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!

Painted wooden star buttons gold to match the fabrics.

Simple envelope sleeve to finish the pillow.

Applique…it’s hard work!