The Country Bunnies quilt by The Pattern Basket is a really sweet quilt. It is great for incorporating into your Spring decor, but it could also make a sweet gift for a new baby. I really like how the silhouette is from the back and includes a cute cotton tail.
After I had purchased this pattern, it took me a little while to find the right fabric to use for it. I wanted a fabric that had a fairly traditional and floral vibe, but I didn’t want it to look so old-fashioned that it would look like a “grandma” quilt (no offense meant to my grandmothers or anyone else’s).
I originally intended on using a bunch of random fabrics from my stash to create a real “patchwork” version of this quilt, but when I saw the La Vie Bohème fabric on Instagram I knew it would be perfect for this quilt. I guess I will have to find a different stash-buster pattern but I can’t really be mad because I love the way this turned out.
The La Vie Bohème fabric definitely has the floral and paisley elements of more traditional fabric styles but the fabric line has a bit of a fun and funky bohemian vibe as the name would suggest. (Additionally, I love the musical RENT and the La Vie Bohème scene/song is one of my favorite parts so I couldn’t really pass up the opportunity to work with this fabric.)
I constructed this quilt using a jelly roll and a charm pack rather than using fat quarters as the pattern calls for, so I had to get a little creative when cutting my blocks. I cut the head block from the fabric square from the charm pack. I used the matching jelly roll strips to piece together the rest of the bunny.
The body block was supposed to be 3¾ inches high, so I cut two pieces the necessary block width from the 2½ inch jelly roll strip. I trimmed one of the cuts down to 1¾ inch high and pieced together the 2½ inch and 1¾ inch pieces to make a single 3¾ inch high block. This worked out because the extra ¾ inch strip from the piece I trimmed down to 1¾ inches could be used as the collar section for a different bunny block.
The hip section was supposed to be 3 inches high so I modified all of the pieces in that section to be 2½ inches high and made the bottom background piece (S) a ½ inch taller to make up the difference.
I cut the tail pieces as a 2½ inch square instead of a 3 inch square. I cut the tail corner pieces at 1 inch square and cut each of the hip pieces a ¼ inch wider than the pattern called for to accommodate the smaller tail size.
If you are looking for a cross stitch pattern that might coordinate with this quilt, I recommend the bunny from the Easter Parade pattern by Blackbird Designs. (click here for more information on this cross stitch project)
