~ Making a little Joy ~

With all the black I've been working with lately this little pillow was just what I needed to pull it all together. This simple and easy pillow added a big punch of color and I promise it will only take a couple of hours of your time.  

The first thing to do was find the perfect script, print it and mark the centering lines.

Well that's what I had to do.

I made things a little easier for you!  Click here for the free printable.  It's already reversed for raw edge applique and the centering marks are in place.  OH JOY!

Tape your Joy template on a light box or window. Since mine wasn't reversed it had to be flipped over.  You will NOT need to do this.

Heat and Bond Lite is my favorite fusible webbing.  I've used many different brands and find this one works best for me.  Any brand will work as long as it's Fusible..  Trace the image to the smooth paper side of the Heat and Bond Lite.

Roughly cut out the traced image and fuse it to the fabric using the instructions from the fusible webbing.  TIP:  Since this text is so swirly with some tight inner corners a good pair of scissors is a good idea but not necessary.  Kay Buckley scissors is my favorite.  They cut all the way to the tip, stay sharp, and do not need sharpening.  I use them everyday and they are still as sharp as the day I purchased them over a year ago.  I used all three pair to cut out this applique.  But I think the aqua handles pair are the most versatile of the three.  They are the Goldilocks scissors, not to big, not to small, perfect for longer cuts but small enough to fit in the tight spaces.

For the little loopy on the "J"  I used a small razor knife(circled in blue).  This was purchased at Joann's years ago.  I've looked for them several times since with no luck.  I found something similar on Amazon, if your interested click here.   Of course you could leave the little loopy area as is without trimming.

Next you'll need (1) 15" x 15" White Background fabric.  Fold in half twice and press a crease.  Line up the creases with the black lines on the printout.  

Carefully lay your JOY onto the image.  

TIP:  Moving this to the ironing table without shifting is tricky.  Slide your long 6" x 24" ruler under the white fabric.  Once it's safely on the ironing table give her a little press using the instructions from your fusible webbing.

Layer the with (1) 16" x 16" White fabric, then a layer of batting about 17" x 17".  TIP: Quilt Basting Spray was used to hold all the layers together, but pins will work also.

I stitched 4 lines on the front of the pillow to give it a little interest.  2 lines at the bottom and another two lines at the top using the same measurements pictured below. Then trim your pillow front to 14.5" x 14.5".

To finish off the pillow I used an envelope closure on the back and bound the edges as I would a quilt.   If you need help with an envelope closure back and binding you can click here for a great tutorial on both.  Two printable charts are provided for making an envelope closure and binding on several different sized pillows.

Here's my little Joy pillow nestled all snug between two trees on a blanket of snow.  She definitely added a little joy to the spare bedroom. The quilt on the bed is called Snow on the Farm.  The pattern is available in PDF and Mailed in my Etsy shop.  It's also available in my Craftsy shop as a PDF.

I've had a couple inquires about the Tree pillows.  They are blocks from my Christmas Memories Truck quilt pattern.  I just added a 2" frame around the block to make them larger.  All the items you see below are patterns in both my Etsy and Craftsy shops.  Links to both shops are at the top of the blog.

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