Every Easter I try to make a few things for my granddaughters to play with as they generally go to their other grandparents’ farm. This year I spread out the makes and then added a couple of things right at the end.

I usually make some sort of Easter basket and this year I made them from a child’s flannel pyjama jacket donated to my stash by my friend Suzanne. She even unpicked it for me! I thought the bunnies made the perfect bags. the size was dictated by the size of the pieces, and I lined them with some recycled vintage silk, which came from a failed make of mine and is very luxurious. The handles are tape I unpicked from something and threw in a dye pot at some point. I like that every bit of these bags is reclaimed from somewhere.

Earlier in the year I made a felt bunny which I embroidered quite nicely (by my standards) and then failed to take photos, so I’ve cut it out of a bigger photo to show you. the tail is a circle of sheepskin I stitched on.

I also made a bunny pocket friend, sitting in a carrot, and again forgot to take detailed photos, so I also cut this out of a bigger photo which is why it has stray ears in it. It’s a really sweet bunny and the little dress is adorable – if only I’d taken a photo…!

I follow a very talented person on IG known as @madaboutcolour and she produces lovely knitting patterns which she sells on Etsy. I saw a pattern for some mini animal stuffies and knew I had to make them.

They can be found in Joanne’s Etsy shop.

I wanted to use wool I already had and found some pink silk. The gauge was perfect but I think the silk stretched as I knitted the bunny and the dog and they turned out bigger than they should, and the stitches are a bit loose, so the stuffing shows through in places. They are still quite cute though.

I abandoned the silk and moved to some finer wool in my stash. I knitted the dog and the mouse and they are much better I think. I just noticed that Joanne stuffs the tummies more than I do, so I’ll keep that in mind for the next ones. These can be knitted in an evening and the pattern is very straightforward.

In retrospect I’m not sure I like their bows and may swap them out for ribbon at some point. When I stitched the dog’s tail together I put some tension on the stitches so it would curl a little bit. I used a couple of rows of crochet for the mouse’s tail.

Marjorie from @marjoriesews on IG made her granddaughters the most gorgeous little rabbits, which she popped into baskets and I thought I’d love to add a couple to my baskets. The pattern is Quick Easter Bunnies from Rosalie Dekker Designs. I quite like to challenge myself so I converted the pattern to Scalable Vector Graphics (svgs) so I could cut everything out on my Cricut (it’s a process, believe me!) and I managed it. I completely ignored the instructions for putting them together but they worked out ok, except I couldn’t get the ears to sit correctly, and they are definitely in the Flopsy category – or is that Slopsy?! Once again I didn’t manage to get any photos before handing them over but I did take a photo of the whole gang, so you get the idea. I used scraps out of my scrap bin to make them.

I embroidered a “G” and an “E” onto the bunnies using different coloured thread for each as a redundant cue given neither child can yet read but do know colours! I deemed that the other animals are to be shared and am pleased I don’t have to referee that!

My pieces may be slightly bigger than the original, but it’s a simple matter to resize them, up or down, and it’s nice to have the precision of a cutting machine.

I popped them into the bags and handed them over. I din’t even put an Easter egg in there, which may have been a little remiss of me.

I’ve been doing some mending and am always a bit surprised at the small holes that appear in clothing belonging to my family and then I saw this happening…

Yep, that’ll do it! I did ask whether he had a leather apron – I am sure he does, but he denies everything!

It was youngest son making himself a candle holder from two old, rusty plough discs, which worked out rather brilliantly. It’s now hung in a vestibule in his outhouse which needed something a bit interesting on the wall. I think this works really well, although we’ve since found a bigger candle, which will be better. He just tiled the floor and it looks quite sharp.

and here it is in action. I took out the audio because who wants to listen to a bunch of people talking about football?

I hope you all enjoyed the Easter/spring break (whatever you celebrate) and weren’t surrounded by hyperglycemic children. Or adults!