Who's Under That Hat?

If you were playing along with the teaser from my last post, and you guessed a snowman, you were right! I needed a new sewing room door banner after taking Santa down last week. I saw this pattern on Country Threads website and knew it was just the thing! He measures 22" X 51" and is just the right size to fill the now empty space on the door. I have a series of door quilts that cycle through the year and really needed a wintertime one. 

This frosty fella sewed up quick and easily. (Thanks, Mary and Connie for another great pattern!) It probably took me longer to choose the fabrics and machine applique the edges to the letters than anything else. I had every bit of fabric in my stash. That background fabric, Debbie Mumm for South Seas Imports, has been in my closet for decades; it was just perfect! I used the reverse side of that same fabric for the letters and made my own pulled-thread fringe to trim out his scarf. I'll need to take care when quilting him not to catch that fringe! Also, after quilting him he'll get some handsome buttons right down the front. Hopefully, I can get this quilted over the weekend. I'm excited about this newest addition to the door banner line-up. Oh, and there's more good news:

...thanks to another new addition to the sewing space, this one from Santa, it's not "BRRRRRRRR" in here anymore at all. 

Don't worry, the snowman won't melt!

Life is Good!

How Do You Quilt A Rabbit?

There's a rabbit in the studio this morning; a great big, white rabbit.  The pattern is an old one from Country Threads. I have wanted to make "Harvey" for years, well-- 2019 became THE year! You know how sometimes you just decide to drop everything, or push it to the back of the cutting table to make room for that ONE THING that you decide has to happen here and now? Well, Harvey became that one thing. It was now or never, Harvey pushed himself to the front of the line for Easter, you know how pushy rabbits can be.  This is the pattern, dated 1997. I collected all of the Country Threads patterns back in the day. If you go to the link above, reprints are still available, for a limited time only. He went to together quickly and easily, the pieces are big! He measures, as shown,  21" X 53".

Somewhere along the line I checked out the notions requirements for buttons, etc. I found these, at the same time, when cleaning out a drawer. They belonged to my MIL, they had been stashed in the old 301 cabinet that I inherited a few years back. They're the perfect size and were destined to become his eyes and shirt buttons. The cards were marked at 15 cents. That might give a clue to their age. I set them aside.

Then it was time to load "Harvey" onto Snowbird for quilting. But, I ask, how do you  quilt a rabbit? The pattern included those dreaded three words: "quilt as desired". Okay, no help there. 

I chose straight-line quilting with a ruler. It seemed to work well for this door banner. 

After quilting he received his features: eyes, whiskers and button embellishments. I just so happened to find one more thing while cleaning out yet another drawer(!); the perfect finishing touch!

Bunny buttons for his fancy French cuffs, ooooh, la-la! They're pewter and were found in my own mother's button box! His name has now changed. He is no longer "Harvey" but now his name is "Buttons"; Buttons the Bunny, it was a natural choice, with assistance from both of my Moms. 💗

Buttons is keeping guard of the studio door now as I come and go, he makes me smile. The following has been declared by both of our granddaughters: "he is my favorite quilt ever!"

And so, the answer to the riddle: "how do you quilt a rabbit?"

"Very gently!"

Life is Good!