Crafty Kick

I have evidently been on a crafty kick this past week. I finally got around to finishing the pillows to match my quilt. I worked on them Friday evening and put the finishing touches on them Saturday morning. Here they are in their new home:I made the fronts by using blocks I had already pieced together for my quilt, but that didn't get used. It took some figuring and measuring, but I found a layout I liked and included some blocks I had embroidered with our names: SuperDad's and mine on one pillow with the date we got married, and the kids' names on the other pillow with their birthdates underneath. (Obviously, that's what the blurred spots contained.)

Here are some closeups:


For the backsides, I used the pillow tutorial from JCarolineCreative (find it here). The fabric is the same as the backside of my quilt. If you didn't read the post about the quilts, I used a flat sheet that we got as a wedding present for the back side of the quilt since the kids ripped a giant hole in the fitted sheet. The fitted sheet is what I cut up to use for these pillows. I ended up not using the buttons I cut from the kids' baby clothes, but used some pink and blue buttons I've had in my stash since I was young and skinny. I've always wanted to use them, but wanted to put them on something special, and I finally found a use for them!
I didn't use pillow forms - just some old throw pillows I had laying around. One had stains and was ugly, so it needed a new cover. The other was a really pretty pillow I got when I moved into the dorms my first semester of college. It had a Batenburg lace design on the front and a Batenburg lace trim around the edges, but with my kids, it didn't last long once they discovered it. They also ripped a hole in it, so I had to stitch that closed before I could put the pillow in its new cover. I like the way these turned out. They're completely machine washable, and so are the pillows, so I can just take the covers off and toss them all in the washer.

I have lots of fabric left from the baby clothes, some already pieced into blocks. I also have two standard-sized pillow cases that match the sheets I used for the back side of the quilt and pillows, so I'm thinking we might need some pillow shams to match now. Those yellow polka-dot ones just don't match any more since I took the coverlet that matched them off of my bed. Right now, all we have is a sheet, a fleece blanket that we got for Christmas, and the quilt, and we usually end up kicking the quilt off in the middle of the night, even when it's freezing in the house. We have no problem staying warm!