Thrifty Acres: 1970's Style Easter Decorations

Hello! While browsing through the Easter display at a local thrift store, I spotted this:

Even from a distance, the mushrooms and the Day-Glo colors screamed the 1970's to me. I picked it up for a closer inspection and saw an inscription on the side of the yellow/orange mushroom: "1977 THE BEISTLE CO. MADE IN U.S.A.". Well, there's the proof that my guess was correct. 

I know that these cardboard cut-outs are really meant for young kids to enjoy, and I no longer have a youngster at home. But I liked the goofy design anyway, and for a quarter, it was mine. 

Once home, I decided to veer away from the blue bunnies I'd been sewing and instead sew one to match this decoration. Looked through my stash of yellow and orange fabrics, but unfortunately, didn't have any that was yellow with orange polka dots - it would have been fun to match that groovy mushroom. (Orange is probably the color I have the least of, but I don't have a lot of yellow either). 

Instead, I came up with this little guy:

This is another altered pattern from a recent thrifted book, See-Me-Learn Toys. The critter is supposed to be a kitten, but I lengthened the ears to make a bunny. As I often like to do, I made it less than the specified full size; it's 5" high. 

Everything used to make the bunny was thrifted or free. The calico used for the body might very well be from the 70's. I've seen quite a few magazines, craft books and craft magazines from that decade.
It seems that calicoes were widely used at that time for various sewing and crafting projects, especially for patchwork. Perhaps the Bicentennial celebration was the reason for these old-style fabrics and their use in patchwork designs at that time.

The orange-checked fabric used for the bunny head is newer, but the buttons, thread used to sew them on, and the rickrack are all vintage. I stuck on a piece of costume jewelry (the yellow and white dangling bit; perhaps from the 1960's) for a little extra dash.

Perhaps I'm easily amused, but this little bunny was fun to make. And I think it looks pretty good next to the decoration that inspired it:

My bunny may not look as cool as those mushrooms, but I like it just the same.