Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Home Made

I have clear and vivid memories of Easter morning as a child. I remember what my plastic, woven Easter basket looked and felt like. I loved this purple hula-hoop I got one year. I still want to color in a coloring book with Goofy and Pluto that I was lucky to get and honestly still think about. Whether my mom had sewn my sister and I matching dresses or we had bought them in the store, I looked forward to wearing something a little fancier for church that day. I can smell the white "patten leather" shoes and hear them squeaking.

Over the weekend my sister and I took it upon ourselves to spend a few hours to relive the memories and dye some eggs for Easter. I have no real qualms with fake dye or PAAS kits...they're lovely. We just wanted to be a little more au naturale. I found several recipes for making home-made dye, so we combined what we liked and put them to the test. Our blues (red cabbage) and yellows (turmeric powder) turned out the best and next year I'd like to venture into the land of green dyes (red onion skins). We even made up our own concoction for a light orange/peach dye.

Like kids again (this time a little more concerned for where stray dye would end up), we took turns creating our beauties and experimenting in what would work and what wouldn't. I'm quite happy with my life...but sometimes, don't you just want to be 6 years old again? Maybe I'll stage an Easter Egg Hunt in my backyard on Sunday.

18 comments:

Doris said...

I totally agree...I don't have kids of my own but tomorrow eve am dying Easter eggs with my nephews and siblings--can't wait! The simple things are the best things!

Rebecca said...

Sweet Sarah! They are beautiful, and I'm sure you & Hauna had a great time together. How wonderful a glimpse into your childhood!

roseylittlethings said...

Sooo pretty!

Amy and Andrew said...

So sweet! I love the colors. Remember our Easter basket hunt we had not too long ago? When I was a kid, my grandmama and aunt would ship us our new Easter clothes from Virginia. It was always so much fun to see what we would get. (I wish someone would mail me new dresses now!)

Sara said...

Those eggs are gorgeous, and look much better than the store bought dies. Great job! And yes, being 6 again would be wonderful some days. In fact, most days!

Barb Hungerford said...

What fun! Creating eggs was always one of my favorite things to do. We never hid them, just ate them.

Kelly said...

They look just perfect!

Malissa said...

Gorgeous eggs and lovely stories. I've always wanted to try natural dyes, but figured I should wait until I had my own kids. Maybe not! (PS: I used to get hula hoops at Easter, too. Awesome.)

amylouwhosews said...

I loved dying easter eggs as a kid. My favorite? Always the blue ones.

We just had an easter egg hunt in my yard today - for our little co-op preschool. 3 year olds and easter eggs are a fun mix.

Kirsten said...

I love dyeing (dying? i don't know) easter eggs. except one year i tried this martha stewartish thing where you make pinholes in either end of RAW eggs and basically hollow out the inside? disaster. i will stick to the the hardboiled kind. i love the homemade dyes! red onion skins make green?!

Sarah said...

Yeah...evidently the red onion skins and the vinegar react with each other in a way that results in green!

Unknown said...

Sarah, I really like the creations you and Hauna made, very pretty. How did you create the patterns in the egg?

Sarah said...

Well, for the marbling effect, we added some vegetable oil (just a bit) to the dye...that way it doesn't mix or stain the egg. That one blue one, just came out that way for some reason when put in regular dye without oil!

Jessica said...

I'm using my students at school as a venue to color eggs...maybe I can persuade them to make some marble-y ones...

Heather and Spencer said...

Beautiful eggs! So cool you made your own dyes. And go for the easter egg hunt...I totally want to go to one, but the one's I've found are just for kids! WHATever! ;)

Ann-Marie said...

These are beautiful!

I hope you and TK have a wonderful Easter.

Lindahl News 2 said...

Eggs-actly the right post for this special holiday! You've done it yet again.

Aunt Spicy said...

Gosh, I just adore your blog...thanks for leaving me a comment on my blog so I could see all your beautiful work...such a fun use of color! How do you find the virtual quilting bees? I seem to find them after they are closed but would love to find one!