Easter weekends...

Easter is a lovely time of year and a truly joyous celebration. Sure, it is strange to celebrate the death of someone, but the someone who die did it to give life and to build relationships! Truly amazing! Plus, Easter is also about his life, his resurrection and thus God's triumph over evil once and for all. I know not everyone thinks this though, as one of my colleagues this week reported that it was a "depressing holiday" and couldn't understand why Christians celebrated it.

For the weekend, which is only half way though, we have spent time with friends and enjoyed a slower pace of life! With the exception of getting up early to make hot-cross buns for Good Friday church. Despite their lack of crosses, they were beautiful and went down a treat.

These hotties are a bit of a tradition in our house. I've made them for the past three years, and always feel that we need more. One thing I'm not sure of is why they are only eaten at Easter. These are now made with the amazing red kitchenaid mixed the hubbie gave me for my birthday last year. They smell delicious and are very satisfying to make. We have been try to get some traditions going. Another thing we do is eat a fish-and-potato pie, care of Nigella. Every year we aim to watch The Passion of the Christ, but sure enough this year our DVD player would not read the disk. This was exceptionally frustrating, but perhaps another year.

We've not sent out eggs or gifts this year. We were simply too disorganised. I did make those fabric Easter eggs though, and sent all a picture of them and a simply profound bible verse: Unless a kernel of wheat dies and falls to the ground, it remains a single seed. If but if dies it bears much fruit.

Mixing it up...

Today I subscribed to Mixed Tape. Hurrah! I'd certainly heard about this zine a lot on line, as was a fan. It is created with love and care by a group of Melbs women, in the lounge room, with lots of elbow grease. I purchased a copy late 2008 from one of my fav bookstores - Brunswick Bound - (so excited, just figured out how to work the hyperlink thingie!) when wandering up and down Sydney Road. It has a cute, pink and yellow sewing machine on the front, so delicious! When will my first copy arrive in the mail? Questions, questions... I'll just have to be patient. Particularly as I'm yet to find a place that sells it in Darwin.

Mixed Tape is full of crafty, creative and eco-friendly tips. It caters for mums, bubs, students, creative types, earth-loving people... Who ever really. I love that it is a little cottage industry that now has readers all over the place! Not just in Aus. So now I can proudly say, "I read Mixed Tape".

It's a crafty kind of week...

It's been such a fun, exciting crafting week! I have been exceptionally frustrated with being at work though, itching to come home and create. A number of things have excited my craftiness.

Monday saw me digging in to the fabric Easter eggs I mentioned. The scrap box was foraged though, and some hidden scrappy gems were discovered. They were ironed, traced and cut before being sewing into frumpy, lumpy eggs. I was so disappointed! They looked nothing like the eggs I had found on retro-mama's blog. Where there should have been a gently sloping side, I had a rounded edge. My eggs needed to diet. I abandoned them until Friday... By this stage they had been sitting in our lounge, next to the ipod and growing in character. As a collection the three lumpy eggs I'd made looked quite good. So all that is left is to stuff a few more eggs and send them off to Melbs as Easter gifties. They will be late, but they should bring Easter crafty joy to their recipients.

Tuesday was a revelation! I found some good buys at Spotlight! In Melbs, I avoid Spotlight like the plague. The store is always overcrowded, there is no customer service, the service assistants don't know about craft, you queue for hours... In Darwin I have little other choice, particularly when purchasing wool or similar. (There is a good patchwork shop here called Dragonfly Fabrics. I've found them to be helpful and they have an interesting range on Japanese fabrics.) This Tuesday lunch break I struck gold! Firstly I found some kitch but fabulous measuring cups for baking! Four creamy melamine love hearts nestled one inside the other, just waiting to scoop out a mound of brown sugar... I'd seen something similar when shopping in Douglas and Hope (http://www.douglasandhope.com.au/)in the Royal Arcade. One set for me, and one for a gift. The other exciting purchases were three balls of 8 ply cotton. A rich red, avocado green and the palest hint of grey... All waiting to be knitted into face/dish clothes. Sure enough this is for a swap, but I've made these previously and love them. They have fantastic texture, perfect for lathering with suds! They are more durable that those I recently bought, made in China. So far I've almost finished the third washer, a green one. They are really achievable and can be finished in under two hours, perfect for watching a few episodes of Life on Mars (BBC version of course).

Wednesday I picked up some mail, and was so excited to find inside two wonderful crafty books. The rest of the week I have been pouring over the books while sipping chai and knitting furiously. I've sat at work restless that I can't be at home knitting, stuffing, dreaming and creating!

Today though has been painting. Beautiful, iridescent bubbles of colour on the church walls. The playgroup children will now have a bit of vibrancy in their play area. I feel inspired to choose colours and decorate. Now all I need is my own house...