Easter bunnies!

Two little Easter Bunnies hopped into the yard today.
Easter is my favorite holiday - with the bright colors, the hope of spring after a long winter.
Have a wonderful day!

Belated Birthday Bunny

Since I was in the mode of sewing - making the simple elephant and bunny patterns to go with my new book - I finally managed to make a very belated birthday bunny for my friend Karen. In her birthday card, many months ago, I had included swatches from about 10 vintage fabrics that I thought she'd like, so she got to choose. I love how it turned out.

With a larger scale print like this, I have to be more careful in how I place the patterns so that large motifs will be in good places.
I always love how these bunnies look from the back too.

This stuffed bunny pattern was inspired by the bunny I created for this book by Linda Sue Park for Clarion some years ago. When I made the first bunny, I thought it was the best thing I'd ever made!
I started selling them in my Etsy shop, and they were very popular.
Here's a sampling of those I sold:

There was a thrill in listing a new bunny and having it purchased usually within hours. Compared to the long process of illustrating a book, the immediate response and connection with buyers was so satisfying, and a sale always made me want to make a new one. Also, each bunny was different.
But it was certainly far from cost-effective, so eventually I had to stop selling bunnies.
However, this bunny was the inspiration for my next book, My Blue Bunny Bubbit which will be published by Clarion this fall.
It's funny the circularity of things, how one thing leads to another in a way you'd never expect!

Hoppy Easter!

for easter i made myself one of my bunnies from my Most Prized vintage cotton fabric - a stunning abstract floral. i'd love to have Everything made from this print - pants, skirt, shirt, pillows, handbag...but a bunny is a nice way to start.

Happy tulips and daisies and everything yellow!
xo

there's a mouse in the garden!

i finally made a long-ago requested Strawberry Mouse for an amazing Etsy customer who has purchased quite a few of my plush animals.
she is made from a most precious 1940's cotton print...
and she's on her way to california.
good-bye, little mouse!

vintage fabric-a-rama in my etsy shop

for a while i've been wanting to "share" some of my ginormongous collection of vintage cotton fabrics accumulated over many years, mostly from ebay. there is just Way to much for even a healthy human to use in a lifetime! so, we have pretty little roses...

fun mod flowers...

delicious fruit....

and crazy people throwing snowballs!
there's Lots, LOTS more to come.
and i'm happy to report that i've already had my first sale--yay!
hoping it's a good sign of LOTS more sales to come.
you can see these prints and more, for sale in my etsy shop.
happy sewing!

plush doggie - vintage cotton fabric

this is one of my plush doggies, made for a trade with a wonderful etsy artist who lives in england. i'm afraid to put Daisy in the mail for fear she won't make it safely overseas due to the volcano eruption, which has caused huge delays & backlogs with the postal system.