small wonders

We celebrated the Equinox yesterday, though I must admit I was feeling less inspired this year, as it feels anything but spring-like out there. Perry and the boys spent an afternoon excavating the fire pit in the backyard, making a sort of windbreak around the pit with all the snow and a set of snow stairs to lead down into it (yes, that's right, we need stairs to get down to our fire pit in March- no smirking you southern types who have been out planting your seeds in your warm dirt!) and a table carved from the snowbank to hold our dinner fixin's. We enjoyed our supper out there roasting our local lamb smokies and homemade honey marshmallows and saying goodnight to the sun who decided to peek out at us just as he hit the horizon for a little equinox greeting. But other than that, we didn't do much of anything. It doesn't feel like it is time yet to pull out the spring books or the spring nature table stuff or celebrate baby animals or green buds or such. We are celebrating the return of the light and dreaming about spring's arrival, but not actually feeling the spring just yet. 

I did remember though, that last year I promised you all a little felt egg tutorial after I spent the night before easter thinking up and sewing an alternative to the stinky plastic eggs I had planned to use.  I made this tutorial then but it seemed funny to post it after all the egg hunts were done, so I thought I'd haul it out this year for anyone who wants to make some for their own kiddos. 

You will need several colours of wool felt and some matching or contrasting embroidery floss and a pair of sharp scissors for cutting through that thick felt.

I am not technologically savvy enough to make a printable pattern to scale, so you'll need to draw yourself up a little egg shape to these dimensions on a piece of paper making sure the bottom and top pieces line up nicely, and the two top pieces are long enough to overlap a centimeter or two. Cut out your felt, one of each piece (below I've cut enough to make 2 eggs.)

Line up the bottom piece with the larger top piece and stitch the two together, leaving the top open. If you wanted to get fancy you could blanket stitch them together and finish the edges as well. In this case, you would probably want to blanket stitch the edges first before sewing the pieces together. If you are in a hurry like I was, you can leave them be.

Line up and sew the smaller top piece so that it overlaps the larger top piece, making a pocket. 

Make a bunch more in different colours. I made one per child in each colour so it was easy to make sure it was all fair and square on easter morning. Leave them somewhere the easter bunny can find them so he (she?) can fill them with a few little treats before hiding them around the house or yard.  

Happy egg hunting, friends!