Sew Joy: Mini Carrot Pillow

This week I'm honored to be a guest judge over at the Quilting Gallery. This week's theme is Quilted Pillows. I thought it was a perfect time to finally make this little carrot into something special.
The block measures 5 1/2 inches unfinished to give you other options, including to simply embroider it. You can also play with the embellishments - you could use rick rack, add binding, or simply leave it plain.
You could also leave off the ribbon and make it a little pincushion or doll pillow.
Enjoy!

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS:

2 pieces of background fabric - 5 1/2 inches square
1 piece of orange fabric - minimum 2 1/2 x 4 inches
piece of green fabric - 5 inches square

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS:

Lace or other trim for embellishing the edge - minimum 25 inches
ribbon for hanging - I used 15 inches
5 1/2 inch square of batting (fusible is a good option)
batting bits for stuffing
fusible of your choice - minimum 5 inches (I used scraps of Mistyfuse)
thread for stitching applique

PREPARE THE APPLIQUE

Print out the applique templates found here : mini carrot pillow applique
Using your preferred fusible web material, fuse shapes to orange and green fabrics

In my photo I am using Mistyfuse.
I traced the carrot applique onto parchment paper then made my fusing sandwich:
parchment paper on my ironing board
fabric right side down
mistyfuse covering the back of the fabric
traced shape right side down
add another piece of parchment paper and fuse with iron at wool setting
peel back parchment paper and the pencil lines will be on back of fabric for cutting!

FUSE SHAPES TO BACKGROUND

Fold one background piece in half and finger press. Use this as a vertical guideline for placing the applique. I centered the carrot on this line and made sure I had at least a 1/4 inch border around the edge of the piece (this area will be inside the pillow seam allowance)

Fuse shapes to background.

PREP FOR STITCHING

Flip over the appliqued background. Place the 5 1/2 inch batting on top.
{this is where fusible batting would be a good idea if you have some}
Flip back over and pin in place. {or simply fuse your batting in place}

Use the thread you selected to blanket stitch around the carrot and leaves.

You can add detail stitching to the carrot. Go back with a normal stitch along one edge of the carrot. Lift the presser foot and turn the piece taking 3 to 5 stitches into the carrot. Use a reverse stitch to get back out to the carrot's edge. Continue this way down one side of the carrot. Cute, eh?

ADD EDGE EMBELLISHMENT

Add the trim of your choice to the edge of the applique background in the same manner as binding.

HERE'S A TIP! Don't start at the end like I did!!!!!!! Start a few inches in and overlap your trim ends. I didn't and my one corner of trim curls different than the others. It's not very noticeable now that I stuffed the pillow, BUT, save yourself some grief and simply overlap your trim.

ASSEMBLE THE PILLOW

Fold ribbon in half. Locate halfway point of top edge and pin in place with ribbon laying down over the carrot applique.
Place second background piece on top of applique piece, right sides together. Pin around all the sides leaving a 3 inch turning gap on one side {I left mine at the bottom}.
Locate ribbon pin and secure it through both pillow layers now. Ensure that ribbon is tucked inside pillow pouch.

STITCH AROUND ALL SIDES WITH A 1/4 INCH SEAM ALLOWANCE.

Flip over pillow to make sure stitching captured both sides of pillow.

TRIM CORNERS.
TURN INSIDE OUT.

STUFF PILLOW using batting scraps. Be sure to stuff corners along edge with gap well.