Meet Hopeful Bunny.

She has soft brown fur, folded ears, and the expression of a rabbit who has just heard some very good news. She's about six inches square on a 13ct canvas, and she is, I think, one of the sweetest and most cheerful things I've designed. Small enough to finish in a few evenings. Giftable in any season. The kind of piece you stitch once and then immediately want to stitch again for someone else.

The Hopeful Bunny kit and canvas are live in the shop today! 

About the Hopeful Bunny Needlepoint Kit

Stitches used in this design

Tent stitch

I chose to use tent stitch for her inner and outer ears, chest, eyes and nose, and the darker lines that outline the details of her body and legs. 

Tent stitch is a family of stitches. I did the darker ear on the left in Basketweave, and the rest in Continental stitch, but you can use any that you prefer as both stitches appear identical from the front of the design.

Staggered Diagonal Stitch

For the body, I wanted to use a textured stitch that gave some movement and looked like fur. I wanted the stitch length to not be too long, to closely match rabbits short fur. The Staggered Diagonal Stitch was a good match, offering the textured movement I was looking for without overpowering the design. 

Balloon Stitch

The background was stitched in this fun and textured Balloon Stitch. I frequently use my Needlepoint stitch cards by Emma Homent to decide on a stitch, and this is one from that collection.  I wanted a background that had some texture and fun to it, and this one which looks a little like bubbles or polka dots, was a fun one to stitch and I love the look!

 

Turkey Rug Stitch

Hopeful Bunny is such a fun little character, I knew I wanted her to have a fun and textured finish. One of the ways I did this was by giving her a big fluffy tail!

Her tail is worked in Turkey Rug Stitch, a technique that builds up loops of thread on the surface of the canvas, which you then cut open and trim into a soft, raised pom-pom. It sounds fussy. It isn't. It just asks you to slow down for a few rows and trust the process, and what you get is a tail that practically begs to be touched. I love the texture it brings to the finished piece!

If you've never worked Turkey Rug Stitch before, the Royal School of Needlework has a clear, well-illustrated walkthrough here: Turkey Rug Stitch, RSN Stitch Bank. I'd recommend reading through it once before you start, then keeping it open as a reference for at least your first row. 

A few things worth knowing before you begin Turkey Rug Stitch:

Work from the bottom of the tail area upward, so each new row of loops sits over the one below it. Use a slightly longer thread than you think you need. When you're ready to cut and trim, go slowly. You can always take more off; you can't put it back.

Hopeful Bunny Kit

Hopeful Bunny is also the first kit to ship with Awen, our new hand-dyed merino wool & silk thread. It's softer than what we've used before, with a slight sheen from the silk that shifts a little in different light. I've been dyeing Awen for a few months now and I'm still not tired of watching what the color does on it. It's the new standard thread for all our 13ct kits going forward, and individual colors offered in 10 yards are coming soon!

The kit includes the printed canvas and a full set of hand-dyed Awen thread. If you prefer to work with your own fibers, the canvas is available on its own.

Until the next chapter,
Melissa