Squeezy Cheeks Tutorial

"Squeeze my cheeks and I'll give you a kiss!"

I'm making some squeezy cheeks for my daughters preschool class for v-day. I thought I would share with you how I did it!

You will need: 3 10x10 squares of plastic canvas, some yarn, and a needle. And a tiny bit of cross-stitch know how. First, I marked out my canvas for all the squares I would need. You can really make them any size, depending on how big you want your kisser to be. Keep in mind that you will be cutting on the squares, not on the line, so don't count that one when you are planning your cuts. Next comes the fun part. Plan a design in the canvas and stitch it in. Or, leave it blank. Stitch around it to fill in the rest of the squares. On two sides of the square, cover the edge of the canvas. Make one more square that is just like this one with no design.

Stitch one more square with no edges covered. This is your back piece.

You don't have to tie knots in the back of the canvas to finish your stitches, you can simply stitch over a loose end of yarn, or thread the needle under the stitches you've already made.

Step 3: Stich around the edges and loop the back onto the front piece on two sides.

When you get to the top, tie a knot for a hanger. Also stitch and loop the third square onto the back on two sides. It's tricky, but it will turn into a triangular cube thingy, that when you squeeze the two sides, the mouth opens and a kiss is inside.

My mom came up with all sorts of ideas for these. Add googly eyes and pompoms and you can come up with a miriad of animals. Frogs, bears, lions, oh, I can't remember all the things she used to make. We hang them on our christmas tree every year and our initials are stitched into the piece on the back.
Please ask if you have any questions, I know this might be a little difficult to understand.