Hope You Had a Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday.

We had so much fun with family!  Daddy's Girl had a great time at her first Easter egg hunt.  (She wasn't old enough to participate last year.)  She found lots of eggs, too!

My husband's cousin and her family came to visit, so Boo and Daddy's Girl got to meet their second-cousin for the first time.  The girls really hit it off; when I told Boo they were cousins, she said, "She's my cousin and my friend."  After having just met.  Awww.

All the relatives who live nearby came over, so our girls got to play with this sweet little cousin, too.  And he got to have his first Easter egg hunt.  But he wasn't so much into finding eggs; he mostly just wanted to put the eggs in his mouth.

Boo got a Rainbow Dash doll in her Easter basket, and carried it around the whole time she searched for eggs.  She had me hold her basket after a while, but she didn't put down that doll!

I am so grateful for my sweet little family.  And I am grateful for Christ's atonement and resurrection, which we celebrated yesterday.  May we always remember Him who gives purpose to everything else.  I am grateful that, because of Him, we, too, can live again. 

365 Patterns: Easter Edition

I don't know why Easter snuck up on me this year.  In my mind, Easter was always about a month or two away. Until a couple weeks ago, when I realized I had better get started on Easter preparations!

So last weekend, we bought Easter candy and goodies.  Grandparents wanted to get the girls their Easter dresses, so that's done.  And this past week, I made a couple more simple shirts for Boo!  I'll show you those later—I thought about making Easter-specific shirts, but then they're weird to wear after the holiday.  I made her nice summer play shirts instead. (Nope, Daddy's Girl isn't getting new play clothes; she has lots that fit.  It's the tragedy of being the younger child.  At least until she's old enough to know.)

And I made some Easter patterns.  I wanted to make religious patterns, Easter being a religious holiday and all, but without going the obvious route.  And there are some Easter eggs and Peeps thrown in for fun, too.  Hope you like them!

The inspiration for this pattern was the beautiful stained glass windows I saw in so many cathedrals the one time I've been to Europe.  (One of these days I'll make it back; that was a great trip.)  On a technical note, look closely at the glass—I used a new technique I've learned called Inner Glow. Pretty nice, huh?
  

It's actually really hard to think of religious-themed Easter designs when you exclude the most common motifs.  My husband suggested honeycomb, because Jesus ate fish and honeycomb after he was resurrected (Luke 24:36-43).  

And for some non-religous fun, I love these Easter eggs.  They're just so happy!  And fast to make.  That's always nice.

I do like this pattern, but I don't love it.  It's pretty and useable (little girl's dress, perhaps?) but not terribly exciting or innovative.  I was practicing gradients again.  And made flowers.  Woo-hoo.

Chevrons are cool.

Do you like Peeps?  I don't.  But the bunny shaped Peeps are pretty much adorable.  

Finishing off this week's pattern set is my He is Risen! pattern.  I love how the text looks like shouting, and I colored the pattern like an old newspaper to emphasize the feeling. He is Risen!  Hallelujah!  Let everyone know so we can all celebrate together!  

Happy Easter to you and yours.