April Bunnies and Carrots Completed

In my post for 2/13/16, I described the cutting and piecing of Bunnies and Carrots, the 31"x31" Pieceful Patchwork banner for April from Shabby Fabrics. An equally fun part of the creation process is deciding and performing the FMQ. For each bunny head I stitched parallel diagonal lines ½" apart in the lilac background, focusing attention on the bunny's face. I put hearts in his cheeks, stars for his eyes, and petals within the pink part of his ears. I then echoed the ear shape within the white of his ears. I used pale yellow thread, a little softer and a bit more visible that white would have been. Plus, to me yellow is a happy Easter color, reminding me of fuzzy ducklings.

For the carrot blocks I first delineate their angular shape with echo lines within the orange area. I had fun putting feathers in the green leaves just like their feathery appearance for real. In the blue background around the carrots, I put wavy lines to simulate the brown furrows when carrots are planted in rows. I used HQ Wave F Template with 4" wavelength and shallow ¾ " height, randomly offsetting the waves so they did not align.

For the outer aqua border I used parallel lines to create a piano key border with 1" line spacing. I filled in the inner yellow border with circular arcs to give a kind of lace appearance and to compliment the straight line of the piano keys. The striped binding also repeating the lines of the aqua border.

One label on a back corner reflects the descriptive, although not very imaginative, name of the quilt as BUNNIES_AND_CARROTS. The other label on the opposite corner reflects my initials DIC and the year of completion as DIC_APRIL_2026. The month April is for the month associated with the wall hanging theme, and not specifically the month I finished it. I do really like the pastel plaid provided in the kit for the backing of the banner.

I added a zigzag within the plaid inner sashing in imitation of its angular appearance. The last detail was adding the tiny black eyes. They do add a needed finishing touch. Affixing them was a challenge, nearly losing one button on each of two occasions. Each just slipped out of my finger and scampered off to who knows where, just as a bunny would. My husband was the hero of the realm one of those times, patiently scouring my sewing room floor to locate the wayward culprit.

I did also buy the scroll hanger for displaying these banners monthly. The change out is swift and easy, especially since I hang it low enough to be accessible without a ladder. Here is the completed banner for April, Bunnies and Carrots, right next to the door of my sewing room, helping me remember to smile daily.