North America's only marsupial, the Virginia opossum depicted as a 3D cross stitch animal. I have a huge fondness for these creatures. They have been much maligned over the years, but they are really wonderful. They are clean, they bathe themselves much like cats. They eat many things that we humans may not want around; things like ticks, snails, snakes and carrion. They rarely get rabies (their body temperature is too low for the virus to grow). And they are very docile. They may show you their 50 teeth if they feel threatened, but seldom attack. They are much more likely to "play possum". I could go on for ages singing their praises.

Possums families are unique in North America. Since they are marsupials, the mother will give birth to 20-30 babies that are about the size of a dime. The babies have to climb around to Mom's pouch and latch onto one of her 13 nipples until they are old enough to survive. When they get to that stage of development, they emerge from her pouch and will ride around on Mom's back, learning what a possum's life is all about.

I like accuracy in plush animals and have made the markings and eyes like that of real possums. The dolls are in scale to each other, and to make the babies ride on Mom, magnets are inserted inside the dolls. I even show the pouch on Mom. Why use cross stitch? Because cross stitch allows me to make tiny details that would be difficult to do by another method. Who says that cross stitch is only good for flat things? Now you can stitch a doll using cross stitch for the details.

Each animal is stitched as 18 pieces which are then cut out and sewn together. Full assembly directions with illustrations are included.

This pattern was hand designed by a professional artist/crafts person
Finished size of Mom is approximately 5" tall x 14" wide from nose tip to the tip of her prehensile tail when worked on 14 count fabric. Baby's finished size is 1.5" tall x 4.5" long. They are composed of 10 colors.

PDF will be downloadable when the sale is complete. To download visit "My Account" > "My Orders" > "Downloads"

THIS IS NOT A KIT. THIS IS NOT A FINISHED PIECE.

Each pattern contains:

* Color picture of the finished image
* Pattern in black and white symbols on several pages
* DMC floss list
* Full stitch count
* Floss use yardage
* Directions with photos of how to assemble the animal

Design contains some fractional stitches and backstitches, appropriate for an intermediate stitcher. Pattern may be worked on different count fabric which will result in a different sized finished product.

All cross stitch patterns are copyright Robin Hobbs and are for personal use only. Reselling or redistributing patterns in any way is prohibited, unless given written permission by designer. Although, one finished work from my pattern is yours to do with as you please.