This quilt is going to it's new home very soon, birthday boy Gavin turned one on St.Patricks day and is having his party tomorrow. The quilt is 39"x55", a little longer than I wanted but I let the piece of batting I had dictate the size.
I chain stitched the letters with the pearl cotton thread I got for Christmas, I marked with a pencil where I was going to stitch helping to keep everything neat and even.
I did the binding a little differently than I usually do so I was a bit nervous at the corners, hence some puckering. My brother Jonathan bought me a leather thimble for my birthday, it is fantastic, miles better than my layering on band aids for some protection against hand quilting.
The backing was one large piece of coordinating fabric that had enough overlap to use as the binding. I've never worked with such bright colors before so this quilt was a huge departure. Not long into my project I began to really enjoy playing with all the primary colors. Sam says Gavin loves monkeys so I'm hoping he likes this quilt and will one day find the letters spell out his name.
At first I couldn't remember very much about this project even though I made four bunnies as Easter presents for family members back in the 1990's. But as I began to think it all came back to me. I used a favorite soft toy bunny called Binky as inspiration, after more than twenty years he is still a favorite. I sketched his likeness onto paper then cut it out to use as a template for the craft felt. I made a front and a back stuffing him with polyfill and sealing it up with a blanket stitch. His cotton tail is a yoyo and button and the eggs were filled with chocolate. I used dark brown felt for my Auntie Christine as if it were a real chocolate bunny.
