IT'S BUNNY TIME

Well it's been bunny time for a while around my house.  I love bunnies, I have bunnies out all around my house for Spring -  it's amazing how much bunny stuff I have collected over the years. 

I have been around and around the mulberry bush with my Hare Easter rug.  When I started putting in the backround - I was losing the contrast between the lighter bunnies and the too light backround shade - urgghhhh - so I had to get into my stash and I found a lovely medium blue - praying I have enough to finish the backround - once I started getting the backround put back in - I hated how Mommy bunny's dress looked so RIP - I pulled out her dress and rehooked in a  lovely cranberry checked wool - looks great now - then the flower stems were fading into the backround - RIP - those came out and I rehooked in a perky spring green that my mom was using on her bunny rug.  I used a lovely spot dyed wool for the border and plan to put a few more rows of border in - it reminds me of easter eggs.  I'm not hooking the carrot border as I orginally intended - I  have another much bigger bunny rug that does have a carrot border - so that will be quite enough hooking of carrots and bunnies.

Here is my progress to date and I'm sure after Easter I will be less motivated to work on it and will move on to another bunny rug that is my oldest rug WIP and simply must be finished this year.  I think it looks far better than it did and I am quite pleased with the changes I made.  It was worth the ripping and re-doing.

 Next bunny related photo is a canvas class I am taking at a not so LNS tomorrow.  For any NP fans out there - this is a Ruth Schmuff design called Bunny Tree - look closely and you can see the bunnies all over the tree.  She has it finished as a flat stand up and that is what I intend to do with mine - however once again - I'm afraid once April is over the fascination with my bunnies will fade.  I have not done a needlepoint class in years so I am excited about actually attending a real class.

 This lovely finish belongs to my DM - she finished this Vierlande sampler in January.  It is framed in a weathered dark red painted frame.  It looks great with the piece which appeared in a SANQ issue in 2010 and is repro'd by DF Lorraine Mootz.  It is a sampler from her personal collection.  It was an Azalea Sampeler Guild SAL for 2010 but I think only my mom and DF Henri have finished it.  I started it but it will probably never be finished since I can enjoy my moms.

Next is a very cool bracelet that I designed and DF Sharon put together for me.  Sharon is in our rug guild but she does awesome beadwork and we have been collaborating on this bracelet for a while.  She picks up interesting stones that she thinks I will like - LOTS of stones - I could have probably made up 25 bracelets considering all the stash we played with.  It's big and gaudy and I LOVE IT !!!!!! 

What no stitching WIP's - NOPE - I am dreadfully behind on my April assignment on the Spanish Mystery SAL - The April band is very time consuming and after doing 4 of those leaf thingys - I realized that the silk color that was recommended was fading completely into the linen color - urghhh - so I found the original silk color the designer recommended and it looks a million times better and I'm glad I stopped and started over but GEES LOUISE - it seems like all I've done since January is pull stuff out and redo it.  We won't even talk about how my knitting is going.  Let's just say I've been in a huge knitting slump - I almost always knit a few rows on something at night before I go to bed and after I have done some stitching.  I have been trying to focus on that bunny tree class piece this month but even before that - I have drifted out of touch with my knitting.  WHY?   who knows why that happens - I am trying to recapture my knitting mojo by participating in MADMAY on the Madeline Tosh board on ravelry (a great on line knitting community) - the event includes lots of KAL's and several things chosen are on my list of things to do and I have some lovely MT yarns stashed up just waiting to be brought out into the light of day.

So - that's about all that's new in my neck of the woods.  It's awfully hot here in NE FL and dry too - I'm the only one in the office today - everyone else took off for Good Friday and I'll be leaving soon myself.  Wishing you all pretty colored eggs and lots of chocolate bunnies !

Happy Easter !