I wanted to make something at least three feet tall and three feet wide out of felt, and since I had a ton of green felt, the decision was made. A cactus! But this time it is for my room, so I could make it a little more colorful and a little more muppet-y than if I was making it for a classroom or a friend.
1 With orange paper I cut out my pattern. I had enough felt to make six of these pieces of cacti. 2. I chose a different color for each one and on one side of each pieces I used embroidery thread to make stitch marks that reminded me of spines. 3. It took forever! 4. I paired up two pieces to create three pieces of cacti, then put it up on my bulletin board to try and figure out how to piece it together. 
5 I pinned them together when I had it figured out. Then I made a blanket stitch around half of the entire cacti. 6. I stuffed it with cotton, then closed it up with a blanket stitch. 7. To make it be able to stand straight I put a bag of lentils on one side. 8. I stuffed the pot (It was a formula canister) a bit to make the cacti stand a bit taller.
9 Now my cacti is standing despite it’s (intentional) lopsidedness. 10. I started out really simple with the flowers, but my inner muppet came out when I remembered it was going in my room so I went a little wild with them. You’ll see. 11. Yikes that silver had to go so I used an adhesive spray and some fabric to cover that up. 12. I put it in the backyard for Elro to see during one of our let’s-explore-the-garden mornings.
But, this cacti is for me. I am aware that it would look better in a bigger “pot,” but we have so many of these formula cans so I’m just going with it for now and will probably change it up when I find that-perfect-fit. Here it is set up in my crazy pink room.
Lark Bloom 