Easter Tree

Do you remember in one of last week's posts I mentioned the twigs destined for my Special Project ? Well, it's finished, so now I can tell you all about it - oooo goody! I've been just desperate to show you!

Upon my request, the Little People had collected loads of fallen twigs. I selected the twiggiest twigs (lots of the rejected ones would really have been classified as Sticks which apparently are much more worthy of collection, if you are aged 10 or under). The other main thing I needed was some kind of receptacle for standing twigs in. I had exactly right cheerful yellow vase for the job .... in went the twigs ......

... I'm sure you've worked it out by now:)

The twigs just sort of flopped around sadly so I put in a couple of inches of little pebbles from the garden (to wedge the bottom ends in), arranged the twigs artfully (twiddled around til they looked ok) and then wired them in position (amazing how you can find a use for a random bit of wire that's been lying around in the garage for years). Then I painted them with a tester pot of whitey-cream paint (that's also been lying around in the garage for years).....

... the children thought I was a bit mad and Mr EC didn't even dare to ask ......
I left the painted-twigs-in-vase ensemble on the windowsill to dry overnight. Look, there it is on my kitchen windowsill (actually that was just an excuse to photograph my daffodils - they just need to be photographed, don't they, such great colours).

Whilst that lot was drying I gathered a few more supplies - some wool, some ribbon, a crochet hook and a bowl of jolly plastic eggs ....

Do you like my bowl ? Do you Love it ? I do! My bargaintastic 50p charity shop find, it makes me think of daisies and sunflowers all mixed up :)

I wanted to make some covers for the eggs, and I decided to write my own pattern (whoop - go me). So I set to with my crochet hook and rustled something up (actually it took aaaages to tweak it til it was just right)

They didn't take long. Then I threaded them with the ribbon ...

I pondered for ages whether to embellish these with flowers, or buttons or something else, but in the end decided that Less Is More and that I like them Just The Way They Are. I'll post the pattern soon :) At least in time for next Easter :)

All that remained was the final positioning .... and .... ta-daaaa.....

My Easter Tree :) I'm so happy with the end result, not too blingy, not too overpowering. I know it's not an original idea, they are all over Pinterest and you can even buy them in the shops - but I love the fact that the Little People collected the sticks, that they watched me assemble and paint, and that I crocheted the egg covers with my own pattern. And yes, that is my flower garland in place too. All together such a springy Eastery happy addition to our fireplace :)