Hristos Voskrese!

Jacob, Tyann, Joey, Mike, and Noah

Our annual Easter family photo. Looks like sitting on the couch is becoming our usual pose.

This is our living room, with my husband's grandmother's artwork in the background. Nina came to the United States from Russia when she was 8 years old. The family tale includes that her family came from a line of royalty...maybe she was a Russian princess?

Nina was wonderfully and artistically talented. Her art was to create rugs. Yes, rugs. She would purchase burlap the size of the rug she wanted to make, whether a small picture size or a large area rug.

Then, she would take wool fabric, many times picking up wool clothing from garage sales, stripping it to small pieces. Nina dyed the wool to the colors she wanted and set to hooking the wool, creating the rug artwork.

Click to the picture to see the details.

Nina's pieces were her own masterpieces. Sometimes she even created pieces mimicking a famous painting. My husband's favorite piece of hers was her rendition of Van Gogh's Starry Night. Unfortunately, that piece was lost after Nina passed away.

We had the piece hanging in our living room professionally framed and cleaned so that we can enjoy it. The scene is of an idyllic countryside, including a horse and buggy, a small village, and birds flying over the mountains. Nina's attention to detail is amazing.

In memory of Nina, Hristos Voskrese (Christ has risen!). He has risen indeed!