If you've been following me for a while, you may remember that last year around this time I designed "Spring Bunny" as a birthday present for my sister. I was so happy with the design (it made me smile every time I looked at it) that I decided to make one for each season.
Here is my "Summer Bunny" quilt.
And here is my current "Fall Bunny." I am reworking this one a bit and will post it when I get it done. I have the fabric for a "Winter Bunny" quilt but haven't completed my design just yet. As it is once again that time of year for my sister's birthday, I am sending her these two new additions for her collection. I hope she likes them. Here are some details for both designs.
Rather than free-motion straight stitch the applique, I decided to use my favorite stitch - free-motion zigzag stitch.
The quilted flowers in the border were free-motion stitched as well.
I raw edge stitched the applique on "Fall Bunny" and free-motion stitched the leaves in the border. Let me know which "Bunny" quilt is your favorite.
Until next time,
Spring Bunny is finished and on its way to my sister's. It feels good to meet a deadline. LOL
My quilting was done by free-motion quilting with feed dogs down, and a darning foot attached. My preferred needle size is a 75/11 Quilting needle. This needle limits the fabric fraying. The quilting was begun by stitching in the ditch around the inner borders of each of the panels.
I then outlined each individual piece of applique that had a raw edge. I matched the thread color to each section I quilted.
The only exception to outlining each raw edge was for the word "Spring." Because the piece is quite skinny, I choose to stitch in the middle of each letter. This limited the possibility of fraying and kept the amount of thread from overwhelming the fabric.
I then cross-hatched the lower greens on the bunny panels.
The border was stitched with a vine of leaves all the way around. I machine-stitched the binding to the front, pulled it to the back and machine-stitched it from the front.
This was the first time I used tabs for the sleeve. To make the tabs I cut a 3 1/2" x WOF strip and sewed it right sides together with a 1/4" seam. The seam was pressed open and the sleeve pulled to the right side. It was then pressed flat with the seam centered to the back. The strip was then cut into 5" sections. I folded the sections in half and basted the raw edges to the top of the back of the quilt before the binding was sewn on. I then sewed the binding on as stated above. I like the look of the tabs and will definitely use them again.
I would love to hear your opinions of "Spring Bunny" as I am considering publishing it as a pattern. Thanks for your input.
Remember the greeting card I pulled my colors from? Well, I also liked some of the design elements as well and used them for inspiration for the assembly of Spring Bunny.
I liked the two-layer greens at the bottom of the greeting card and incorporated it into my panels.
I next added a 3/4" light pink border which finishes at 1/4". This is a kind of signature to my original applique patterns.
A 1 1/2" sashing stripped is sewn to the joining side of the panel as was done to the other two panels.
The three panels are now joined and it is time for borders.
Wha la! It has all come together.
Now look at both the quilt and the greeting card. There are elements of my inspiration apparent in the quilt. However, I did not use many of the original fabrics selected for this piece as the quilt let me know what I needed as the designing process occurred. I like this card well enough I may use it again for inspiration.
Quilting is next. I will free-motion stitch the applique and quilt at the same time.
Here is the first rendition of Spring Bunny's first panel. Once together the scale of the flowers to the bunny were too large. So I adjusted.
Adjusting the pattern piece sizes was easy because I drew this in Illustrator. This is the first pattern I have done where all of the pattern pieces were drawn or pulled from Illustrator.
The flower size was reduced, as were the grass blades. Notice that I created the words in the mirror image so as to trace onto fusible web. I was now able to make all three panels.
I really like the font I selected for the word "Spring." The panels will now be enhanced with a few borders and some sashing. It's been a while since I designed a quilt. Creating this quilt helps me realize how much I enjoy it but how consuming it becomes. I have a hard time stopping to do the things I "should" do.
My sister's birthday is coming soon and I decided I would like to make her a quilt with a spring theme. I drew this bunny a few months ago in Adobe Illustrator, my new best tool for creating patterns, and decided to base my pattern on it.
Now that I had the pattern subject, I drew a rough (very rough LOL) picture for my applique. I decided on three panels, one with my original bunny, one with a standing bunny, and one with words.
Next, I took my original bunny drawing and used it to develop the standing bunny in Illustrator needed for one of my quilt panels.
Here are the bunnies for my panels. The sitting bunny stands 6" tall and the standing bunny is 8" tall. This is what I will build the rest of the pattern around and use determine the size of the quilt.
I bought this greeting card because the colors excited me for use in a quilt. I decided to use this color palette for this new quilt.
Here are the fabric selections. I have also added a brown (not shown) for the bunnies. My next step is to draw the flowers and create the pattern pieces. I think I am going to add some embroidery for some of the flower details. I'm not sure how I am going to make the panel with the words on it but I have something in mind. Keep watching to see where I go with it.
My quilting was done by free-motion quilting with feed dogs down, and a darning foot attached. My preferred needle size is a 75/11 Quilting needle. This needle limits the fabric fraying. The quilting was begun by stitching in the ditch around the inner borders of each of the panels.
I then outlined each individual piece of applique that had a raw edge. I matched the thread color to each section I quilted.
The only exception to outlining each raw edge was for the word "Spring." Because the piece is quite skinny, I choose to stitch in the middle of each letter. This limited the possibility of fraying and kept the amount of thread from overwhelming the fabric.
I then cross-hatched the lower greens on the bunny panels.
The border was stitched with a vine of leaves all the way around. I machine-stitched the binding to the front, pulled it to the back and machine-stitched it from the front.
This was the first time I used tabs for the sleeve. To make the tabs I cut a 3 1/2" x WOF strip and sewed it right sides together with a 1/4" seam. The seam was pressed open and the sleeve pulled to the right side. It was then pressed flat with the seam centered to the back. The strip was then cut into 5" sections. I folded the sections in half and basted the raw edges to the top of the back of the quilt before the binding was sewn on. I then sewed the binding on as stated above. I like the look of the tabs and will definitely use them again.
