Pawprints Freebie!

My second freebie, the one for February, is ready! It's a bit of a switch for Valentine's Day, because we all love our pets right?  I have put my own spin on the saying "Pets leave paw prints on your heart", and it would work equally well for dog or cat lovers.  I made a biscornu out of the design, repeating the paw print motifs on the back piece in the corners (as you can see in the pics). In addition, I made a simple paw print heart, which you could use for the back, or do what I did and make a little pin pillow or add a ribbon and hang it up out of paws reach! Click here for the pdf, and as always let me know if you have issues getting it. Only two colors were used, one a variegated pink DMC, the other is DMC 3350, a dusty rose. You can use whatever colors you like of course!  My fabric was a 28ct Confederate gray linen and I added a kitty face button on the front and a pink heart on the back. A frisky kitten left his paw prints all over the front!
I did not back stitch around the large paw prints, and think maybe I should have....live and learn!

Front

Back

Large Heart finished as pin pillow

Both biscornu and pin pillow!

Now I am working on my Chinese Garden Mandala again, which I am far behind on! I hope you all enjoy my new freebie! Please send pictures if you stitch it, and please share the link by sending people to this blog! Hope everyone has had a great Valentine's Day week!

February Finishes!

I have 3 finishes so far this month!  Two are stocking ornaments for my two young brother cats Finn and Tali, stitched on CharlesCraft Mini Stockings. Patterns are from a Leisure Arts leaflet by Mary Ellen Yanick called Cats, Cats, Cats!, c1987. Now all the pets have stocking ornies for next year!

The other February finish has a story....my husband's sister is married and lives in New Zealand with her hubby and 3 kids. We went for a visit way back in 2000 when my daughter was 5. While visiting the Lake Taupo region, Ann and I went to a needlework store and found this New Zealand Map pattern by Susan Ryder for Heritage Stitchcraft, and she wanted me to make it for her. Never having done anything so large before it languished in UFO-dome for a decade! They have come home a couple of  times for visits and will be here again in April and I wanted to finally finish it for her! Since I started it in 2001, I have had TONS of experience on large projects (RE: Chatelaines and TWs!!) Apparently, this was a good thing because I managed to take it from one outlined island to complete in about a month!  It will be made into a door banner so she can take it back more easily. Here are some progress pics since my last update.....this is the North Island (South Island is pictured in an earlier blog post).

The Coat of Arms, or Seal of New Zealand is also on the piece....

....and here is the final map, before ironing and finishing!

This week I'm working on my next freebie release, so check back in the next few days!