Cath's Pennies Designs: “Bunnies In Spring” Candle Mat Tutorial (part 2)

Usually I enjoy making just one of the same design. Making any more than one becomes like a chore to me. Not that I hate doing it, it’s just the sense of “been there, done that, let’s move on”.
This cut bunny one, however, I really enjoyed making it the second time. I think once those eyes are stitched on, the bunnies are just so darn cute, they become fun to make.
So anyway, this is the second part to the making of the Bunnies in Spring candle mat.
The first part finished with stitching the eyes and defining the bunny cheeks.
Now, I’ll do the whiskers…

I made 4 french knots on each cheek, just under the nose.

To make the actual whiskers, using ecru, size 5 pearle cotton, I took a stitch on the flip side of this, knotted it and then pushed the needle up just beside the french knot. I snipped the thread and one whisker was created!

Three whiskers on each side.

I recommend using pearle cotton thread for the whiskers, but regular

floss can be used instead. The regular floss, because of the separate strands, will give a different look.

Now I’ll work on the ears. Each ear is pinned together with the backing. I blanket stitched around the edges, starting and finishing the stitches at the top of the ear.

I pinned the finished ears on and whip stitched the very top of each ear onto the mat. I attached them only at the top so that the ears are loose and free to flop.

Once the first set of ears are attached, I want to be sure that the other sets of ears are spaced exactly the same. To do that, I measured from the center of the tooth up to where the two ears meet and also measure the distance between the bottom of the ears.

Ears are all attached so now, I’ll work on the flowers.

These little flowers are time consuming and tedious to cut out. I find that cutting a few a time in between other stitching, helps to control the fingers from getting sore. Also, if you have one of those nifty die cutters , certainly use that to create your flowers.

The flowers are attached by stitching a french knot into the little center circle. Then I put one stitch into each of the flower petals, pulling the thread tightly so that the petals pucker a little.

Close up of the stitching on the flowers.

Now all that needs done is the backing! The green backing is centered under the front and pinned. I measured carefully to make sure that the edges were all equal. I pinned the ears up just to keep them out of the way during the stitching.

I blanket stitch around the edges. When I get to the bunny tooth, I skipped over it and just stitched through the bottom brown layer.
I’ll stitch the tooth with white thread after this.