Paschal Basket Cover

So Orthodox celebrated Pascha Saturday night into Sunday morning and one big part of the celebration for Pascha is the Pascha basket. It is filled with all sorts of goodies that the Orthodox fast from during the Lenten period. 40 days to be exact! Easter and Pascha are not always celebrated at the same time. Western and Orthodox celebrations of Easter (Pascha) vary in certain ways. Usually Orthodox and Western Christians celebrate Easter on two different Sundays. The reason is that Orthodox churches still base their calculation of Easter's day on the Julian calendar (in use at Christ's and early disciples time), whereas Western churches follow the Gregorian calendar (which came about much later). In order to keep the date of Easter on a Sunday, the date changes yearly based on the Paschal full moon. The possible date range for Western Easter day is March 21st-April 25th. 

My dear friend Meg lives in Virginia Beach where I lived up until this past year. We looked forward to going around and shopping for items for the Paschal basket together each year. I am now here in SC and wanted to make something special for my dear friend Meg. She gave me a cross a few years ago that reminds me of her every time I wear it. I wanted to make something special for her so that she would remember me every time she used it. I came up with a Paschal Basket Cover for her basket. I found the design on an old archive page of DMC. I transferred it and then set to work on deciding what colors and stitches to use as I only had a line drawing at this point! I spent 114 hours on the embroidery and this is the final result.

I used DMC flosses and my wonderful husband bought me an Ott light with a magnifying glass attached! I used the 50% off coupon of course but it was still a large purchase for me as I don't spend money readily. It helped so much with the detail work! For the center and wheat sheaves I used a gold thread. The lilies are done in silk. Here's a picture of the center detail. Oh and these close ups were taken before washing the pencil lines out so don't think I sent it off like that! 

After the embroidery was complete I inserted the piece in a purple linen background. I backed it with the same linen. I was quite happy with the results and my friend loved the gift!

I hope each of you enjoyed your Easter and Pascha and wish you a wonderful week!

Until next time Dear Reader,

Chatty Cathy

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