button eyes and stitched-on mouth

I'm participating in Nicole's Keep Calm, Craft On share over at Frontier Dreams...pop over to her site to see what others are up to!


I spent Easter weekend at my parents' house. On Saturday night I sat up until midnight watching "The Ten Commandments"...did I ever mention that I brought room service to Charlton Heston once?...but I digress...while sewing little bunny faces.


My mom thought I was nuts(not for the first time). My dad was with her. Of course, it wasn't completely necessary for me to leave it all to the very last minute. I had cut out all the little pieces weeks ago, but have no sewing machine at home, so I had to wait until I had some kid-free time at mom's. 

I explained again that, although I rely on store-bought stuff to fill in the gaps, it is among my most important parenting values to present my children with handmade gifts. I had a moment of wondering if Jude was getting too old for this kind of thing, but erred on the side of caution, not wanting him to feel left out.

The next night, as he settled into bed with his bunny as a pillow, I asked him to let me know when he felt he was too old for handmade stuffed toys. He put his arms around my neck, and with such sweet sincerity declared, "Mom, I love the stuff you knit and sew for me!"

I whispered to him that he could just let me know if he ever felt he was getting too old for this stuff.

I don't think that will happen just yet. And that makes me so very happy, and proud to know that the value I wish to pass along appears to have been successfully adopted by my oldest child. And really? I don't think I have grown out of this stuff, or ever will. Button eyes and stitched-on faces have always been and hopefully will always be charming (as long as they're stitched on lovingly by hand, as opposed to the "fake" button eyes of a LalaLoopsy doll...or the button eyes in Coraline...am I digressing again?


I based the design for these bunnies on a picture I found during an "image" search for Easter handmades. I pinned it, but for some reason couldn't link back to the original site from Pinterest. Although inspired by the picture, I used no pattern for my bunnies. If you designed the originals and happen to see this, please contact me and I'll happily give you credit where it's due!