Back-Up Bunny

I had a nice surprise last week. It started with this little stuffed bunny I made a while back, for a customer to give to her friend who was having a baby.  The free pattern is from RevoluzZza (the same place you can find the ninni monster pattern). I made just this one bunny, then put the pattern away and forgot all about it.

I got my surprise when I saw this picture, below, on Facebook. That beautiful baby is holding the bunny I made!  Her mother was trying to find out where the bunny came from, because it is her daughter's all-time favorite toy--she carries it around all day and can't go to sleep at night without it.  The mom said she doesn't know what they would do if the bunny was ever lost.  They need a back-up bunny!!

Even though I'm not selling my work any more, there was NO WAY I could say no to this baby! So I made the back-up bunny, below.  At the mother's request, I made it a little different than the first one--can you spot the changes?

If you are ever looking for a simple toy to make for a baby, consider this pattern. You can finish it in an afternoon, and it is baby-approved!

Bunny Pillow

One of the fun parts of being in a craft swap is "stalking" your partner; you look at everything you can find about her online, such as the pictures she has posted on the Craftster or flickr, and looking at her Pinterest or Wist.

When I was trying to come up with a small-ish extra item to send to my partner in the Junker Jane swap on Craftster recently, there were two things on her Wist that really caught my eye.  The first was a decorative pillow with a heart in the center, in shades of red and khaki.  I love hearts, and I have experience making pillows, so I knew I could make this for her pretty quickly.  I kept looking, though, and came across a picture of a t-shirt with a big heart on it, and inside the heart there was a bunny silhouette. That's when the light bulb came on over my head--I would do a bunny-silhouette heart on the pillow!  It was perfect because I was doing a bunny Junker Jane-style doll for her, so my package would have a theme! Yay!

The background of the pillow is linen, as is the silhouette. The heart is made from quilter's cotton that's been in my stash for many a long year.  I used my favorite product, Heat n Bond Lite, to adhere the bunny to the heart, and the heart to the pillow.  Using the Heat n Bond allowed me to leave the fabric edges raw; then I machine sewed around the edges to secure everything.

I added a line of red hand-embroidered running stitches for an accent along the sides.

My bunny-loving partner declared that this pillow was one of the most amazing things anyone has ever made for her!  (I KNEW she would like it!!)