An Early Valentine from Me to You |

Good morning everyone! Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, but since I won’t have time to post this on the day itself (due to a MQG meeting, ahem), I’m going to put it up early. But first, some back story:

Two years ago, our son Julian brought my husband and me a valentine he had made for us in school by folding and cutting paper. Here it is:

The “son of linix” title is a reference to Linux, a type of open-source computer operating system that my (programmer) husband uses daily; Julian has inherited his dad’s love of all things related to computers. Linux’s mascot is a penguin, which is presumably why Julian chose to include penguins in his valentine. I, of course, thought the idea of two penguins making a heart shape was brilliant and got Julian’s permission to use his concept for a free applique pattern to post here.

For this 18″ pillow, I used some Zen Chic fabric that I had been saving for the perfect project, and I love how the orange applique brings a pop of color to what can be a grey and dreary time of year.

I hand embroidered around the applique to protect the raw edges, using a technique that I’ll be teaching at QuiltCon next week (and I believe there are still a couple spots open in my workshops if you are so inclined!)

Of course I had to include a contrasting zipper on the back, because what project couldn’t use a little more orange?

You can download the full sized pattern PDF file here: CaseyYork_Penguins_Templates. I included a one-inch square so that you can make sure it’s printed at the correct scale, but you are also free to enlarge or reduce it as needed (see my post on re-sizing pattern PDFs here). Please use this pattern for personal use only–not for commercial items or items for sale.