Don't Look, Mindy!!!

Do you think the title was enough of a warning? 

My friend Mindy, from the Houston Chronicle's Good Mom/Bad Mom is a bit uneasy when it comes to rabbits and bunnies.  I'm not sure why they bother her so much, but they do. 

I suspect an unfortunate childhood incident involving a jackalope (pictured left) during a trip out west.  Supposedly they run rampant out there.  Seeing a gang of them staking out a big rock could have scarred her for life.

But I digress...  This post really isn't about Mindy or jackalopes.  It's about Easter.

You may remember that last Christmas, I started sewing little felt tree ornaments.  Owls, mostly.  Then I started experimenting.  I did some cats, some fish, a camel, and a famously not-good dachsund.  When you hung it up it was so head-heavy that it looked like it was being field-dressed.

These are what was left over from Christmas.  I made LOTS more and gave most of them away as gifts.

After I did all those other animals, I started making rabbits.  Not cute little bunnies, but tall, rabbity things.

As you can see, I experimented a lot with colors and facial treatments.  I tried using buttons for eyes and just embroidering them.  I have no idea why I made so many rabbits.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, the Youth Leader at my church stood up and told the congregation that she was collecting candy and stuff to make Easter Baskets for the little kids' Easter egg hunt on Easter morning.  I wonder... was THAT why I was making so many of these things with no apparent purpose?  I asked her later if she could use them and her eyes lit up - YES!!!  That would be wonderful!  she gushed.  Then I asked her how many baskets she thought there would be.  I'd counted nine little kids that Sunday.  About 30, she said. 

So ever since, I've been feverishly working on rabbits in the little spare time I have.

I do them kind of assembly-line fashion.  All the cutting, then sewing on eyes or nose and whiskers, etc.  It seems to speed things up a little bit.

I'd done some spotted ones in the past, but all those spots slow things down quite a bit.  Too much sewing for the time I've got.

This was my most successful spotted bunny.  We call him SpongeBob Bunny.  My son begged me to keep him.  For some reason, SB Bunny really appeals to him.  We'll keep him... for now.

Mindy does have a weakness for zombies...  I wonder if Zombie Bunnies would work for her?  Probably not.

Anyway, this is what's taking up my spare moments.  I need to get quite a few done before Friday, when the baskets get put together.  So if I'm a little quiet until then, forgive me.  I've got bunnies to make.