Folk art embroidery: Andrea Zuill and the black rabbit

~Stay tuned for the May Giveaway !~

Here's a little bunny created by Andrea Zuill, a painter, designer, and quilter based in Southern California. Andrea works in many different media, and her embroidery designs often have a whimsical, innocent "naif" style to them, which is associated with folk art.

Black rabbit quilt, 24 x 30, by Andrea Zuill, at Andrea Zuill.com

We think that the black bunny is adorable, because he seems very young, and he seems to occupy a timeless, enchanted world, surrounded by flowers, leaves, and other decorations that complement his rounded shape. To emphasize his shape and to make sure that he doesn't blend into the background, Andrea has used electric blue thread to hand-quilt the bunny in an "echo" pattern which further defines his shape. Click on the image below to see the detail, and you will be able to see the outline stitching around the bunny and the blanket stitching around some of the flowers.

For the post explaining the construction of this project, please see:  black rabbit quilt is finished  at Badbird's (Andrea Zuill's blog).

Her artwork has been described as sometimes dark, sometimes humorous, and generally figurative in nature. She also writes a very humorous blog: for her funny descriptions of 9 different kinds of quilters, see the post called Line that Divide.  She explains: "Folk Art Quilters are very close to Art Quilters. What makes a Folk Art Quilter is simplistic expressive designs and the inability to make even stitches. Flaws are acceptable, they’re Folk Artists for goodness sakes."

Andrea also creates beautiful quilts with light-hearted, upbeat designs. Each month, she offers a free embroidery pattern (in April's embroidery pattern, you can find a fierce little hummingbird). For a wonderful "Rabbit Queen" pattern, click here.  

Andrea Zuill has a fascinating shop on Etsy where you can find her artwork and unusual embroidery patterns; see Badbird's Art and Embroidery Patterns .

The year of the rabbit in thread and cloth

Each year we seek out the most unusual rabbit quilts and trends (see our 2010 Easterly Quilts). 2011 is the year of the rabbit, so we've rounded up bunnies from all parts of the globe: England, Sweden, Russia, Japan, and the U.S.  Take a look at these sublime thread sketches by Cathy Baumgartner:

Year of the rabbit mini-quilt, 13 x 13, by Cathy Baumgartner, at Baumcat

Cathy Baumgartner created this mini-quilt with free-motion quilting. We love the simplicity of the contemplative bunny. Cathy's masterful thread sketches, including her mermaid, horse, wildlife, and bee, remind us of line drawings with a pen: the stitching is so precise, you can hardly tell it is thread !

Where the blue bunnies fish, 8 x 10, by Cathy Baumgartner at Baumcat

This entire piece is only 8" x 10" (imagine machine-quilting those tiny letters!) Click to see the detail. To see Cathy's latest rabbit quilt, visit her Baumcat blog. Finally, don't miss her gorgeous Prayer-Flag Quilt; each "flag" is stitched with a line from a beautiful Celtic prayer.

Rabbit fabrics

Row 1: Hand-screen-printed rabbits on white linen, 39 cm x 39 cm, by Swedish designer Maja Bäckström on Etsy. Row 2: White Rabbit of Inaba (Japanese watercolor fabric), 100% cotton, as seen at Superbuzzy. Row 3: Brother rabbit (Brer rabbit) linen fabric, a William Morris design, at Fabrics and Papers; other colorways can be found at Historic Style.

Alice in Wonderland,  by Ophelia, at Spoonflower

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is such a classic book !  This clever border fabric brings back the vintage 1800's Tenniel illustrations, along with the text, on a blue ombre background. The border prints and toile-style patterns come in coordinating colors.

 Rabbit Fabric, 8" x 8" repeat, by Olga Nikich, at Spoonflower

Russian artist Olga Nikich has created the most dramatic rabbit pair we've ever seen in fabric. The black and white bunnies nestle together in a yin-yang configuration. We think the blocks would look great as a wallhanging, and we've been playing around with this arrangement:

 
The quilting-weight fabric is available in fat quarters and yards at Spoonflower, where you can also see Olga Nikich's sumptuous red queen fabric. For more of her bold, graphic designs, visit Olga's website at www.olganikich.com.

Finally, if you visit Activity Village (UK), you will find many Year of the Rabbit coloring pages which can be downloaded (they're free !)

How to Grow Wheat Grass

A fun way to bring the outdoors, inside. 

I've seen this idea used in several different ways. 

For Christmas plant wheat grass around the base of an Amaryllis Bulb

In the springtime, plant wheat grass in a large shallow container. 

When the grass has matured, place brightly colored easter eggs on the blades

and display on a table. 

As the grass grows, uses scissors to trim your indoor lawn!

Visit A Lemon Squeezy Home for the complete tutorial

http://alemonsqueezyhome.blogspot.com/2010/03/planting-wheat-grass.html

How To Make Pieced Fabric Eggs

Retro Mama will show you how to make stuffed Easter eggs.   

Mighty cute!

http://retro-mama.blogspot.com/2009/03/easter-is-in-air.html

paisleys and stripes and flowers...oh MY!

So. Waaaaay back in March, Monday the twenty-second, to be exact, I showed you a bunch of lovely ties I purchased to make tie-dyed eggs. Remember? And then, on a roll, the very NEXT day, I pictured the process of cutting up the tie and wrapping the egg! Only I couldn't go any further, because I didn't have any white vinegar. So into the fridge went the tie-wrapped egg. And it sat there. For a while. Because I kept forgetting to get vinegar, and life was happening!

Yesterday, when we went to Hunter Road to put things in order, guess what I had there? WHITE VINEGAR! So guess what I came home and did?!?!?

I didn't take the care in unpiecing the ties this time. Snap, pull, and rip. Fast and easy.

Glad I re-read the directions; wrapping them in the white cloth after they're tie-wrapped is crucial to the process!

Into the saucepan for you, my lovelies!

Draining and cooling . . .

Aren't they beautiful?? Remember that ugly old green and orange tie? It made the most splendiferous egg!

Pastels are not as vivid on the hard-boiled eggs as bolder colors, but they're still quite pretty and delicate. I *love* the way the flowers turned out! Pretty nifty, huh? If you want to try them for yourself, check out the directions HERE at Our Best Bites. Ummm. I won't want to eat these! I'll want to gaze at them for longer than I should!

Here was our happy Easter dinner! This was the first time in fourteen years that I've not done a full blown Easter dinner. I had to scale way back. But I think we did good! Lamb chops grilled with garlic & rosemary, au gratin potatoes, green beans, yeast rolls, deviled eggs (NOT made with my designer eggs--I boiled two extra for our dinner. LOL!), and I made us each a Jell-O jiggler egg, with sugar-free jello. Then I cut them in half and topped them with whipped topping, so they looked like deviled eggs (sorta)! It was fun!

After our Sunday afternoon nap, we had cheesecake and coffee. All in all, a lovely celebratory day!

Again, Happy Easter!

:)

Hallelujah!

He is risen indeed!

Happy Easter!

:)

Romans 8:22-23 . . .

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

I had a hard time finding a picture of a sealed tomb. There are plenty of pictures of the "stone rolled away," but that's not today. Today is the day that the tomb was sealed. The day creation held its breath. The day the disciples despaired. The day after the Crucifixion and the day before the Resurrection.

A day of waiting, pondering and reflecting.

As the storm clouds moved in this morning, bringing rain, thunder and lightning, I couldn't help but be reminded of Romans 8:22; that all of creation groans in anticipation of its Creator.

Today I will also wait, ponder and reflect. But not in uncertainty. Not with anxiety. And certainly not with despair.

I will reflect with awe and wonder!

I will ponder with a peace that passes all understanding!

I will wait with joyful expectation!

For I know, my Redeemer lives!

:)

random thoughts . . .

Quilting. Does anyone subscribe to The Quilt Show? One of my kids gave me a gift subscription to it for my birthday, and I've really enjoyed watching the shows (at my leisure) and flipping through their website. They have a freebie membership, too, which was enough to make me want a full-benefit membership! I'd love to hear your feedback on this site . . . and others out there. What online quilting websites are your favorites? This is a call for FEEDBACK! :) That's all the quilting I've got for now. Perhaps I can muster something over the weekend; I seem to start more and more and finish less and less!

I've shared more than once that I'm a cat lover . . . have you ever seen the You Tube video, Kittens! Inspired by Kittens!? It's *so* funny. Of course, I'm easily amused, so there you have it. My daughter shared it with me and whenever I find myself in need of amusement, I flip over there real quick . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtX8nswnUKU

Finally, the magnificent seven made their way back up to the campsite last night! They arrived just at dusk, with a guest (which I guess makes them the magnificent eight, but that doesn't sound right), and tentatively ate through the corn patches. Then two more came up from the backside, so it was a pretty full house. We had opened the windows earlier to air out/cool out the RV, and I think they got wind of us, but because they couldn't see us (we turned the lights off) or hear us (we were super-silent), they stuck it out. Yay! The boys (and girls) are back in town! And Todd said he believes at least one of the does is pregnant!

We then slept with the RV windows open, for the first time EVER! We moved into it in mid-November, so to our defense, the weather hasn't really lent itself to open-windows until just recently. It was so nice! But, there was on little, teensy drawback . . .

Evidently, raccoons are very CHATTY when they're hitting up your bird feeders and throwing 'em to the ground. Mind you, we didn't hear the bird feeder actually hitting the ground, just the raccoons talking back and forth. Very verbal critters, they are! Not that this will keep us from having windows open; it just may not be the windows that are right at the head of the bed, directly across from the one bird feeder the raccoons disarm!

I had lunch today with Laura Patrick, the author of the book I gave away in my giveaway. She's really a neat person. As are her children, particularly her daughter. Her sweet little girl is in fourth grade and loves quilting! She's even taking lessons at school! We ate at Po' Boys, a Cajun restaurant in the Five Points area. It was a lot of fun and the food was good.

Tomorrow Todd & I are heading over the old homestead to do a little more prep work towards putting it up on the market. Easter Sunday will be a quiet celebration; both our children are doing Easter dinner with their in-laws . . . I think this is a first! I'll make a couple of token jello eggs, hard-boiled eggs, and some lamb chops for the two of us; perhaps we'll celebrate picnic style, down by the pond, where we can relax and appreciate all of God's goodness!

Tonight I'm going to . . . take lots of pictures and post them later!

:)

Easterly quilts

We've always had a soft spot for Easter, bunnies, and eggs. Judging from the fantastic variety of quilts we've found this spring, we're not alone! Cast your vote now for your favorites...

Also, we recently discovered that the images we upload are clickable. Click on an image to see a larger view (if available); then hit the back button to return to the blog.

Egg cups quilt, ~ 20 x 30, by Jean Loken




We came across the beautiful quilt, above, and were impressed not only by the 18 different Delft style egg cups, but also by the colorful, three-dimensional lattice work. The quilt was made by Jean Loken, who generously shared the story with us: "It was from a Dutch company, and friends of mine imported some of their fabulous fabrics and wondered if anyone they knew would tackle a quilt with instructions in Dutch... I found a Dutch lady who translated it for me. Then I had to change the centimeters into inches that I could cut with a rotary cutter. The diamond intersections were harder than I thought they would be, but we love the quilt." (And so do we!)

Garden Bunnies, 66 x 77, by Darcy Ashton



Darcy Ashton has created a series of wildly popular bunny patterns and quilts. The marvelous quilt above features ten hand-appliquéd bunnies set among log cabin blocks, done in the colors of spring. The patterns for all of the bunnies - and for eleven different quilts featuring them - are in Bunnies & More, a book by Ashton Publications.

Baltimore Bunnies,64 x 79, by Anne Sutton for Bunny Hill Designs




The beautiful Baltimore Bunnies Quilt by Bunny Hill Designs has twelve different appliquéd blocks, in the style of an heirloom Baltimore album quilt. Two of the ornate blocks, which feature bunnies framed by flower wreaths, are shown above. Also check out these classic Bunny Hill patterns: Garden Bunny, Sugar Bunnies, The Bunny Run, The French Rabbits, and Rabbits Prefer Chocolate.


Snuggly Bunnies, 33 x 43, as seen at Pipers Girls




These bunnies are all dressed up! The original design is by Bonnie Sullivan for All Through the Night. The quilt shown above was done in wool, with button and embroidery details. The pattern also contemplates cottons (we can imagine each bunny wearing a little plaid coat). The pattern is out of print, but a few hard-to-find copies are available at Pipers Quilt Shop. (If you happen to be in Salt Lake City, visit the real Pipers Quilts & Comforts).

Bunny Medallion Quilt, by Darcy Ashton



The bright pink cabbage roses, above, provide the perfect backdrop for the little white bunny. The bunny is from Darcy Ashton's original Grandma's Bunnies book. Although the book itself is out of print, the loose-leaf collection of 30 rabbit patterns is still available. To order, see Ashton Publications' patterns page.

Bunnies & Egg, 18 x 19.5, by Castilleja Cotton



Three bunnies and an egg: do the math. In this whimsical mini quilt, the white bunnies peer out from behind a giant egg, while pink and red butterflies... flutter by. The pattern is available at Castilleja Cotton. The design group at Castilleja Cotton has created nearly a dozen charming bunny and Easter patterns, so it was hard to pick a favorite. The Bargello Bunny with Butterflies quilt pattern was a close second.

Vintage Easter fabric blocks

We're amazed at the selection of colorful vintage postcard images that have been printed on 100% cotton fabric, ready for use in a quilt block, pillow, or fabric collage.

"Easter Greetings", with its colorful eggs and spring flowers, is available here.

Collaged crazy quilt block, 8x8, by Kim Howard & Jordan Howard



The clever crazy quilt block, above, was created with fine silks, decorative stitches, ribbon, velvet, vintage style buttons, and other embellishments. This and several other blocks are available at Hidden Treasures on Etsy.

Image credits and additional links:

Snuggly Bunnies, courtesy of Pipers Girls

Egg cup quilt, courtesy of Jean Loken

Baltimore Bunny, courtesy of Bunny Hill Designs.

Garden Bunnies and Bunny Medallion quilts, courtesy of Darcy Ashton and Ashton Publications

Bunnies & Egg, courtesy of Diane McGregor and Castilleja Cotton

Collaged crazy quilt block, courtesy of Kim Howard at at Hidden Treasures

happy wed-nes-day!

Only TWO more days to go HERE and enter to win my fabulous giveaway!

One of the benefits of not working on Mondays is that the middle of the standard work week comes *very* quickly and painlessly! :) This week I'm off on Friday as well (my mom & dad are coming into town to meet their new (and first) great-grandchild -- yay)!!! What a nice work week for me! I believe I'll take my mom out to lunch at Emma's Tea Room on Friday. One of my *most favorite* tea places!

I forgot to mention that I received, via e-mail, the first e-book for review from C&T. The only down to the book is that it doesn't include the patterns, so I can't really speak about them, which is unfortunate (especially since such a big part of reviewing an applique book would include the quality / layout / spacing of the patterns. I'll make it work. I picked out a simple, cute square to work with and I'll have something in the next two weeks to show for it. Other than the pattern thing, the book itself is fun, and I enjoyed my initial flip through it! Whimsical is a good word in the title -- the birds crack me up!

I also finally got around to putting out my Easter things that I saved from the house.

You know, since we've moved in, I've had fall/Thanksgiving decorations out, Christmas decorations out, winter decorations out (yes, I have "winter" decor!), Valentine decorations out and now Easter/spring decorations! I hope I've got something to fill all this space when there's no holiday! LOL!

And I didn't forget the outside . . . of course, I've already talked about this door decoration. My door wreath (or the wren's home, depending on who you talk to)!

The wren was nestled in BEHIND the bunny. I didn't stand a chance!

Our weather is *so* beautiful today! It's supposed to get up into the 70's by this afternoon. I am wearing my Yellowboxes today, in anticipation! My MM (Mighty Man) took off to go fishing it's so wonderful today. Oh for that luxury . . . ! (Said the girl who's only working three days this week. Hmmmm.)

Have a happy and quilty day!

:)

reflections of yesterday . . .

I'm having fun reading comments and making new friends. Click HERE to check out my giveaway and then sign up! I'm picking the winner on Friday morning! :)

Yesterday I had a phenomenal day! I got to babysit Sawyer while his mommy ran some errands. He was *so* good and we had such a fun time! I sang to him, and we talked, and he ate, and he slept. And I took photos. Lots of 'em. Far more than I'm sharing here! Oh the joy of being grandma!

And in the mail I got a package! I do so love getting packages in the mail; whether it's something I ordered, something I *won* or something that's a surprise! Mail is lovely! This package was from Amber, of A Little Bit Biased and Gigi's Thimble, and it was a darling quilted wall-hanging I had won from her blog!

And then I pulled out a tie, an egg, the instructions, and went to work . . .

Ummm...on my list for today? Pick up some vinegar!

And I'll also spend a little time over here . . . at jaybird quilts . . . checking out the other giveaways going on in blog land!

Buenos dias!

:)

design wall monday . . . on the ironing board

Right off the bat? Don't forget to sign up for my very first GIVEAWAY!!!

Actually, I wanted to share this non-quilt offering (which is on my mat) . . .

Remember on Friday, when I shared the link for the "tie" dyed Easter eggs? Well, while we were out on Saturday, I stopped by the local Goodwill store and picked out these beauts!

In the article, she mentions that the uglier tie, the more beautiful Easter egg you've got. *I* am going to have some of the MOST beautiful eggs ever! *Especially* the green and orange striped one . . . yeeesh! It makes me mindful of a clash between the Scots and the Irish! LOL!

I *do* have a new project in the "getting ready" stage. I'm assembling the parts and pieces of this cute spring project . . .

From this book (which I also picked up in our wanderings on Saturday). This was the weekend that I spent money at a local small business. I'm doing my part to help the economy! :)

As you can see from the cover, this book is full of cute, seasonal offerings. Just perfectly sized for an RV wall. I *had* to get it! The fall wall hanging caught my eye, too. There's also a "Home" hanging that I'll want to try.

This is what I've got so far (on my design ironing board) . . .

I opted to have it say "give me spring!" vs. "give me the simple life". Because I can.

Have a super-HAPPY MONDAY!

:)

design wall monday and other tidbits . . .

So, you do know that in an RV there isn't so much of a "design wall" per se . . . more like a design ironing board, a design cutting table, a design bed, etc., you get the picture! Today it's design ironing board and I've got a couple things going . . .

First, I went ahead and tied the polka-dot squares on Sawyer's quilt. It was what I'd envisioned from the first, so I went with it. Nothing else was really working for me!

So the next thing I'm working on is the "S" I want to quilt into the striped squares. I played around in Publisher for a bit until I found a font that I felt would transfer well to a stencil.

And then, for a special touch (and because my dear daughter-in-law *loves* monograms) I played around until I had what I wanted for the very most center square; Sawyer's monogram!

I haven't really done it yet; I just played around and edited the photo to see how it would look! It won't be that bold, of course, because I am quilting it, but I think it will be a perfect finishing touch!

Next, I'm putting together my Russia square. How funny it was to me to see that the actual name of this block was "Southern Belle"!

It's times like this that I really *miss* my big quilting room. I'm struggling with having to clear a work surface so I can do something else, or even just to sew. I always loved that I could have three (or four or five) different projects working in different stages, and I never felt cluttered or encumbered. Of course, that was a luxury; I don't suppose pioneer women had a pretty yellow room dedicated entirely to their quilting. But STILL! :)

Also, if time permits, I want to put out the Easter things that I decided to hold onto. Just a few pretties! It was a tough decision; I had THREE boxes of Easter decorations!

And finally, if I still need something to do, or in my case, just something *different* to do, I'll work on cutting out these darling paper dolls for my six-year-old niece, Lucy. She loves to receive things in the mail, and I love to make her happy!

I'm not sure who had posted this link on their blog, but it's worth sharing, especially to mamas and grandmas of darling little girls; check it out at Teri's Paper Doll Scans. Tons & scads of the cutest paper dolls, including the first ten years of the McCall's paper dolls!

This morning, as I came back into the RV, I had such a strong sense of nostalgia. It smelled like coffee and fried eggs and woodsy . . . just like mornings spent with my Grandma Willie and Pop-pop in their travel trailer, parked in a Pennsylvania Dutch country campground. What wonderful memories! How lucky I am to be able to re-live them!

Ah; there it is. My Monday. I love Mondays!

:)