It's A Good Friday!

I lied on my Weight Watchers list.  I put down that I had 3 eggs... but they were Cadbury chocolate eggs. 
~Caroline Rhea

It's Good Friday and Easter is just a couple days away.  Spring has sprung and the weather readers promise it will be a gorgeous day.  However, we are still riding the wild roller coaster of spring with our low down to near freezing this morning and a predicted high on Monday of 81 degrees.  I think Mother Nature is going through menopause with these hot flashes and is taking it out on all of us - lol!  We will be spending Easter with family and look forward to a feast of wonderful food.  Do you have plans for Easter?  Will the Easter Bunny be leaving a basket of sweets for someone in your family?

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LITTLE FACT OF THE DAY

Filled Easter basket

Sunday is Easter.  For some it is a religious holiday.  For others it's a day to give and receive baskets of candy.  For some, it's both.  What will your Easter baskets be filled with this year?  Here are some fun facts about what you may fill your basket with:

* 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies are made for Easter each year.

* 16 billion jelly beans are made for Easter (that’s enough to completely fill an 89 feet high and 60 feet wide plastic Easter egg – about the height of a nine-story office building!)

* 63 percent of Americans would most like to receive a chocolate bunny on Easter morning, followed by marshmallow bunnies (10 percent)

* According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest Easter egg ever made was just over 25-ft high and made of chocolate and marshmallow. The egg weighed 8,968 lbs. and was supported by an internal steel frame.

* Each day, five million marshmallow chicks and bunnies are produced in preparation for Easter

* 88 percent of adults carry on the Easter tradition of creating Easter baskets for their kids & 90 percent of adults hope for their own treat from the Easter Bunny

* The first chocolate eggs were made in Europe in the early 19th century and remain among the most popular treats associated with Easter.

* Kids first grab for chocolate bunnies (76 percent) when checking out their Easter baskets, followed by marshmallow treats (18 percent), malted milk balls/eggs (17 percent) and jelly beans (16 percent)

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A NEW PROJECT

Last week I started a new counted cross stitch project.  You may ask why when I haven't finished the Summer Sampler.  This new piece is a Christmas present and I don't want to have the pressures of the holidays to get it finished.

I'm not too sure about the colors in this one but hopefully I will like it better when more of it is completed.  I rarely start stitching in the center of a pattern but the way this one is presented (in bits and pieces) it's necessary.  See that top area with the teal colored stitches?  I had to unstitch that entire area last night because I realized that I had used too light of blue for the background.  Luckily, I was able to get a few rows of the teal in before it was time for bed.  The pattern calls for several silk threads but I can't afford them at this time so am substituting DMC floss.  Same goes for the beads.

Design:  Desert Mandala

Designer:  Martina Weber / Chatelaine Designs

Fabric:  Antique White Belfast (linen - for those of you who do not stitch)

Stitched:  2 strands of DMC floss over 2 threads

I have added something new to my cross stitch necessities.  A magnifier.  The pattern is a pdf file and the print out is so small I have trouble seeing some of the symbols.  I have enlarged it as far as possible without making the symbols blurry beyond recognition.  Normally I like working from a black and white pattern the best, however, I am working from the color pattern (both are provided) as this seems to help a bit.  I didn't start working with the color pattern until after I had stitched the top center section and, as I stated above, I started with the wrong color when reading the black and white chart.  Error discovered and fixed - luckily before I had completed anything more.

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TWO BLOCKS AND A PATTERN

Karen P was my March swap partner for Quilting Block Swaps Australia.  She made me two wonderful blocks  "to make up for my tardiness".  In reality, they weren't late (they arrived on the 31st) but I will gladly accept two blocks.  I just love the alligator and gecko prints Karen used to create these two adorable blocks.  Karen and I both joined in the first ever pattern swap for the swap group.  She sent me a darling little backpack pattern that she says she has made several times.  Thank you so very much for the darling blocks and cute pattern, Karen!

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TODAY'S GOAL

Today I plan to sandwich my paper piecing project - still not sure how I'm going to quilt it.

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GIVEAWAYS

Fabrics N Quilts is having a giveaway.  You could win a kit to make a table topper.  This giveaway ends Sunday, April 8. 

Crazy Mom Quilts is having a giveaway.  You could win a fat quarter stack of Matsuri.  This giveaway ends Monday, April 9.

Hancock's of Paducah is having a giveaway.  You could win a Forest Galorest Quilt Kit.  This giveaway ends  Friday, May 18, at 10:00 am CST.

Sewing Miles of Smiles is having her first giveaway.  You could win a Sweetwater's Designer Select Fat Quarter Bundle featuring the Hometown Collection.  This giveaway ends Tuesday, April 10.


Diary of a Quilter is having a giveaway.  You could win a layer cake of Aneela Hoey's latest collection, A Walk in the Woods.  This giveaway ends Saturday, April 7, at midnight.


Want It, Need It, Quilt is having a giveaway.  You could win a signed copy of the new Tula Pink Book - 'Quilts from the House of Tula Pink'.  This giveaway ends Monday, April 30.


Cluck Cluck Sew is having a giveaway.  You could win a fat quarter bundle of Cherry.  This giveaway ends Saturday, April 7.


World of Charity Stitching is having a giveaway.  You could win 2 Pastimes Quilt Design patterns.  This giveaway ends Thursday, April 12.


Hopeful Threads is having a giveaway.  You could win an assorted bundle of vintage lace.  This giveaway ends Friday, April 13.


All About Applique is having a giveaway.  You could win a copy of Fast, Fusible Flower Quilts.  This giveaway ends Monday, April 9.


Hawthorne Threads is having a giveaway.  You could win a Riley Blake Scoot fat quarter bundle.  This giveaway ends Wednesday, April 11.

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FINAL THOUGHT

I get a sugar headache just looking at this cake someone created!

Happy Easter!!

I will be taking a week's holiday from blogging and will return on Monday, April 16, at my normal time.