Saturday 19 April 2014

Easter Eve



I don't normally have much time around Easter to go overboard with decorations but this wreath is pretty speedy and easy to rustle up at the last minute, so long as you have picked the twigs and dried the basic structure in advance, that is, which I did back in February. Too late for last Christmas obviously but with the thought that at least it would be ready for next Christmas. I got the idea from Anne here - she's always good for ideas like this, as well as her recipes of course. The idea is that you pick the twigs while they are green and sappy (and therefore, obediently bendy), shape them into a circle and tie in place with string, (so that they stay in a circle, rather than springing back, as soon as your back is turned!) You leave this somewhere airy and warmish to dry, for a number of days or weeks and when you want to decorate it, you simply snip off the retaining string and hey presto! the twigs have dried in circular form ready for you to decorate and hang up.

As I say, I picked my twigs - a bunch of thin, whippy, hazel ones - back in February on a bleak and rainy afternoon walk. After a brief tussle, where the twigs thought they didn't much fancy the idea of becoming a circle, I prevailed upon them to think otherwise and having tied them in place with some fetching, purple garden string, I left them by the back door near the warmth of the boiler to dry out.


So far, so good. I felt slightly nervous snipping the string in case they decided to spring back to their original perpendicular form, despite my best efforts, but no, they stayed where they were, as good as gold!


Now for the decoration bit. My original thought was to add eggs but my hooky eggs are a bit big ...


... and I didn't have time to go hunting in the shops for miniature ones. What I did have was a whole load of crochet cherry blossoms from last year


and some felt robins I'd bought a couple of Christmases ago, in a mad moment, when robins with pastel-coloured breasts seemed a good idea. Getting them home, I decided they hadn't been such a good idea - the pastel colours just weren't Christmassy. But for Easter? Well, they seemed perfect!



The wreath seemed a bit thin with just the cherry blossom and the robins, so I hooked up a few daffodils and narcissi from Lucy's lovely pattern here.


The flowers are tied on with the ends of yarn from the crochet - even better when there's a project where you don't need to fasten off any ends, I think -  and the robins I've tied on with some thin, neutral-coloured string. So easy! But also so Eastery!

I don't know how robust the twig wreath will turn out to be - the thinnest bits are quite brittle but it might well survive until Christmas, in which case I shall remove the blossoms and unChristmassy robins and replace with more seasonal fowl / flowers!

Although I often believe less is not more, here is a happy reminder that it can be. Add to the mix, blue skies, a bunch of red tulips in a red polka dot jug, on my rather battered, old kitchen table,


and a beautiful Easter card that came from my French friend Christiane,


 in its own lined, linen envelope, which she'd made and on which she'd embroidered not just the greeting and a couple of darling, Easter rabbits but also my whole address, ...




... and Easter Eve feels as it should. 

Expectant; 
waiting; 


full of the promise of hope, on the cusp of fulfilment. 


Wishing you and yours every blessing this Eastertide,

E x

13 comments:

  1. Ta couronne est ravissante ! On y respire le printemps et la joie !
    Nous allons partir bientôt à la Vigile Pascale, je penserai bien à toi et à ta famille.
    Joyeuses Pâques !

    Christiane

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  2. Dear E
    What a beautiful Easter wreath - absolutely perfect. Have a very Happy Easter.
    Best wishes
    Ellie

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  3. What a brilliant idea re the twigs!

    Happy Easter Elizabeth. Don't work too hard!
    xx

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  4. Wonderful pics!! The fantastic wreath, the beautiful polka-dot vase with tulips, the lovely postcard, the sweet embroidered bunny... super! ♥ Thanks for sharing :-)
    Happy Easter!
    Nata

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  5. THE wreath is beautiful - I love the twiggy sparseness of it rather than having too much crochet - and I love those Robins - never seen anything like them in my garden! Best wishes for the Easter celebrations, Love Judy.

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  6. Happy Easter the wreath is soooo pretty
    Clare x

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  7. You made a gorgeous springtime wreath, love it.

    Happy Easter.
    Meredith

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  8. I think your wreath is very beautiful indeed; it has an elegant simplicity about it and the natural twigs give an imperfection to the circle which is so much more appealing than the polystyrene wreath I used this year. I shall be stashing this idea away until next autumn I think, thank you.

    I hope your Easter day was full of joy. I have come to cherish Easter more and more as time goes by - all of the fun bits of other times of the year (food, crafts) but without the stress. x

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  9. That is one of the loveliest springtime wreaths I have ever seen! Beautiful. I hope your Easter weekend was as lovely!

    Stephanie

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  10. What a pretty wreath you made. I shall look out for hazel bushes and make my own twig ring for future use. Your friend Christiane is a friend to cherish, what an amazing gift! Belated Happy Easter to you and your family. xx

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  11. Thanks for this cheery Easter post. Hope you had a happy Easter. I hope to be back to blogging soon, when I finish up some work demands. Love, Liz

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  12. Beautiful wreath! Why not just keep it til next year and make another for Christmas? That reminds me: I must take our Easter decs down tomorrow.

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  13. I love your wreath. I glanced at your post yesterday and in a few spare minutes before our guests arrived, I whipped out one of my Christmas wreaths and tried to copy yours (not very successfully as I didn't have any crocheted flowers and the paper ones weren't so effective). My wreath was definitely too solid whereas yours is beautifully spring like in its twigginess.

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