Joy Snowflake Cross Stitch

This Joy Snowflake Cross Stitch pillow is staying out, even though most of the Christmas Decorations are put away. Even though I’ve been stitching since I was a kid, I never experimented with variegated thread. Crazy, huh! I have loved seeing what others have stitched, so I took the plunge too. I will definitely be adding a few of these projects to my list each year. Plus, I love how the red and white snowflake fabric matches the thread. Although if I had considered it longer, I might have tried to find a fabric with blue snowflakes so it would have more of a winter feel to it. Since I don’t have many winter projects completed, I feel this one can stay out for a while, even though the colors have more of a Christmas feel.

Joy is a word that I keep around the house to remind me to choose to feel joy, regardless of the circumstances. I’m thinking I need to make some other versions to fit with the other seasons, because I just love seasonal decorations!

Making the Joy Snowflake Cross Stitch Pillow

So, for making this Joy Snowflake cross stitch piece, I stitched it on white 28 count evenweave. I cut strips of the red and white snowflake fabric to 2.5 inches. Make sure to stich with plenty of extra space if you plan to turn your stitching into a pillow. I found if there is not enough space, a pillow this size feels a bit crowded.

Here is a picture after stitching the strips of fabric onto the cross stitch piece.

I used this pretty red fabric for the back. I like to be able to store mine as pillowcases, so I usually create an opening in the back where I can slip the pillow out, especially if it is seasonal! My rule of thumb is to cut the backing fabric longer than the front so that the two pieces can overlap by 4 inches or so.

For example, if the front of my pillow is 10 by 16 inches, then I will cut my backing piece around 10 by 22 inches. This one, because of the length, I cut in half and hemmed up an end on both pieces. Here is how it is laid out before I stitched it up. 

Here is where you can get the cross stitch pattern !

This design started as an SVG to cut out with my Cricut, you can find that file here.

Blessings,
Angie