One Step Ahead, Two Steps Back

...toward spring I mean.

In the week since I last posted, we've had two ice storms, two snow squalls, and one day of spring-like weather (today - albeit windy and rainy).

There is the possibility of snow in the forecast for tomorrow night again.

{A little spun cotton chick in a sphagnum moss nest in a little escargot pot with an ice-coated window in the background}

I had said I would try to show some Easter photos but, obviously, that didn't happen. Well, it's happening now (if you haven't figured that out), but it didn't happen before Easter like you probably (and rightly) assumed it would. 

Each year I bring out less and less, which means I should get rid of more and more.

But that's not likely to happen either.

In any event, here are a few photos. Heavy on the rabbits, I know.

{Antique and vintage candy containers. Most are German, but a few are Japanese, or unmarked. These are the kind where the heads remove to access the candy (vs. the type with a paper-covered opening in the bottom)}

 

{Another antique candy container...with embellishments}

{Rabbit print on old paper framed on an antique book cover}

{Pressed paper/pulp/ paper machie rabbit...one of many. Another obsession}

{Antique German die-cut rabbit and vintage watch faces and flower frog}

{Probably my largest antique candy container}

And lest the fowls cry foul, Miss Fiona is here to represent the chicks, ducks, and ducklings in my collection that didn't get shown.

{Yes, she is real...and taxidermized. Sorry}   

*************

As a bit of a postscript, someone mentioned in my last post that they wondered where the rabbits go in our wretched winters. 

Contrary to popular belief, they do not hibernate.

Rather, they seek shelter in a variety of places: brush piles, tall grasses, under my porch decking.

During periods of heavy snows (i.e., weekly in Nod), they will use the snow itself as a shelter - building tunnels and shallow depressions in the snow called "forms."

The snow acts as an insulator reducing loss of body heat and a buffer against the wind.

All too soon, they come out and build nests. One day the ornamental grass was covered in several feet of snow and the minute the snow melted, some bunny had burrowed in and started building a nest out my back door. Again.

GAH!

Blizzards and Bunnies

...and after the flood came the blizzard. 

We are no strangers to cold or snow here in Nod, but this last storm, the weekend before last, was a doozy even by our standards.

I knew we were in trouble when, on Thursday night/early Friday morning, the forecast was for 3-5" of snow and we woke up to go 13."

We had a brief reprieve during the day on Friday and Saturday, but the new system (i.e., the blizzard) moved in late Saturday night.

By Sunday morning I was unable to get out the door.

{That's all the further I could push the door open before it hit the massive drift.)

In addition to the previous 13" of snow we had just gotten, we got 31" more in less than 24 hours.

{This is not a black and white photo...}

New records were set in our area and schools and roads were closed for several days (unheard of here generally).

My son managed to get over and plow for me (he lives a ways away) after the township roads were finally plowed but he could not shovel through the drifts to the house, so I was stranded for 3 days (one more disadvantage of a detached garage).

Most of that s*#t stuff has since melted and, thankfully, even though the temps were above freezing (actually well above freezing one day), the nights were still below freezing so there wasn't horrendous flooding.

Well...I've not been back to the lake since so, perhaps, I should not speak too soon.

We've since turned cold again...with snow squalls during the days and dropping into the (very) low teens at night. As the forecast stands now, we won't be above freezing for Easter day.

Weather notwithstanding, I have started pulling some of my chicks and bunnies and such.

The light that comes through my kitchen window makes it difficult to get decent photos (no, it's not the state of cleanliness of the window), but I tried to photograph the little vignette I started on the top of the butter churn above the sink.   

As I played with the focus, my attention was drawn to something in the background

Yup...the real ones are back.

Oh, wait...they didn't ever leave. (What's left of) my shrubs and the cords on my Christmas lights will attest to that.

Anyhow. 

Not much is being accomplished in the handcraft realm for many reasons.

I don't think, however, that I ever shared the "final" finish of this piece: "imagine*dream*believe" by Artful Offerings. 

It was stitched years ago and I posted about struggling with its floss colors. It came as a kit and, once I started stitching, the colors seemed very country-ish/baby-ish...especially when the "Woodrose" floss I had was way to the pink side vs. the peach side.

But I sucked it up and finished it and, many years later, finally got it fully finished.

Ok...that's it for now folks.

I have another week of nonsense ahead, but I will try to pop back in in the next few days and share a few more bunnies and such (hopefully not of the real variety). 

{Thank you to all who commented on my prior post and for the good wishes, hopes, and prayers. I am sorry that I didn't manage to respond individually to everyone. Life, once again, got ahead of my good intentions. Please know, however, that each and every comment was appreciated and brought me a measure of comfort.}

Happy Easter

Wishing you the blessings and peace of grace.  

May the gift of new life ever flow in your family.

He Is Risen...

 

{"He Is Risen" - design by Jenny Hoffman of Country Rustic Primitives}

Wishing you a joy-filled Easter.

The Not-So-Little Warren in Nod....

...is growing.

Welcoming the newest member of the fluffle:

 

{"1842 Folk Art Rabbit" - design by Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm}

He is stitched on 36-count Vintage Country Mocha linen with most of the called-for flosses (one or two substitutions....); finished with a simple, primitive, hem stitch and tucked in an equally simple and primitive shadow box.

May your fluffles be full and your Easter joys be many.

Nary a Hare Anywhere

 ...well, almost.

{Vintage/Antique Rabbit Candy Containers}

Here we are...four days (plus or give a smidge depending on when I actually finish this post) before Easter, and my bunnies and other other Easter accoutrements are, for the most part, still staring at the inside of their dark totes and boxes.

Blame the tax man...and any other man you can find.

So, before I run out of time completely, here are a (pathetic) few that managed to be liberated for the season.

{Spun Cotton Bunny Child}

{Folk For All Seasons Sculpted Rabbit}

{Saltglaze Bunnies}

(Ok, ok...I cheated on that last one...those bunnies live there all year long.)

  

And that's it.  C'est ça!

As far as my pastime endeavors go, I have even less to share.

 I don't know what made me look this up, but it cracked me up....until I realized that what I have to show for my "pastime" really fits the definition of "past time" more aptly:  Something that should have happened or been done by now. 

I have stitched some, but it's too wrinkled at this point to share...and, no, I'm not pressing it.  

I have hooked some too, but you really probably can't tell.  (And there's even less hooked now since I did a bit of reverse hooking after this photo was taken.)

And, yes, it...and my stitching project...should have been done by now.

*******

Last, but not least in the pastime department, my book report for those of you interested:

"The Woman Who Smashed Codes" is quite a ways out of my typical "lane" but it was fascinating.  It is the, until now, untold story of a remarkable woman who played an integral part in our country's history.  Elizebeth Smith Friedman was a young Quaker poet with a true enthusiasm for Shakespeare.  She was lured to the extraordinary and sometimes magical estate of an eccentric tycoon to assist in deciphering codes he (and actually many others) believed were hidden within the texts of Shakespeare by Francis Bacon, the "true" author of the texts.  (Ok....)

When World War I broke out, Elizabeth's language skills were put to use by the government and, ultimately, she, and her husband, developed the modern science of cryptology (code breaking).  

These skills were honed over time and she assisted not only in apprehending smugglers during Prohibition but breaking the leading Nazi spy ring and shaping the course of the second world war.

{Elizebeth Smith Friedman and her husband, William Friedman}

While the book is filled with a great deal of history and technical background to the art and science of codebreaking, Elizebeth's fascinating life and the author's adept skill at non-fictional narrative made for an enjoyable read.

Again, not for everyone, but a nice "break" if you find yourself in a reading rut.

*******

Now back to taxes...and macaroons.

   

A Rose By Any Other Name....

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...."

...so said Juliet to Romeo, suggesting that it mattered not that his last name was Montague and he was from her family's rival house.

In other words, things are what they are, no matter what name you give them.  And no truer thing could ever be said about Woodrose floss from The Gentle Art:  It is what is no matter that it is called Woodrose...  No matter that one Woodrose is entirely different in tone and color from another Woodrose.  (Come to think of it, that is very true of families too....)

I love overdyed flosses for the variegation they have. I hate them for the same reason.  There is just too MUCH variation in the variegation.

I am still in that equivocal place of uncertainty as I have been for some time regarding my next "project," so thought I would once again "fill in" with a quick (ha!) stitch while I decide where I go next.  Besides, I needed a bunny fix.

So I started a little design called "imagine*dream*believe" by Artful Offerings.

It came kitted, but since I (relatively recently) organized my stitching and knew from my journal that I already had the Woodrose floss called for, I thought it wise to use what was started rather than start on a new skein.

After stitching several of the numbers in the pattern, I began have to have throwbacks to the mauve-y pinks and colonial/baby blues of the '80s.  

Not a good thing...so I went back and compared the Woodrose that I had and was using with the Woodrose that came in the kit.  Whoa....2 very different colors: the one I had a very pale pink, the kitted one a definite tangerine orange.

I was already not overly thrilled with the "baby blue" involved, but the pink threw me over the edge, and out it came.  Here you can see (at least a little...it was more dramatic in person) that 0, 1, and 2 are done in the "pink" Woodrose, while the 3 and 4 are done in the tangerine Woodrose:

I had actually already stitched through "5" before acknowledging I wasn't "thrilled," but happily frogged and re-stitched, grateful that I had not settled for the PINK Woodrose.

So grateful, in fact, that I stitched all the numbers AND the verbiage at the top of the design...only to become dissatisfied with the actual "variegation" (or, more precisely, the lack thereof) of the tangerine Woodrose.

(It's not easy being me....)

And, yes, I tempted fate a by going to the LNS: Most Woodroses they had were not only of the "orange" variety, but also more variegated...and less "in-your-face-plain-carrot-orange."

So....out it all came...

....and in went the perfect Woodrose (or maybe not....):

(The "8" and "9" still need to be redone....or maybe not.)

And then I saw it: I totally messed up the border.  The inner 5 vertical rows were supposed to be two rows light, 1 row dark, 2 rows light.  I did 2 rows dark, 1 row light, 2 rows dark.  

Seriously?

It was meant to mimic ticking - my version looks decidedly less like ticking, but I am not certain I have the wherewithal to actually redo it all.

  I think I am over that bunny thing.

I just may coax the Beast out of that dark closet.

Or maybe not.

In other news:  

I have spent the better part of the week at the vet.  This one had a blockage and we spent 6+ hours (and a great deal of money) at the emergency vet:

(Rajah Roo)

This one developed an upper respiratory infection from who-knows-where:

(Liza Bean)

And this one's chronic bronchitis (??) is back and his arthritis is worsening:

(SnowDog)

I have pills, liquid orals and injections...some need refrigeration, some are light sensitive.  I sure hope I keep all this straight.

Easter/spring decorating was sidelined.  I did not even put out my antique German bunny candy containers.  Little carrots and a lone needle felted bunny will be it it looks like.

Maybe next year.  Maybe not.

**********

As an unhappy side note, "Buddy" (from a few posts back about my technology issues) suffered an aneurysm and brain bleed.  They are thinking they will be taking him off life support soon.  😢  Prayers for him would be sincerely appreciated.  All sarcasm aside, he has a beautiful heart.