Easter egg coloring 2020

Easter 2020.

We did have our annual egg coloring session this year, although not as joyful as in years past because of the quarantine. We did not make and give Easter baskets like we usually do.

Colored eggs 2020. The baseball egg is the upper left corner.

The number of eggs was smaller this year... Larry hard boiled about 18.

Egg dying prep: dye colors in coffee mugs and the egg carton for drying.

The Big Box of 96 came out for the occasion.

Crayola crayons box of 96

I did some mindful drawing and tried to come up with new free-motion quilting motifs to decorate the eggs—log cabin blocks, feathers, pebbles and concentric circles and squares.

Quilting motifs on colored Easter eggs.

Hoping that brighter days come soon.

Happy Easter.

Annual Easter egg coloring event 2019

Over the 10 years of this blog, I've documented our annual Easter egg coloring event. Sometimes we discover a new dye or embellishment technique to try. Sometimes we stick to the tried-and-true basics. It's fun, creative and relaxing either way.

2019 colored Easter eggs.

Egg and basket prep

Only one of the 3 1/2 dozen eggs was lost [cracked] after the hard boiling process. We worked with both brown and white eggs and I made fabric baskets this year using the Melba Flower Basket pattern from The Textile Pantry.

Fabric Easter baskets and hard boiled eggs await coloring.

We break out the big box of 96 Crayola crayons and begin the process.

Egg coloring process.

Free Motion Quilting motifs

This has been the extent of my free-motion quilting this year—putting the designs on hard-boiled eggs.

Colored eggs with free-motion quilting motifs.

Shibori resist dyeing

We experimented with the shibori resist dye technique on the eggs a few years ago. It's a favorite and the results are always graphic and interesting.

Shibori resist dyed eggs.

A few eggs were dyed solid. The dyed brown eggs have a rich depth of color.

Resist dyed and solid dyed eggs.

I was surprised that 8 eggs fit comfortably in the fabric baskets. 9 would be do-able but possibly a tight squeeze.

Colored Easter eggs in fabric basket.

On Easter Sunday, the eggs are placed into the baskets, ready for giving.

Easter egg baskets.

Wear an official egg-coloring cap
Here is our resident expert, chief egg boiler and co-colorer. He is wearing one of his official egg coloring caps.

Do you have an official egg-coloring cap?

Happy Easter 2019
Now look forward to several days of egg salad!

Egg coloring session 2018

Eggs + dye + Crayola crayons + imagination = fun with color and pattern.

Hand dyed Easter eggs.

This is the photo sequence to go from white eggs to colored and patterned Easter basket creations.
1. Get someone to color with you.

The helper.

2. Use crayons from the Big Box of 96 to draw designs on hard boiled eggs. Dunk eggs into the dye to achieve desired color saturation.

Hard-boiled white and brown eggs ready for coloring.

3. Set dyed eggs in the egg carton to drip dry.

Set eggs in the carton to dry.

4. Arrange colored eggs in the baskets or containers filled with paper grass. Add candies and chocolates as desired. 

Arrange colored eggs in baskets.

5. Give them away and make someone’s day! Have a Happy Easter.

Annual Easter egg dying—what's your favorite?

Clear off the kitchen table... get out the big box of 96 Crayons... fill the mugs with water and vinegar. Let the egg dying commence!

Prep for the annual Easter egg dying session.

As busy, complicated and chaotic as life is these days, we always schedule time to color Easter eggs. For us, this is a much-needed break from technology and the other go-go-go work-related activities. We get to spend quiet time together, unplugged, just doing something as simple as putting color on hard boiled eggs. Coloring eggs for Easter has become a great tradition at our house.

This year, Larry said he found a new technique for egg dying. Supplies required: a leaf, nylon stockings or panty hose, and a twist tie. For the fabric dyers out there, this is a shibori resist dying technique.

Larry prepares the clover resist for dying.

Larry used a clover as the resist and the process worked quite well. The veins in the leaves and the stem were quite pronounced.

Two eggs using the leaf resist method.

I worked with my crayons and drew free-motion quilting designs on the eggs. I found a metallic lime green in the crayon box that got good results. Rubber band resists is also an easy technique that works well. And if you can get the brown eggs, they offer a warmer undertone and beautiful darker nuances to the otherwise bright colored dyes. 

Free-motion quilting designs and rubber band resists.

It's fun and relaxing to be creative and crafty by using one's hands on such a simple activity. At the end of the night, we alway wish we had boiled more eggs.

Colored Easter eggs: which is your favorite?

So, which is my favorite egg this year? The resists yield great results. The FMQ designs are a nice surprise to the recipients of the eggs. I'm drawn to the colors that are achieved from the brown eggs. But the forever classic "baseball egg" is the favorite because this is the one Larry always makes. And, he's MY favorite.

Happy Easter eggs

Happy Easter 2016!

Although the annual egg coloring process at our house gets more elaborate each year with the various dying techniques we experiment with, Larry has perfected the egg boiling process! 

The new technique this year is the sticker resist.

Start them in cold water. Bring to a boil. Take them off the heat and let cook for 13 minutes. Remove the eggs from the hot water and put them into cool water. Done.

Free-motion quilting designs using crayons.

We had no cracked eggs in the entire batch! They are easy to peel and the yolk is not green. This is the way to do it.

Rubber band resist. Shibori eggs?

We bought some brown eggs again this year. They have to be dyed in a dark color—like green or purple—to see any contrast. However, the natural un-dyed brown eggs are a nice addition to the basket of pastel colored eggs.

Brown eggs over-dyed in green and purple.

Wishing everyone a happy and colorful Easter season.

Colored hard-boiled eggs for Easter 2016.

Annual Easter egg antics

We had our annual Easter egg coloring adventure and had fun, as usual. This year we experimented with brown as well as white eggs. 

The annual egg dyeing event.

The tradition of the baseball egg continued.

The baseball egg.

Rubber band resists are always a hit at our house. We got more adventurous this year with multiple bands and also introduced some wavy lines.

Preparing the resist

Letting the egg drip dry before removing the rubber bands.

Resist dyed egg.

We found some metallic and Gel FX colors in the Crayola box of 96. These colors produced a richer, more prominent color on the eggs and were easier to see when mark-making.

Gel and metallic crayons worked very well.

Free-motion quilting designs are my favorites to do. You can't get enough drawing practice, I always say.

Free-motion quilting patterns on eggs.

These are the outcomes with the rubber band resists. A few of them started as brown eggs. Some incorporated crayon drawings as well as the resists. The color palette was warmer and earthy because of the brown eggs.

Resist dyed eggs.

We lost 5 eggs due to cracks... which went directly into the makings of egg salad. The rest made this pretty display.

25 colored eggs.

Here are several that are packed in a Easter basket, ready to go to mom's house.

Easter basket for mom.

Did you do any egg dying this year?

The baseball Easter egg... and other dye techniques

Here are the results of the 2014 Easter egg dyeing escapade. First up are the masking tape resist dyed eggs. Notice three of these are two colors. They were twice dyed.

Resist dyed Easter eggs.

Next are the solids, the two-toned, and an attempt at marbling (upper left green and lower left almost-white). This was not as successful as Ms. Stewart would lead you to believe. The half-and-half dipped are easier and more successful.

Solids, duotones and marbled eggs.

Then come the crayon resist Easter eggs. These have the greatest color and design potential: free-motion quilting patterns, feathers, a spiral and note the yellow baseball egg... front and center.

Crayon resist dyed eggs.

 Larry even printed out a picture of an official MLB Rawlings baseball as reference.

Rawlings reference for the baseball egg.

We don't do it "half way" at our house.

MLB baseball and its twin [by another momma chicken]—the baseball egg.

(Hey Jerry, I hope you liked the baseball egg!)

Break out the Big Box of 96!

Break out the Big Box of 96 crayons! It's coloring time again.

Prepping for the annual Easter egg coloring event.

The eggs are hard boiled.

The collection of egg dippers came out of the drawer.

Butter is softening for cookies.

I rummaged through my vast assortment of cookie cutters and pulled out the bunny, chick, lamb and egg.

Oh, and I found one cutter in the shape of a hexagon—well, just because I've had hexies on my mind.

We're looking forward to several free-motion egg designs, a little shibori dying, and the traditional—and always wildly popular—baseball egg.


Hope you're enjoying the season, too.

Cookie cutters.

I wonder if the hexagon cutter will be very efficient for cookie dough cutting… we'll see.

Annual Easter egg and yarn dying event

This year I was prepared for the leftover Easter egg dyes! I had two hanks of Universal Yarn's Ready to Dye superwash Merino yarn waiting in the wings for the annual Easter egg dyeing event at our house.

While my husband laid down newspaper on the kitchen table, mixed the Paas colors, and got the hard boiled eggs ready to be patterned and dyed, I filled the sink with water, a cup of vinegar, and set the timer for a 30-minute yarn soak. After the eggs were colored and on the drying rack, it was time for the yarn.

2013 Easter egg and  yarn dyeing event.

I pressed out the excess water from the yarn and laid each hank on a cookie sheet covered with plastic wrap. There was enough leftover dye to paint both hanks. One was painted with the leftover cool colors—blue, green and purple—and the other with the warm colors—yellow, orange and red (which looks more like pink). If you don't want the pure, bright "Easter egg" hues, I recommend mixing the dye colors in the cups (to get blue-green, blue violet, etc.) rather than on the yarn. I also added more water to several of the cups and the color was still vibrant. This superwash wool took the dye easily.

Painting the prepared yarn with leftover egg dyes.

After painting, the yarn was wrapped in the plastic wrap and individually batched in the microwave. There was minimal residual dye when rinsed—just a tiny bit of pale red/pink—otherwise, the water ran clear from the first rinse.

100% superwash merino wool dyed with Easter egg dyes.

This yarn is soft and springy and I can't wait to see how the color variations knit up. Each hank of this #4 worsted weight yarn has 180 yards—an ample amount for something sweet and special.

Any suggestions for a project?