Crochet Cross

My sister's daughter is making her First Holy Communion next weekend, and I am SO excited!  Not only is she my niece, but she is my goddaughter as well, so I feel an extra special connection with her on this happy day - I'm very much looking forward to watching her receive Jesus into her heart, and to support her as she grows up in the Church :)

The boys & I will, of course, be travelling to Michigan to celebrate O's big day, and I wanted to bring her a present to represent the sacrament she's receiving.  So, I decided I'd make her a cross pillow.  She can (hopefully) keep it on her bed as a reminder to say her prayers at night, and as a symbol of Jesus's presence around her always.

I've been working on letter pillows for the boys using this pattern (more on those when they're all done), so I took that idea and created my own pattern for a cross:

I worked up two of these, in a creamy white color perfect for a First Eucharist.  They go quite fast, as they're straight rows of single crochet.  The only tricky piece is making the extensions for the side pieces - I chained out from the row then worked all the way across, because I wanted one solid piece, as opposed to sewing together different chunks.  The end result is a much cozier pillow to snuggle up to.  To add a pop of color, I chose a buttery pastel yellow for the gusset (that's the edge piece that gives the pillow its height).  That process is so easy - just straight rows of 10 single crochets til the pieces is long enough to go around the pillow shape.  I did the strips for the letter pillows at the same time, so I had rolls and rolls of crochet strips.

The last step to making the pillow is to simply slip stitch the gusset to the pillow around the whole edge, leaving an open spot to stuff the pillow with poly fiber filling.  I found it took a LOT more filling than I anticipated, but I wanted it to be full and fluffy.  Once I finished stuffing & stitching up the opening, I have a snuggly, cross shaped pillow to give to my precious goddaughter on Sunday.