A Girly Easter Basket

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter/holiday weekend and did not mess up as royally as this mommy did. What happened, you say? Well, in typical "plan ahead but still end up doing it at the last minute" fashion, I started designing my daughter's egg basket about two weeks ago and ended up finishing it 10 minutes before we had to leave for our egg hunt.

Flash back to two weeks ago, I was proudly patting myself on the back for remembering that my daughter was still in need of an egg basket to match her brothers' nicely monogrammed ones.  I congratulated myself heartily on getting as far along as picking the fabrics, designing the basket and even cutting it out.

The brothers' egg baskets.

I took pictures and wrote down dimensions ("like a pro", thought I,) so that I could pass along the pattern to anyone else who wanted to replicate it.

But then the camera began blinking its low battery light and my daughter started calling from her crib and I put everything aside to be finished another day. I recall thinking, a little triumphantly, "Well, the hard part is done... now all I just have to do is sew it together." 

Flash forward to last Saturday, 8:30 AM, when I suddenly realize that those egg basket pieces are still sitting in my sewing room - ironed and cut and not sewn together. And in the blink of an eye, I went from a "Can I have a soy-skinny-latte?" smug-mom to my usual "I don't care what's in it as long as it's coffee!" disheveled-self.

Like a crazy lady, I ignored my husband's concerns over whether or not the basket could be finished in time, dumped all three children on hubby dearest to be toothbrush-ed, diaper changed, attired and fed and started sewing like a woman possessed.

No pinning, no measuring, questionable interfacing, even worse appliquéing and finished with not a minute to spare.

A little sloppy and very handmade.

It's so shoddy that even taking a decent picture of it was difficult!

But much loved by my little principessa who took her first egg hunt quite seriously and enjoyed herself thoroughly.

And as if that first plastic egg she dropped in her new basket had magical properties, the rest of the day unfolded like a dream - the sun came out and made our spring jackets seem unnecessary, we had a very successful shopping trip to the outlet mall which fulfilled all the kids' shoes needs, and the kids were tired but well-behaved while we had a late lunch at Five Guys. All in all, the day turned out so much better than I could ever have (mis)planned.