The Bunnies are Coming for Easter

Last year at this time, I made four bunnies that were so much fun to make that I doubled the bunnies this year!

I redesigned my pattern to create an 8" bunny that has button jointed arms and legs.  I had so much fun adding embroidery and beading to their coats.  I just had to give the wee bunnies, bunny slippers too!

They are all made of premium wool felt with wool felt wool coats.  They all carry their fresh carrot. Now some of them have wee purses and one even sports a jaunty yellow sun hat!

I hope you enjoy my brood:

Here is Lady Bunny in a moss green coat with what else but ladybugs embroidered on!

 Of course I wanted her to be lovely from all sides, so the back of her coat is also decorated:

 Next comes Heather the bunny, named from the soft colour of her coat:

 This little gal is made from a vintage wool blanket!  Her name is Delphi.  I love her and thought she needed a wee purse to carry her carrot.

 This bunny is called Crocus as I tried to embroider crocus on her jacket.  I love the effect and found a wee Easter basket for her to carry her carrot and cabbages!

 Now this spry bunny is called Rosie and her coat is made from wool felt and a piece of checked felted wool.

She seems to be in a hurry.  She is going to find more carrots for her supper!

 This lovely lady in pale yellow coat is named Wisteria.  I love her soft look:

 Next is shy Blossom with her velour bunny slippers.  As you can see, she is sitting.  All the bunnies can either stand or sit due to the tight button joints that I added:

 I am very found of this next bunny as I got carried away with the embroidery.  She looks like she wears a coat of a wild English garden full of Cosmos, Forget-me-Nots and Snowdrops:

 Since her coat was over the top, I gave her a sun hat with a hand-dyed silk bow at the back.  If course she wanted a stylish purse to complete her look so I obliged:

I hope you enjoyed my bunny brood.  They are all for sale (ranging in price from $45. to $52 Canadian dollars) and will be at the Coast Collective Art Centre in Victoria in time for Easter.

Bunnies, Bears and Ducks, Oh My

The weather here on the West Coast is amazing.  Spring is in the air and with that in mind, I made a bunch of mohair/faux fur animals to celebrate the season.   They are all fully jointed and are about 10" tall.  They have glass eyes and hand-embroidered noses, what fun! Enjoy:

This Wannabe bunny has a removable hood and bunny slippers!

Based on a pattern by the Canadian bear designer Jean Pacagnan

This second Wannabee bunny is based on a pattern by Canadian designer Cathy Milliard

This wannabe ducky is from a pattern by the Australian designer Ilze.

Have a great month and I hope the weather is kind to all of you.

The White Rabbit

Lately, I have been making dolls based on Alice in Wonderland and this latest is no exception.  I made a companion piece to my Red Queen, the White Rabbit as Herald.

He is from a design by Karyn Ruby  (on "Etsy") from Lethbridge, Alberta.  I love her patterns.  The directions are good and the patterns are fun to make.  He stands about 12", just a perfect size.  His eyes are glass and the stand is made using a round piece of pine and and a round spool for him to lean against.  The stand was sanded, painted bright red and given a coat of sealer and then I added a wee ribbon that has white hearts around the base.  His horn was in my stash!

The rabbit is made from an off-white rayon type fur fabric.

I added eyelids using ultra suede and his nose is waxed.

The Queen of Hearts was very pleased with his performance.

Stay tuned for the next Alice in Wonderland instalment, the Mad Hatter!

Easter Goodies

Just in time for Easter I have finished a few of my mini bears and animals.  Here they are:

Candy Bear with her friends about 3.5" tall

A close-up of Candi and her ducky pull toy.

Felix Fox looking dapper with his ducky pull toy, about 4.5" tall

Fuzzy bear and ducky, about 3.5" tall

Peter Rabbit in his egg cup holding his chick and his felt carrot, 3.5" tall

Ducky bear and his larger ducky pull toy, 4.5" tall.

These creations and others are available for sale at the Coast Collective Art Centre in Colwood in Victoria, BC.

Foxes, Oh My

Well just in time for the end of the month I have a fox felt family.  A group of foxes is called a leash or a skulk.  Foxes are so beautiful with their red and white coats (most common fox in North America is the red fox).  They are social and nimble and have great eyesight and hearing.

I made these wee ones (about 6" tall) from a pattern by Cynthia Treen that I found on etsy. The instructions were very clear and they were fun to make.

Here is the big daddy Fox, Felix with his red jacket. His son follows his dad everywhere, taking his pet duck with him!:

 Next is Mama and her pup.  Mama has a lovely periwinkle coat with hood that keeps her warm and stylish.

Under her coat, mama has a very sweet yellow felt tunic:

Finally here comes the stylish auntie with her niece.  Auntie has a gorgeous lilac coat over her skirt while her favourite niece has a hand knit dress.  They are ready for shopping!

I hope you enjoyed this leash of foxes.  They were so fun to make.  They can stand on their own with help from their full tails but they prefer to hang and swing!

Bunny Sofia-Marie

A dear friend of mine gave me an old Persian lamb fur coat that she was about to discard.  I always thought that although I would not wear a fur coat, it is a shame that fur coats that exist are left idle to waste away when they could be used to make beautiful animals.

Finally at the start of 2015 I decided to turn the coat into a large, lop-eared bunny.  I chose a pattern I had by "The Hughston Collection" based in Ontario, Canada.  

The bunny was fun to make but working with fur is very messy and I had to be careful not to breathe in the tiny fur that flies once you cut into the fabric.  I removed the coat lining and broke the coat up into manageable pieces, backing each piece with iron-on interfacing to stabilize it and make it easier to cut out the pattern pieces.  Once the pattern pieces were cut, I zigzagged each piece before stitching the pieces together to stabilize the cut edges.

I used the mink collar for her belly and part of her bunny tail.  The ears, nose and paw pads are from a faux ultra suede.  The muzzle is from a soft ivory "minky" fur (I would have used the mink but there was not enough for both the belly and the muzzle).

I am very pleased with the final result:

Sofia-Marie, sits at 20" tall, fully reclined she is 25".

 I named the lop-eared bunny Sofia-Marie since she spends her time hopping between the Tuscan countryside and the south of France.  She loves all things "shabby chic" as evidenced by her bows and collar piece.  Her locket contains pictures of her bunny mum and wee bunny brother.

A close-up of her face showing her blue glass eyes

Back of bunny showing her mink and minty tail.  The "gold" key in her back turns on her music box that plays "Down by the Old Mill Stream"

Sofia-Marie bids adieu and ciao!