Valentine’s Day is approaching quickly so I thought I’d share one of my favorite poodle valentines.
As always you’re welcome to use my illustration for your own personal use. Enjoy!
Love’s Greeting to my Valentine (PNG) Download
It doesn’t often get very cold here in Texas, but today it is rainy and colder so I thought it was a good day to share this poodle drawing with you.
It was one of my first poodle illustrations using a 1920 Norman Rockwell painting as inspiration. I always used this drawing for greeting cards and once or twice in a 12 month color-your-own calendar. As always you’re welcome to use my illustration for your own personal use. Enjoy!
Poodle Reading a Thermometer (PNG) Download
The second and third hand applique patterns for a playing cat, two goldfish, and a fishbowl.
On the template for the cat, you’ll notice that both ears are indicated that they are to be embroidered but you could do them my way as well with only the back ear embroidered and the front ear incorporated into the medium orange piece. I also thought that the left front and back paws being two separate pieces were easier than making them one.
The other difference in the template and my creation you’ll notice is in the fishbowl. I did cut out a gray piece for the opening but decided that I didn’t like the look as much as without.
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Here is the PDF with the pattern pieces for the cat and goldfish: Download
and this is the PDF for the fishbowl: Download
Feel free to ask any questions!
Like I announced last Wednesday, I’m going to change things up a bit around here. The first new pattern is a hand applique poodle. In April of 2010, I designed him for my hand quilted wall hanging.
I suppose it’s hard to tell but he’s white with light gray legs in the shadows with embroidered nose and eye. You could make him any color and if you want to keep him with the right depth use a darker toned fabric for the legs in the shadows.
This wall hanging was my first foray into needle turn applique. When I did it, I used the freezer paper method. I traced my design onto the paper side of the freezer paper and ironed the shiny side with a dry iron to the right side of the fabric. Next, I cut out the fabric leaving about a 1/4″ margin all the way around and pinned it to where I wanted to stitch onto the background fabric. I used the freezer paper edge as a guide to the finished edge I wanted and used the needle to poke the edges under as I stitched the piece down with extremely fine thread that matched the fabric. I used Mettler Machine Embroidery thread but I hear another popular choice is silk thread. I didn’t bother with ironing under the 1/4″ margin as it seemed a little fussy. I did snip curves and corners as I went to help with puckering.
Here is the PDF with the pattern pieces. Download Feel free to ask any questions!
I’ve been dying to reveal what I’ve been up to behind the scenes and now that it’s mostly settled I can tell. We’re expecting a new addition to our family!
The last year, we’ve been pursuing adoption of a sibling group or an “older” child from Taiwan ROC. Just lately, we’ve been matched with a 6 year old little boy! We’ve accepted the referral and are waiting for the courts to finalize everything before we travel to go pick him up next year. After traveling, we expect to be quite busy helping him learn English, adjust to his new life in the US of A, and homeschooling him.
Isn’t he a cutie? Because of my expected future busy-ness devoted to our new little boy, I’ve been pondering how things are going to work. I decided that from now on, I’m working to convert everything will be download only. So you can still get your poodle designs here plus some new things. 
I’m going to start writing out patterns and instructions of things I used to sell at craft fairs and posting them here as well. So if you have a little crafty streak you can make some of the things yourself. I will still own the copyright for all drawings, patterns, and designs but you will be able to use them for your own personal projects as long as you don’t sell them for money. Just as a side note, even though all the downloads will be free but I will be accepting donations via PayPal if you’re so inclined. Calligraphy projects will be handled differently. If you’d like a piece done I’ll accept on a “as I have time” basis and will be the same rates as before.
It’ll take a little while to start changing things here, but I’ll eventually get there. First up, I’ve drawn out some quilt applique patterns — so look for those in the coming weeks.
Happy National Adoption Month!
