Rounding up the bounding bunnies

And if my bunny accounting is correct, this is the last of the bounding bunnies I need for the bounding bunny rainbow quilt. The bounding bunny quilt has bunnies running toward a center aisle of carrots. I will lay it out tomorrow when I'm more energetic and the kittens less so.

Looking at this photo of the bounding bunnies, the yellow bunny on the far left, second row appears to have a Cheshire cat grin.

Hummingbird

It's almost hummingbird season. They start to arrive here mid-April. My brother suggested I make a hummingbird block and I got it into my head to make it as an Alternative Universe Dear Jane block. This means the block finishes at 4.5 inches square. So yes, I resorted to paper piecing and the kittens learned quite a few new words today.  I will probably remake a larger version that I can construct using my usual flip triangle technique.

Here are a few other Alternative Universe blocks. These are the blocks that Jane Stickle made but didn't put in her final quilt.  Like the Dear Jane quilt, I'm making them using the Kaffe Fasset fabrics with his chalk spot for the background.

Here's a hummingbird quilt (8.5 by 11 inches) that I made back in 2011 using fused raw edge applique.

And this is an all girl hummingbird party. I usually have about five feeders and some of the more aggressive males will stake out a feeder for themselves forcing others to share and take turns.

For the border I am planning to use bunny ears and tails. I suspect that the plaid bunnies will stay in formation if they are surrounded by disembodied bunny parts.  Kittens, of course, wouldn't care because that's their life work.

 Typhoon would like me to quit saying that he is "underfoot" because clearly he is over my foot. For a cat constantly in fear for his safety, this is one time that his concerns would be valid.

Plaid bunny quilt top

Finally! The plaid bunnies are assembled into a quilt top without a border. I did end up surrounding each bunny with its own background color and then assembling those blocks. I should also acknowledge my helpers...who were no help at all. Molly is a big fan of burrowing and now she is a big fan of burrowing into a quilt top while I am trying to sew it. I took this photo by chucking a ball down the hallway and then closing the sewing room door behind the cats as they ran out. Typhoon and Molly still have enough kitten in them to fall for that trick.

The quilt top without borders is 67 by 78 inches...much larger than I intended. I do want borders though so I'm going to have to give that some thought.

Easter bunny parade

Today seemed the perfect day to layout the plaid bunnies and maybe even sew them into a quilt top. The first task was to take off extra stripping or add it so that each bunny had a strip in front and on top. Next task was to clear enough floor for a design floor, because I have given up on the design wall for now.

Of course, I had lots of help. I was surprised to see how cat toys made their way under the blocks, until they were discovered and attacked. And needless to say, the bunny blocks also served perfectly as a race track and a wrestling mat.

Once the bunnies were laid out, I did change my mind and decided that each bunny needed a strip in the back as well. They will also have another strip between the bunnies' feet and the top strip...but I don't know if that will be a single long strip or scrappy...like I showed several posts ago. Sigh. 

Typhoon favors scrappy neutrals.

Twinklers and plaid bunnies

I decided to make some more purple twinklers this morning. And yes, I did have to bring out the seam ripper a couple of times when I lost my way.  And if you're wondering how I managed to have all of these stars up on the design wall at once...I closed the door to the sewing room. If you don't mind the noise of cats banging on the door, a lot can get accomplished.

For more wonder purple projects, visit the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge's last week for purple in March.

And yes, this is the last bunch of plaid bunnies. I finished them this morning because last night Molly took over my sewing chair because I wouldn't let her lounge on the ironing board next to the hot iron.

Plaid Bunny Formation

Yup. I can't stop making plaid bunnies. Here are three more. I decided to make more as I continue to over think the eventual layout. Of course, Cathy at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilts is showing her Sane side, and finished her quilt flimsy AND a stuffed bunny. All absolutely adorable.

Meanwhile, there was a wasp in the house and Typhoon decided to take it on and got stung. Tommy did the exact thing as a kitten. And after licking his wound(s), Typhoon wanted to go back for a second round. Of course, he is blaming me for his mishap and won't let me near him.

National Puppy Day

Yes, it's Molly your guest blogger for today. Today is National Puppy Day. An obvious case of political correctness gone wild. To help you through the day I am providing you with kitten pictures so you won't have to focus so much on things that are noisy and smelly.

These are photos of me when I had recently arrived, but before I had taken over leadership of this enterprise.

This is a picture of my brother Typhoon before he became a criminal.

In this photo of Typhoon, you can see the beginning of criminal intent. And by the way, he made a wonderful squeak yesterday when I bit his foot.

Bunnies, bunnies and more bunnies

First, I should mention that Molly did not have a good day today. I safety pinned the bunnies to the design wall and the best she could do was make them tilted and drunk looking. She hung on to the wall tugging very hard on a bunny before finally giving up.

I'm still not completely certain what the finally solution is except that I think I do like them scrunched up...not the March Hare as Cathy as Crazy by Design suggests but the Hare's March, which may have to become the title of the quilt.

The one decision I did make was to make more bunnies.

Plaid bunny layout decisions

I thought I had the plaid bunny quilt all figured out. I was going to surround each bunny with its own personal plaid background and then use another light subdued plaid as sashing with cornerstones. The cornerstones would echo the shape of the eyes and tails. Oddly, this makes the bunnies look like they are squished into the front of their block.

Now I'm wondering if surrounding the bunnies in plaid makes them disappear. Here are the bunnies still surrounded by their background, but without the extra space for neutral sashing and cornerstones.

And these are some bunnies that do not have any extra sashing. In this instance, the bunnies would get sashing in the front but there would only be a single one inch finished strip between them. I had thought that this was too much crowding for bunnies (or pigs or chickens).

Here are bunnies with their own front sash but no back sash. They don't look as crowded as they do in the previous version although they have the same amount of space. Now I'm wondering what happens if I try to put in neutral sashing with cornerstones.

Molly suggested that I have free-range bunnies so she knocked them down to the floor at the bottom of the design wall. One bunny stuck on the design wall, so Typhoon brought it down. It's so nice to know that there is a cat to pinch hit for Molly when she doesn't feel up to being naughty.

Purple twinkler stars

I have enjoyed watching Cathy at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilts make her twinkler stars, and have now begun my own. Our local guild makes quilts for children and I thought a twinkler quilt would work nicely. I started with purple because I have lots of purple fabric out for the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge. However, I will have to finish this quilt before well before the end of the year, so this  project won't be part of that challenge. It definitely fits in with Oh Scrap!, so let's go see what's happening over at the link party.

And speaking of challenges...yesterday's sharks were no challenge for Molly who brought the bunnies and shark down in one climb of the design wall. I put up this alligator and it met a similar fate, except that for some reason Typhoon decided to join in and attacked it and bit it after it fell.

Otherwise, Molly is relatively subdued and is practicing her thoughtful poses. She may also be thinking about how she is going to accomplish her new challenge...biting through the cord to the router. She has become so obsessed that I close the door to the office, which, of course, only fuels her obsession.

Purple bunnies

I started making bunnies for last year's Rainbow Scrappy Challenge and have decided to continue with them this year. I am also making a plaid bunnies quilt as a separate project and it is much further along. That said, bunnies do have a way of taking over. I suggest you hop over to the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge and see what other scrappy mischief is being made with purple.

Here is Molly trying to get her beauty sleep. This is her nook behind the design wall. I had to get up on a chair to take this picture.

Gayle at Mangofeet suggested I put sharks on the design wall to protect my blocks from Molly. I suspect that once Molly has had her nap, even the sharks will be pulled to the floor and may even receive a few teeth marks for good measure.

Last of the plaid bunnies?

If I've figured everything out correctly, this should be the last litter of bunnies I need to finish the plaid bunny quilt. Of course, I have to make some adjustments to the design wall before the final layout. For some reason, the flannel is sagging. And yes, all of these bunnies are now resting quietly on the floor. Molly was able to knock them all down in one assault on the design wall.

Dear Jane D1, I3, J2 and L4

Another draw completed. These are Dear Jane blocks D1 (Alison's Guiding Light), I3 (Family Album), J2 (Picture Perfect) and L4 (St. George's Cross).  Oddly, all of blocks in this draw use thin strips, so they went together quickly given how I'm constructing them. For J2, Picture Perfect or The Hashtag, I followed Jane Stickle instead of the book and added a surrounding border.

And to take this photo, I used the laser pointer to entice the teenagers out of the sewing room and into the hall, whereupon I closed the door. Earlier, Molly was taking the blocks down as I was putting them up. And when I opened the door again, I was met with stares of utmost indignation.

Dear Jane, bunny and Molly

Here's the Dear Jane block L2 or Stephanie's Snowflake. I was going to post a picture of it yesterday, but I realized the points in the second border were wrong. So I fixed them this morning only to realize that they are still wrong. Oh well, every snowflake is supposed to be different!

Here are the four blocks from the most recent draw.

Next, I wanted to show you the most recent bunny...but yikes...there's no focus...everything is moving...

It's Molly on a mission.

And here's Molly showing Typhoon the spoils from the climb. Typhoon is learning to climb the design wall, but he is much bigger and heavier so he can't get as high. Also, he doesn't seem to share Molly's love of heights...yet.

I should also mention that the bunny puppet lying on the floor is Molly's arch frenemy. She used to beat it up regularly, but now she usually prefers to wrestle with Typhoon.  

Dear Jane K10

This is Dear Jane block K10 or Quandary. I made this using the flip triangle technique which is a quick, but often times, less precise process. So now I have the quandary of a block that isn't quite square.

Bunnies and a garden

Here are four more bounding bunnies, facing to the right. I have about ten more to make to finish this quilt top from last year's Rainbow Scrappy Challenge. If you would like to see more scrappy happenings, hop on over to Oh Scrap!

I also finally managed to add a Tutorial page to my blog with links to various patterns. I hope it's helpful.

And here is Dear Jane block L10 or Nan's Naiad. I liked how Fabadashery interpreted the block better than the original. But then I couldn't help myself, because the block began to look like a field surrounded by carrots and beets. And well, the bunnies might be hungry.  And yes, significant amounts of paper piecing were committed during the creation of this block, all under duress.

Purple fish

Here are two purple fish that swam into a rather chaotic sewing room. But they didn't want to miss celebrating Purple March at the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.

And here are all the fish I've made so far. You can also see where I made a mistake on the top left purple fish. I fixed it in photoshop for the first photo, and next I will fix it in real life.

I'm a bit confused as to how I could make a mistake when I'm so closely supervised.

Then again, I may just be anticipating all of the harsh criticism I know I will receive. Molly definitely has "modern" tastes and prefers a lot of negative space, that is, an empty design wall.

Dear Jane A1

Here is Dear Jane block A1 or Pinwheel Gone Awry. Otherwise, I spent the day cutting fabric to make more plaid bunnies and bounding bunnies...enough for both quilt tops.

And here is Molly sleeping on the sewing room floor. Molly and Typhoon and knocked flat folds of their piles and down the back of the design wall. This then became their sleeping nest. I recently dug the fabric up and piled it on the floor in front of the design wall...waiting to be refiled. It must still have nest smells because Molly has now taken over these fabric piles for daytime sleeping. And yes, you might think that a cat formerly named Hurricane would sleep in a circle around a center core, but you would be wrong. Typhoon takes this same pose when he sprawls on top of me.

I find taking a photo of Typhoon much harder because he is usually squirreling around down by my feet.

And last night he decided that he wanted to climb the design wall like his sister. But given he's so much bigger and heavier than his sister, he has a harder time of it. Molly is able to scoot all the way up and over the top of the design wall and onto the top of the shelves behind it. Then she calls me over so she can jump down on my shoulders and then down my back and onto the floor. What fun!

Dear Jane I10

Here is today's contribution to Dear Jane. This is block I10 or Iris' Medallion or I would have had this done yesterday if I hadn't started by sewing the pieces to the wrong side of the background fabric.

 Meanwhile, Molly finds adult learning fascinating! Her current interests include biting electrical cords, biting her brother, climbing to the highest surface in the room and climbing me to reach those spots.  Obviously, her foster family failed to socialize her properly.