Thursday, April 14, 2011

bunny stuffing

I truly hope you didn't click on over here hoping for an Easter recipe!


If you couldn't tell, I'm a bit pattern crazy recently. They are helping me learn to be patient and follow directions. I haven't felt up to working on my ongoing quilts quite yet, so I've been doing things like pouches and bags. I really wanted to sew something up for each of the kids for Easter this year and I decided to give a first try to softies. I settled on the fantastic Jack Rabbit and Rufus the Dog patterns from Hop, Skip, Jump.


As you can see, I'm using more of my fab DS Quilts fabric. Claire went nuts for the blue floral that is in the ears, so her bunny will get a skirt out of it (and I might even make Claire one to match!). I woke up an hour early and used the time to cut out all of the pieces. They sewed up so quickly during naptime this morning that I thought, "Hey! I'm going to get this done in no time!" Then I started stuffing. And stuffing. And swearing a little bit. And then I thought, "I don't think the kids are going to get bunnies this year after all." I could not get the fill into those tiny little stuffing holes in the arms and legs.

So I figured out a solution that is probably obvious to those of you who have made softies before. There are probably even better tricks out there (if so, please share them with me!). This is what I did:


I took the Dritz 1/2" turning tube thing that I had also used to turn the ears and limbs all right side out. I stuck it in the hole and pushed it down so it was all the way at the end of the leg/arm.


Then I grabbed a wad of stuffing (I'm using a bamboo blend that I picked up on sale at Jo-Ann's the other day) and stuffed it down the tube with the wooden stick. Then I did it over and over again.


It saved my sanity, and now the kids will all get bunnies. Hooray!


And now it's time for the winner of the 101 Patchwork Projects & Quilts magazine. The random number generator has spoken, and the winner is Emily off MLE Knits! Congrats!


10 comments:

Sentimental Living said...

Sweeeeeet:) Greetings!

Amy Friend said...

The bunny is adorable!

Poppyprint said...

What a sweet bunny! Stuffing skinny tubes is hard! I've done it by rolling stuffing into little balls and cramming it down with a straw that has been snipped several times about 1/16" all around one end. The snipped ends help to grip the stuffing balls - I think I learned this from Melly & Me, but I can't really remember....

mle said...

I just emailed you back! I'm so excited to have won! Thank you!

Christina said...

cutest bunny ever!

Leslie said...

this bunny is so great...it is so fun to see the new DS fabrics in use. i think i would get my hands on them and then never use them

Melissa {AllSewnUp} said...

the opening line to this post made me giggle.

Kathy H said...

The bunny is so cute and what a good idea for adding the stuffing to the skinny arms and legs. I have those tubes and they are great for turning the tubes of fabric right side out. But for stuffing--great idea. Thanks.

Amanda said...

I love this little bunny how awesomely cute!

Amanda

Rachel at Stitched in Color said...

Super, super cute, Krista! Mama triumphs again.