rabbit, rabbit, rabbit

Easter in the Year of the Rabbit -- surely there's never been a better excuse to go bunny mad. I love these soft, stuffed rabbits with their colourful ears and hearts and their kind little faces.

sources: 1. Molly's rabbit finger-puppets, 2. felt rabbit rattles,

3. grey felt rabbit, 4. stuffed retro rabbit

I'm hoping to invite a rainbow of felt rabbits into our home this year -- if they turn out well, you know, they can stay up all year long!

Ten Ten Ten

To celebrate the tenth of the tenth of the tenth today, I made a wabbit ten times the size of other wabbits. Please meet Pumpkin.

Pumpkin enjoys all things Texan, i.e. rocking in outdoor rocking chairs, drinking iced tea, watching the Spurs play basketball, and being larger than wabbits of other states.

And in case you were wondering just how big a weally big wabbit is, here you can see that he towers over Bella. She's made no attempt to chew off one of his arms yet. I think she's worried he'd fight back.

Yes, a four-foot flannel wabbit called Pumpkin. That's what I did with my spare minutes today. So, if there are no more posts on here, then you'll know: the men in white coats finally came for me...

First Words

Seven weeks old yesterday, and Tilly is already talking.

What, you don't think "ee" is a word?

Well, I know what she means: f-"ee"-d m-"ee"! (feed me)
Unless she's learnt her own name... well, half of it: Till-"ee"! (Tilly)
Or perhaps she already knows the fifth letter of the alphabet.

Or, is there just a chance, she's trying to announce who's number was picked to adopt Potato:

Jodi-"ee" Bell!

(Please have a carrot ready for his arrival...

he's a hungry little beast!)

Creature Feature

The menagerie is growing.

Yes, it's time to stand up and admit it. I'm Astrid, and I'm addicted to making small furry creatures out of my clothes.

They always start off as intended gifts for someone. I cut, I pin, and everything's fine. But then I add the face, and it all goes out of the window, because once they have faces, I can't bear to part with them. It's the eyes. The big round stitched eyes. Begging to stay.

Anyway, today I'm about to break my hoarding tendency. I'm going to give one of you-- yes, YOU-- the latest fluffy little beastie, who was just finished up yesterday. Meet Potato:

"Potato?" you say. "That's a bloomin' rabbit."

Correct. But Potato is named after the style of skirt he was cut from.

"A Potato skirt?" you say. "I've never heard of it!"

Let me explain. While I was sewing last night, Justin was interested to see what I was making, and I told him it was a rabbit, out of an old skirt of mine.

"Which skirt was that?" he asked.

"The one that looked like a potato sack," I said.

"Oh, I liked that one!" he said.

Now, perhaps it's just me, but if you can describe a piece of your clothing as "the thing that looks like a potato sack" and people know what you're talking about, then you should not be wearing it. And perhaps, if your piece of clothing has an elasticated top and bottom, and you can wear it at five months pregnant, and it's made of wool, and you live in sweltering Texas, then maybe it's time that garment became a stuffed rabbit.

Yes, he has a big round felted red tail. You know you want him.

So, all I'm asking is that you just take a second to leave me a quick comment, a "hello" or a link to your own page, or whatever you'd like. I've been inspired by this post on connections, and would love to know who out there is connecting with me through these posts, and to connect with you back. Because I love that you're here reading. I love that my dailyness and silliness and stuffed rabbits matter to you.

I'll give it until next Thursday afternoon, a week from now... let's say 2pm... and pick a random number for who'll be getting Potato. Sound fair?

Happy Easter!

Yes, the Easter bunny has been very kind to me this year.

All the mini Creme Eggs I can eat.

We can't wait to have a little girl to hide them for next year!

The Tale of Wodger Weginald Wabbit

I've been having such fun with Wodger Wabbit all day, and he's been begging me to write a story about him.

So far, he's told me that he's the littlest in a litter of twenty rabbits.

He has ten brothers: Wandolph, Wupert, Wemington, Wichard, Woland, Wonald, Wobert, Wadcliff, and Wafferty.

And nine sisters: Webecca, Wamona, Waphaella, Wose, Whonda, Wowena, Woberta, Wosanna, Wosalind, and Wuth.

When his siblings were mean to him, he ran away and made his home in the first warm place he found: an Ugg boot.

Which is where he stayed, until discovered by a passing Mr. Monkey and Fatty McBeaver, who took him in and became his friends.

What silliness! Wodger is really excited to get posted today, and is writing a little letter to Alice at the moment to introduce himself. Hopefully, he'll share it when it's done.

Wodger Weginald Wabbit

A new toy has taken shape:

He was originally going to be for the baby, but I couldn't resist sewing a red pom-pom onto his bottom, thus making him 'risky' as a choking hazard.

So, he will be packaging himself up in an envelope shortly and sending himself to one little wabbit-lover in China: my little sister, Alice!

(And I'll be making another, pom-pom-less version, for baby in the near future!)