The Volker Easter Egg Tree

Believe it or not, that tree is decorated with thousands of Easter eggs! The number reached 9,800 in 2011 and they have finally reached full capacity this year at 10,000 amazing Easter eggs! Look at this close up…

This tree was a childhood dream of Volker Kraft, a German man who saw his first Easter tree as a boy in 1945. As an adult with a young and growing family, he started his own decorated tree in his home town of Saalfeld, Germany in the mid sixties. He and his wife would drill their eggs, use the contents of the eggs in their meals, then decorate and hang the shells.

While it is in German, this is the official site of the Volker Easter Tree and if your browser has an automatic translator you should be able to read most of it.

A few hints:

Egg #3 tells you the story.
Egg #4 is an amazing photo gallery you won’t want to miss.
Egg #5 is a list of news clippings.
Egg #9 is a shop where you can buy postcards, CDs, etc
Egg #11 is a video you can watch
Egg #13 & 14 tell of his home town and shares pictures

And if by chance you read German, visit egg #2 which are scans of letters and postcards they have received over the years. Pretty amazing stuff!

Spotted via Anette Lyskjaer and Oddity Central.

The two largest categories in And Wabi Sabi’s online shop are funny and relatable quotes and whimsical animals, which I think tells you about all you need to know as to whether this cross stitch designer is for you. But if those things sound like things you want to stitch, let’s take a closer look.

The quotes section includes a lot of things we see presented in cross stitch regularly (like “but did you die” or “have a nice poop”) with some twists like “live laugh leave by nine” and “this home is built on love and profanity.” If you like your stitching with a classic look but a snarky tone, this is a section you’ll want to scroll through.

Likewise whimsical animals gives us silly geese, funny dogs, adorable jungle animals and an otter in a teacup. Because why not? (There’s also a frog, bunny and a dog in teacups if you’d rather.)

This design uses 12 colors and is 47 by 53 stitches. On 14 count fabric it measures 3.07 by 3.5 inches, or 7.8 by 8.89 cm. It’s rated for beginners but it does use back stitch in addition to whole cross stitches.

There are also holiday patterns, for Christmas and Halloween, which tend to the cute side, such as a ghost in a pastel pumpkin patch of a smiling Christmas pudding.

Another big category is nature and cottagecore, where you’ll find a monstera, some puffy whit clouds, a rainbow and a bunch of floral designs, to name a few. The food and drinks section includes cute fruits and other foods, as well as kawaii food and drink labeled as for emotional support, such as the emotional support pickle.

You’ll also find a miscellany of some cute Korean designs, household items, whimsical cityscapes and more. Pattern bundles cover strawberries, animals in bathtubs or teacups, emotional support foods and snarky office humor. There’s also a handful of customizable patterns for wedding announcements.

Check out all the cuteness at And Wabi Sabi on Etsy.

[Photo: And Wabi Sabi]

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