The year of the rabbit in thread and cloth

Each year we seek out the most unusual rabbit quilts and trends (see our 2010 Easterly Quilts). 2011 is the year of the rabbit, so we've rounded up bunnies from all parts of the globe: England, Sweden, Russia, Japan, and the U.S.  Take a look at these sublime thread sketches by Cathy Baumgartner:

Year of the rabbit mini-quilt, 13 x 13, by Cathy Baumgartner, at Baumcat

Cathy Baumgartner created this mini-quilt with free-motion quilting. We love the simplicity of the contemplative bunny. Cathy's masterful thread sketches, including her mermaid, horse, wildlife, and bee, remind us of line drawings with a pen: the stitching is so precise, you can hardly tell it is thread !

Where the blue bunnies fish, 8 x 10, by Cathy Baumgartner at Baumcat

This entire piece is only 8" x 10" (imagine machine-quilting those tiny letters!) Click to see the detail. To see Cathy's latest rabbit quilt, visit her Baumcat blog. Finally, don't miss her gorgeous Prayer-Flag Quilt; each "flag" is stitched with a line from a beautiful Celtic prayer.

Rabbit fabrics

Row 1: Hand-screen-printed rabbits on white linen, 39 cm x 39 cm, by Swedish designer Maja Bäckström on Etsy. Row 2: White Rabbit of Inaba (Japanese watercolor fabric), 100% cotton, as seen at Superbuzzy. Row 3: Brother rabbit (Brer rabbit) linen fabric, a William Morris design, at Fabrics and Papers; other colorways can be found at Historic Style.

Alice in Wonderland,  by Ophelia, at Spoonflower

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is such a classic book !  This clever border fabric brings back the vintage 1800's Tenniel illustrations, along with the text, on a blue ombre background. The border prints and toile-style patterns come in coordinating colors.

 Rabbit Fabric, 8" x 8" repeat, by Olga Nikich, at Spoonflower

Russian artist Olga Nikich has created the most dramatic rabbit pair we've ever seen in fabric. The black and white bunnies nestle together in a yin-yang configuration. We think the blocks would look great as a wallhanging, and we've been playing around with this arrangement:

 
The quilting-weight fabric is available in fat quarters and yards at Spoonflower, where you can also see Olga Nikich's sumptuous red queen fabric. For more of her bold, graphic designs, visit Olga's website at www.olganikich.com.

Finally, if you visit Activity Village (UK), you will find many Year of the Rabbit coloring pages which can be downloaded (they're free !)