Although Momma Bear and I sometimes have different tastes in fabric choices, I’m lucky enough to have her stash and pattern library at my disposal. Taking full advantage of that, I decided to finally make the Comfort & Joy pillow from This & That. A pattern that we she had bought a few years ago.

The pattern is for a 16 x 16″ Christmas pillow – you can always resize for whatever size pillow form you want. This is a great pattern for using fabrics from your stash. While I browsed Momma Bear’s stash, I decided on two sets of coordinating fabrics; one set was (for lack of a better word) matte Christmas fabrics, and the fabrics in the second set all had some gold metallic accents throughout the fabric. I really loved both sets but ultimately decided on the metallic set.
This is my second pillow and the second time using a pattern (I can’t design everything I do, right?) BUT it is the first time doing applique! Which is not as easy as it seems…although it doesn’t really seem that easy. I used Heat n Bond Light Weight and maybe I’m not using it right, or it’s an old package but the letters (JOY) weren’t completely sticking to the fabric! Momma Bear prefers Steam-A-Seam so next time I applique I’m going to use that instead to see the difference. That whole process is pretty easy….it’s stitching down the applique pieces that is difficult. That’s when I became a frog…Satin stitch? Rip it. Zigzag stitch? Rip it. Straight Stitch? Rip it. Blanket stitch? Winner winner chicken dinner! I did a pretty darn good job of blanket stitching around all the pieces – using coordinating thread colour helps too!
Melanie
Great job! I love the blanket stitch for appliqué.
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