Happy Easter Bunny!

I always find these cute patterns for sewing stuff, but when it comes down to it, I don't sew much. I'm able to sew, but it generally takes more time than I have or want to spend on any one project. However, this week, I found this cute pattern for making a bunny keychain for Easter. When I printed out the PDF pattern, it was much too large for a keychain, unless you are the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk fame. Anyway, I had been wanting to do a stuffed animal decoration and the size was perfect. When I got home, I remembered having a bunch of fabric squares gifted to me from my mom. I think they were leftover from a quilt she made once, so I sewed 16 of them together into a 4x4 square and traced out the pattern. I also had some fabric leftover from a green checked shirt my mom had given me, but didn't fit. I think it was the same fabric that I used for the money cuff from an earlier post. I sewed the bunny, right sides together, leaving an opening at the back for stuffing and the tail. After it was stuffed, I added the pom pom (made by wrapping yarn around a fork), a button for the eye, and a piece of knitted lace around its neck.

Here's the story about the lace. It was knit by my great-grandmother. She was nearly blind, but knew how to knit this lace by feel. I was told she knit yards and yards of it. I have quite a bit. I also have quite a few  of her old steel knitting needles. I'd been looking for something to do with the lace and thought it might look nice on this bunny. I really like how it turned out and am looking forward to displaying it this Easter.

Cottage Tote bag (1974-2013)

A friend of mine was nice enough to give me an old craft magazine from 1974-75. In it were a ton of patterns for items they said you could make to sell at Bazaars (Craft shows). One of the items was this tote bag crochetted in the shape of a little house.

Now, I don't have a little girl in my family, but I just had to make this. I don't usually crochet much. I have a hard time following a crochet pattern and am much more of a knitter, but this pattern was simple enough to follow. I used Lily brand Sugar & Cream yarn. It's easily found at my local grocery chain for cheap; less than $2 a skein. You just crochetted the front and back of the house and then all the little pieces to sew on. Actually, the sewing together took me longer than the crochetting. Here is the finished project. I did a few things a little differently. I crochetted the roof in two pieces with decreases in the middle instead of doing the roof in four separate pieces. I added a background piece into the windows. I changed the color of the flowers from blue to orange and I did the grass in backstitch. This bag didn't call for a lining, but that might be a nice way to make it look more finished on the inside. (I won't show you the inside here.)

It was a fun project, but I can't imagine making a lot of these for a craft show.

The other project from that magazine I would LOVE to make are these little Dutch girl and boy dolls. (Aren't they cute?!) Like I said, I'm not a great crochetter, so these might need to wait. These patterns from an old craft magazine have inspired me to look through more old craft magazines and books for projects that are just as fun. Good ideas never go out of style.