Out like a baranek wielkanocny*

Y'all, we've made it to day 90 of this 365 project! It's been so much fun so far, and a lot of work, but mostly fun. I appreciate how many people have been following along here and on Instagram and am looking forward to the next 90 days. There have only been a few times where I felt like I wasn't going to get a day done or didn't have an idea by the time I sat down to stitch. I hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying that out loud...

I wasn't sure what I was going to do for today's piece, so I asked my FB friends for suggestions. One friend suggested a lamb, which of course, is super timely since today is the last day of March ("out like a lamb") and Easter is this Sunday. Because I'm me, I couldn't just leave it at draw a cute lamb and have a nice day, so today is about my favorite Easter tradition...

...the butter lamb!

If you're not from a Polish Catholic family, don't live in Buffalo, NY, didn't grow up anywhere with a large Eastern European Catholic immigrant population, or don't like cute things, you may not have ever heard of a butter lamb. As my family is Polish Catholic (on both sides) and from Michigan originally (third largest Polish population), the butter lamb has always been a part of my life. I, like my mom, have my butter lamb mold. I bought it a few years ago when I started using butter lambs for a photography project I called "The Butter Lamb Project." I retired this project, but still love it and love sharing the photos. I'm not religious, but I do love certain traditions, mostly around food and the holidays. The butter lamb is up there with baking cutout cookies for Christmas and my mom's stuffing as my favorite holiday food traditions. 

Anything made out of butter, unless you're a professional butter artist (which is a thing and there's a movie about it), always looks a little wonky, so today's piece captures the wonkiness of a butter lamb as best as possible. I used one of my favorite thread colors, Sublime Stitching 302 "Butter Pat," for the lamb. As butter lambs are religious symbols, the red is a nod the tradition of displaying a flag with lamb. Eyes are usually made of peppercorns or whole cloves, so black French knots work well here. 

*Butter lamb

Details:

Stitches: satin and back stitches, French knots
Thread palette: DMC 666, 310, C666 (3 strands), SS 302 (6 strands)

Enjoy a look at March!