Quilting Cats and Bunnies

Calling all crafty cat ladies and bunny babes! I've recently added a few more fabric craft square/ quilt blocks to my collection including this guy, in both a large and small size:

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/126516237/garden-cat-fabric-craft-panel-6-inch

https://www.etsy.com/listing/126515333/garden-cat-fabric-craft-panel-small

And...I'm very excited to have received my first snapshots of a work-in-progress by Cat Lady Rosie! Aren't these beautiful?  I love the colors she has chosen!

 ...and I can't wait to see them all put together into a quilt! Stay tuned... she will be sending more updates.

The animal rescue that Rosie works with is called Charm City Animal Rescue (www.charmcityanimalrescue.com). Currently, she is fostering a gray and white long haired kitty named Avalon..."He is such a diva!!" she says.

Many cat ladies have written to say that they are using the squares to make quilts that they will donate to fundraising raffles or auctions for pet causes.  Isn't that a great idea?  Other ideas for the fabric squares include: appliques, patches,  pockets, a baby or child's quilt, an herbal dream pillow, a cat bed, or a wall hanging.  Any other bright ideas? Share them in the comments section... 

  If you are working on a project using my fabric squares, please send pics-- I'd love to share your crafty creations!!

Here are the new bunny squares in the 4" size; they will soon be available in the 6" size. 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SusanFayePetProjects?section_id=12322403

Click here to see all of the quilt blocks currently available: 
 Susan Faye Fabric Craft Squares/ Quilt Blocks

Happy Crafting and Quilting!
 

Signs of Spring...

Robins

Crocus

                                            Baseball Practice

And Bunnies!

New Bunny Sachets available at https://www.etsy.com/shop/SusanFayePetProjects:

I am swimming in the sweet scent of lavender because I just finished sewing up a batch of new bunny sachet-ornaments for Spring! They come with your choice of a white rabbit, a brown cottontail, or a black and white Dutch bunny. 

They are 3-1/2" square and may be used as a spring ornament, to freshen a drawer, as a tie-on to decorate a gift or Easter basket, or you may tuck it into your pillow at night to promote sweet dreams!

  "According to folk wisdom, lavender's aroma aids sleep and relaxation, repels insects, and will freshen your linens and dainties in a closet or drawer."

Click here to see all of the Spring Garden Bunny Goodies in my Etsy Shop.

Would you rather make your own sachet/ ornaments?  You are in luck!  I'm also selling fabric squares in my Etsy shop for crafters and quilters.  Right now I have the 4" blocks, but I will soon be adding some 6" blocks too!

Hope Springs Eternal....

Meet Ashley. A snowy white rabbit with a pink nose and a sparkling-like-a-diamond disposition.  Almost always.

image copyright 2013 Susan Faye

This little funny bunny has but one question lately:

image copyright 2013 Susan Faye all rights reserved

Normally she doesn't yell like that, but Ashley has been holed up in her burrow all winter long, and her stash of root vegetables is getting pretty darn low.  Not to mention her disposition.  It isn't quite so sparkly lately.

image copyright 2013 Susan Faye

And that's not blue sky that you see behind her either.  Outside the skies are gray gravy sludge, spewing rain and occasional sloppy sleet.  So Ashley's friend Bea came over and they painted the burrow walls a lovely shade of sky blue. 

image copyright 2013 Susan Faye all rights reserved

They also added a mural of fanciful flowers as tall as Ashley's pastel-pink-lined ears. Suddenly Ashley's disposition ascended from the doldrums and she broke out the box of chocolate-dipped violets that she'd been saving for just such a special occasion.  Bea was delighted.  They will paint her burrow later this week.

How do YOU beat the winter doldrums?  Do you make art, plan your spring garden, bake carrot cake?  Please share your tips in the comments section.

Get a jump on Spring with my new line of hand-crafted jewelry featuring Ashley and her friends.  Click here to see what's new in my Etsy shop: Things for Spring

Fanciful Flowers Necklace

White Rabbit Garden Pendant

Pretty Posies Garden Earrings

Illustration Friday.... "Whiskers"

Illustration Friday

(theme:"whiskers") 

 

 

A backlit cottontail bunny with whiskers glowing in the early morning sunlight enjoys a tasty grape leaf at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens in Claremont, California.  

This is a watercolor painting on canvas that I painted several years ago after a visit to Southern California.  I used masking fluid to preserve the white of the whiskers and the sunlit edges of the rabbit.

Enjoy!

Year of the Rabbit... Meet Gizmo the Dutch Blue

Cat Ladies seem to get most of the attention around here, but considering that this is the Year of The Rabbit, it's about time we pay tribute another important devotee of furry friends: The Bunny Babe.

Meet Lisa and her beautiful Dutch Blue honey bunny, Gizmo.

Just what is a Dutch Blue? Lisa explains:

"Blue refers to the dark color of Gizmo's coat. It's a bluish gray. Dutch refers to his breed. Some say the breed originated in Holland but others claim that it was developed in England. They are considered a 'small'rabbit, not a dwarf rabbit but they only grow to around 5 lbs. Dutch rabbits have been one of the most popular pet rabbit breeds for many years."

Lisa's family had a pet rabbit as a child, and since then Lisa has enjoyed the company of tropical fish, Beta fish, and a lot of parakeets.

"It wasn't until late March of last year that I decided to bring a baby bunny home. I never would have imagined that I would have a rabbit living with me inside the house, all these years later! It's a treat and I love it!"

"Gizmo lives in two rooms down in the basement. Yes, he's a house rabbit. He does have a cage that I set on the floor so he can come and go as he pleases. He goes into his cage to eat and use his litter box. Yep, he's litter trained. (No way would I have him running around if he wasn't! LOL!)."

"He loves kale and dried strawberries and he often will jump up on the foot of my bed to spend the night. He loves to be petted but prefers to stay on the ground. Most rabbits don't like to be picked up. They like all four paws on the floor! This is one reason that they DON'T make good pets for children, contrary to popular belief. They are very independent and need a lot of room to play. Sitting in a hutch is a sad way for them to spend their lives."

For more information on having bunnies as indoor pets, visit the House Rabbit Society, an all-volunteer, non-profit organization that rescues abandoned rabbits and educates the public on rabbit care.

Thanks for visiting!

Get Hoppy With Some Bunny Love

As the Year of the Rabbit continues, I was recently delighted to learn about the House Rabbit Society via Tina of their San Diego Chapter.

The House Rabbit Society is an all-volunteer, national, nonprofit animal rescue organization with local chapters in more than 30 states and more than 7,000 members. Their volunteers rescue abandoned rabbits and find permanent adoptive homes for them through their foster program. The organization also seeks to reduce the number of unwanted rabbits -- and to improve bunnies' lives -- by helping people better understand these often misunderstood companion
animals.

Since the HRS was founded in 1988, more than 20,000 rabbits have been rescued through HRS foster homes throughout North America. The San Diego chapter rescues and adopts out about 85 -100 rabbits each year.

I'm thrilled that an assortment of my bunny jewelry and handcrafts will soon be sold in their Bunny Supply Store for fundraising purposes. Be sure to visit their website for lots of great information about rabbit care, adoptions, and events!

Thanks for visiting!

Bunny Haiku Galore! Three Days Left to Enter the Giveaway...

Thank you to everyone so far who has helped to celebrate the beginning of Spring by writing bunny haiku! So far there have been 25 entries both here and on an identical post at The Hive, which means I will be donating at least $25 to the Red Cross for disaster relief ($1 for each haiku submitted; each person may submit up to 3 haiku).

For quite a few participants, this has been their first try at writing haiku and the results have been wonderful!

Deb~Paxton Valley Folk Art was inspired by the bunny twins to write her first haiku:

Sweet twin rabbits share

carroty goodness between
their paws and their hearts.

Cat Lady Jeanie also wrote about the twins:

Twin bunnies have lunch
Eating carrots together
In a cute tin box



Here is Cat Lady Laura's first-ever haiku:

Soft pink tulip patch
Beautiful spring is such joy
To Rhonda's sweet heart

And here is David's first (very romantic) haiku:

Our hearts beat as one
we are so spectacular
must get hopping now

There are three days left to join in the fun and try your hand at writing your own haiku --one name will be drawn at random to win one of my new "Desktop Dioramas". To read all of the other entries and to add your own, visit the original blog post : Bunny Haiku...A Spring Giveaway!

Thanks for participating!

Eat Your Veggies!

Illustration Friday

(theme:"cultivate")

This little rabbit family knows the secret to good health and great eyesight: cultivate a taste for colorful veggies.

Babs, Bibs, Binkie and Cousin Harey would like to share

8 Really Good Reasons to Eat Your Veggies:

• They come in lots of pretty colors
• They are inexpensive
  
• They are low in calories, fat and sodium
  
• They are high in vitamins and other nutrients
• They are high in fiber
• You help out the environment when you eat more vegetables and less (or no) meat.
• They are fun to grow
• They make your nose a rosy pink, your fur shiny and soft, and they put a spring in your hop!

What are you waiting for? There are lots of websites devoted to vegetable gardens and vegetable recipes. Vegetarian Times is a great place to find resources, recipes, and other great information.

Thanks for visiting!


Eat Your Veggies is my newest 8 x 10" print, now available in my Etsy online shop! Hop on over and find out more by clicking the link...

Bunny Haiku...A Spring Giveaway!

It's time to flex your creative writing muscles and enter the world of Bunny Haiku! Give it a try. Just for fun. See what you can come up with, and leave your haiku in the comments section of this post for a chance to win one of my new desktop dioramas. Read on for details...

Haiku is a beautiful and simple form of Japanese poetry. For each haiku submitted, I will add $1 to my donation to the Red Cross, with Japanese Disaster Relief in mind. Each person may leave up to three different haiku in the comments, for three chances to win.

New to haiku? The simplified version of haiku is usually described as an un-rhymed, three-line poem of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 syllables. Pick one of the diorama scenes pictured here, then write a haiku about it. For example:

(I chose D.)

rabbit haiku fun:
the carrot patch smells sweetest
with posies in bloom!

There are many examples of haiku online-- and you can find wonderful examples of cat haiku in a past giveaway here at 365 Cat Ladies: Cat Haiku

Haiku may also be submitted on my identical blog post on The Hive. Giveaway ends the evening of March 31 at 7 p.m. PST. One winner will be selected at random and will receive their choice of one desktop diorama, which will be shipped anywhere in the world.

Please make sure that I have a way to contact you if you are a winner, such as a link to your blog or e-mail address (you may send info directly to my email if you don't want to make your contact info public). If you visit http://www.susanfaye.net , you will find an email link

Also, if you encounter trouble with the Comments feature, you may send your haiku entry directly to my email ...

Thanks for participating!

Year of the Rabbit or Year of the Cat?

Rhonda Rabbit and Lorenzo Lapin are quite excited to note that today marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar Year of the Rabbit.

According to the Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco:" People born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented,and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. Rabbit people are admired, trusted, and are often financially lucky. They are fond of gossip but are tactful and generally kind. Rabbit people seldom lose their temper. They are clever at business and being conscientious, never back out of a contract. "

"The Chinese animal signs are a 12-year cycle used for dating the years. They represent a cyclical concept of time,rather than the Western linear concept of time. The Chinese Lunar Calendar is based on the cycles of the moon...and the beginning of the year falls somewhere between late January and early February. "

Lilly Cat thinks that is all well and good, but wants you to know that in the Vietnamese culture, their lunar New Year known as Tết Nguyên Đán also starts today. And you might be surprised to learn that they will be observing the Year of the Cat this year! Cat People born in this cycle are are "smooth talkers, talented and ambitious and will succeed in studies. They are in conflict with the rat. A cat person has a supple mind and patient personality and knows how to wait for favorable conditions before taking action. Cat hours are between 5am and 7am, when cats begin their prowling."

Whichever you choose to celebrate, may you have a blessed Lunar New Year!!

RABBIT RESCUE: Each year, particularly after Easter, shelters and rescues are inundated with bunnies that were given as gifts to people who didn't really want them and don't know how to take care of them. Please don't give a live animal as a gift - give a stuffed plush toy instead, or consider making a donation to a rescue or shelter in someone's name as a gift. If you are willing to make a commitment and would like to adopt an abandoned bunny as a pet, check out this link: Guide to Rabbit Rescue Organizations

Year of the Rabbit and A Perfect Hare Day

The Year of the Rabbit begins next week with the Chinese New Year on Feb. 3 and you certainly don't want to be without a special somebody with which to celebrate . That's why Rhonda Rabbit has put together this easy tutorial on how to create the Perfect Honey Bunny.

First, take one basic bunny.

Add some dashing dashes and convoluted curves...

...then fill in with some true blue hues on a handsome hare who happens to speak French.

He also loves to cook gourmet treats and grow organic herbs in his solar greenhouse.

Voila! Meet Lorenzo Lapin.

Thanks for visiting!

Cat Lady No. 231 & Feline Fella No. 232...Pet Parade

Cat Lady Emma from the United Kingdom did not have any pets growing up. So when she and James returned from their honeymoon and moved into their flat, Weedo the Hamster was a surprise wedding gift from her new hubby. "She was with us for a year and spent most of it finding different ways to escape."

More pets soon found their way into their hearts: "When we bought our house which has a garden, we got Billy the brown rabbit, followed by Joey who was a rescue rabbit. They were very fond of grooming each other. Billy is on his own now but seems very content in his old age."

It wasn't until just last year that Emma joined the ranks of Cat Ladies of the World. "We got the cats Elmo and Cleo (brother and sister) at six weeks old and they have been in charge ever since. They like to be involved in everything we do, whether gardening, cooking, craft, filing, bringing the shopping in etc.

"Elmo has taken it upon himself to be greeter for the street and throws himself onto his back for anyone walking past in the hope that they will rub his belly.

"Cleo is a little more shy but makes up for it by talking as much as I do. She will hide inside anything but always gives herself away by answering when we call her. We usually wake up to find them both stretched across our bed, taking up as much room as they possibly can.

"My husband and I can't have children so we particularly enjoy sharing our lives with our companions and they all seem very fond of us, particularly at mealtimes!"

Thanks for visiting!

Bunny Babe No. 1...Fluffy Bunnies Unite!

Bunny Babe Brigitte, Bunny Mom Babs, and Baby BooBoo are fed up with all the attention Cat Ladies are getting and demand equal time! They have organized a formal protest and are calling all Bunny Babes to participate in their formal sit-in today. They will not move, budge, or hippity-hop from this post until they get their long overdue day in the sun. Listen carefully, and you might hear their chant:

Bunnies are cool,
Cats drool,
April Fools!





Just in time for Easter, this Bunny Babe can be found on great gift items at my Cafepress Shop: Bunny Mom