How to make Blooming Cactus's with Kunin Felt

Welcome to the Kunin^®  Felt blog hop!
I, along with fellow designer friends have been asked to share with you projects you can make with Kunin^® felt.

(A little bit about Kunin® felt- Made in the U.S.A. This perfect all-around craft fabric comes in a wide variety of colors. Made from Eco-fi,^® a high-quality fiber made from 100% post-consumer recycled and BPA-free plastic bottles. Fade-resistant. Cuts cleanly with no fraying and can sew and glue easily.)
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Now about my project, I love all things to do with succulents and cactus.
I especially love their vibrant blooms!  Here I have created "thorn-free" cacti you can handle easily and display all year.
Enjoy!

Supplies:

1. Kunin®  9" x 12" Classic Felt in Pirate Green, Neon Green, Cotton Candy Pink, Red and Yellow.
2. Burlap
3. Embroidery hoop
4. 3.50 MM Crochet hook
5. Scissors
6. Black marker
7. Needle and thread
8. Doll stuffing

You can buy Kunin Felt locally at Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's and Walmart.
See more locations near you and online here.

 Cut your felt length wise into 1/4" strips.

Place your burlap into your hoop and tighten until the burlap is taught. I used a 6" hoop, but you can use any size as long as the burlap is larger than the hoop.
 Draw your pattern with the marker. I generally don't label the colors but I did for you here. The lines in the greens section can help you in the beginning until you get the hang of it.

If you have ever done rug hooking, this is similar. Always start in the center of your project. Here we are starting with yellow. Push your hook through the burlap.

On the underside, hook a piece of felt and gently pull it through. Repeat until you have filled in the circle for the yellow felt.  If it's hard for you to grip the crochet hook, try wrapping the handle with a few rubber bands as I did.

After each strip of color or felt, trim off the excess carefully with your scissors.
Continue with rest of the colored felt. You can make your loops tight or long. If you mess up. just carefully pull it back through and start again.

The pattern for the sides of the cactus are shown above. When you are done, remove from the hoop and trim the burlap 1" from the project edge. Cut along the dotted lines to the center.

Turn your piece over and pinch the raw edges of the burlap together then sew shut. Do this all around.

Turn your piece inside out and stitch closed any burlap exposed areas.
Eyeball the size of the base of your cactus and cut from felt.
Fill cactus with stuffing and begin stitching base felt to the bottom, tucking in the excess burlap as you work.

Done!
Soft, vibrant, easy to handle blooming cacti!
 Display in a dish filled with rocks or crystals!
 Please visit the rest of the Kunin ® Felt projects and enter to win an assortment of both Classic felt and Premium felt valued at $75 to use to make your own projects here!