are finished! The one on the left made out of pentagons is for Gracie, the one on the right is for our little friend Savannah who is about to celebrate her 2nd birthday.