Sorry that I've been absent so much from this space. Kid 2 got his tonsils out at the beginning of the month, and that was all kinds of fun. Last week, with the official start to spring, I thought he was finally well and back to normal. We had a unusually warm week, and even made it to the beach... in swimsuits! Lots of the flowering trees started blooming, and the magnolias were especially beautiful.
Alas, this week has been a bit dreary. The weather has cooled off, and the temperatures got so low one night that the magnolia blossoms froze and turned brown. In other dreary news, Kid 2 spent 6 nights in the hospital with RSV. He has kind of a complicated medical history, and I won't go into the details here, but the short story is that his heart condition makes it harder for him to get enough oxygen when he has a respiratory infection. I'm pretty sure Kid 1 also had RSV, but for him it played out as just an occasional cough. And there it is, this has been a dreary week. My husband stayed with our son at the hospital and I was at home with our other two kids, and only stopped in for a visit or two each day (while my kind, kind friends watched my other kids).
Yesterday, while I was at the hospital, and my husband was giving at presentation at lunch workshop, my friend Jessica came over and played with my kids. Not only did she take excellent care of them, but she washed the mountain of dishes that I was building in my kitchen. Awesome, right? Since my afternoon plans consisted mostly of washing dishes and holding my baby, when she fell asleep in her bouncer, I suddenly found myself with a bit of time. Perfect for sewing an Easter Bunnny for Baby Girl (my boys each got bunnies on their first Easter, so I am continuing on with the tradition).
I used my Jack Rabbit Softie Pattern that you can download for free here. I don't know if I should admit this, but I haven't made one since I sewed up the original 4 years ago. It was fun to revisit this pattern, and mix things up a bit in the process.
I used an old striped super soft cashmere-blend sweater, and kept things simple by not adding the face, hands, or tummy pieces. I used white leather for both the tail and 'M', and a yellow gingham for the inside if the ears.
I love how the rabbit looks and feels, but be warned it's a little more fiddly to sew with a stretchy sweater. A felted sweater would work similar to using fleece. Mine wasn't, so I interfaced all the pieces but the ears to add some structure. This made the sewing easier, and I think will help it hold up a little better in general.
Here are all the pieces before I stuffed them put them all together. Even the 'guts' for this rabbit looked adorable (and I was pleased with my self for how well all the stripes worked out).
When I got to stuffing the main body, I ran out of stuffing. Of course. I haven't had a chance to run over to Joanns to pick some more up, so the rabbit isn't as plump as I'd like. A couple more handfuls of polyfill and a little hand stitching to close up the opening, and she will be ready for Easter!
I also opted to not use buttons for eyes (a little safer for something intended for a baby), and stitched a simple 'sleepy' face. Cute, right?
Anyone else sewing bunnies for Easter? The Long Thread has a great list of bunny tutorials and patterns, and my Jack Rabbit Softie is on that list. If you make one, I always love seeing the end result (it makes my day to get an email with pictures of something someone has made using my patterns and tutorials). There are lots of blogs (with pictures) linked up in the comments section for my pattern, so please click on those to see what everyone else has made.
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