Bunny blocks - Building Blocks Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to go to my first quilting retreat!  The guild I belong to up in the local mountains hosts an annual retreat and I finally signed up for it.  It is held at the Ability First / Camp Paivika facility that I have mentioned a few times as the main beneficiary of the guild's charity efforts.  I've been to the camp before for luncheons but never stayed overnight.  It was lovely!

In addition to being able to sew all I wanted until all hours without anyone saying, "you're still sewing?", I also got to know some guild members better and I didn't have to cook anything all weekend!  Being kid-free was also a nice change!  I had such a great time that I can't wait until next year's retreat, 'cause I am IN!!

It seems that a common issue when packing for a retreat, is that we tend to pack more projects than we can possibly complete.  I didn't really see that as an issue as long as I was managing my expectations of actually getting them done.  I packed: 1) a project that I really needed to get started because I had promised it to someone ages ago, 2) a new project that I was very anxious to get started, 3) a mini quilt that needed quilting (in case I felt like doing something other than piecing), 4) a project that at this stage didn't require any stitching at all, only drawing, and 5) some EPP, in case the power went out or something.  I only hoped to get started on Project #1 and #2, and I did!

Here are some of the fruits of my labor for the weekend!  This adorable bunny block from the Fancy Forest pattern by Elizabeth Hartman (affiliate link**).



Isn't he cute????  And of course, bunnies have a tendency to multiply.....



I just adore these bunnies!  I also started on the owls for the pattern, but didn't finish them.  Perhaps I will have at least one of those to share next week.

I will warn anyone planning on doing these creatures that they are tedious.  NOT difficult! Just tedious.  I spent the entire day before the retreat cutting my fabric into strips, and I didn't even get to the subcutting for the blocks.  A good part of each morning at retreat was spent doing that cutting for the block I planned to make that day, then I would piece the blocks the rest of the day.  It took all day on Saturday to make these bunnies from 7 am to about midnight.  I did make a mistake late in the evening and spent a couple of hours fixing my mistake (on 7 of those darn bunnies!), but even so it took quite a while to get these bunnies done and some of the other animals in the pattern have even more pieces!  As I said, I started on one of the owls from the pattern, and one eye alone has about 14 pieces.  Even with that said, watching these faces come to life as you stitch them together is so much fun!

Elizabeth also has a new class on Craftsy called Patchwork Piecing: Woodland Animals (affiliate link**), which has a bear and deer pattern. I am SOOOOOO tempted!!  The bear in particular is so cute!

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie


***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated.

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