79 cent Pillows!

When Mike and I found out that I was expecting, it almost didn't seem real. My belly was about the same size as before, I had no immediate cravings for ice cream and pickles, and I didn't even feel nauseous...

...and then it hit me.

My first sign of pregnancy.

I began to hate the color red.

This was pretty tragic considering I had red accents throughout my whole house... like the red curtains in the living room, and a red throw on the sofa, and a red printed rug on the floor, and the red Coke tray on the coffee table...you get the idea, it was pretty sad.

Instead of overreacting and removing every single red item from my home, I took out all my aggression on a single item...my red shaggy carpet from college:)

 It was promptly rolled up and carted off to goodwill before I could even give it a second thought.

Feeling much better about things, I began to think more realistically about my dilemma, and although I still had a strong desire to bathe my home in cool colors (blues, whites, and greens), I decided to let that transition take its own sweet time:)

SO...in the meantime I have been trying to work with my current color palette, starting with the sofa in the living room, which until today has been sporting pillows from October!

Here is the before:

See what I mean?!? Definitely not ready for summer.

While I was at Ikea this past weekend with my girlfriend Jess, I found these great little dishtowels for only 79 CENTS EACH!!!

I knew right then and there that they were the solution to my out of season pillows. So I bought three of them, hung one on my oven door, and did this with the remaining two:

First, I ironed them, to remove the creases. Then I ironed them in half, so that the edges matched up perfectly, and the seams faced outward.

Then I pinned the side and bottom of the perimeter, making sure to line up the top and bottom layers perfectly.

Next I sewed the side, bottom, and about 3 inches of the other side.

After turning the pillowcase back to right-side out, poking out the corners, and stuffing it with polyfill, I pinned the remaining few inches, and sewed the opening closed:)

It took less than an hour, and the result is this: aren't they cute!?!

Here is the before and after again:

They are still a little lumpy since I opted out of making a pillow form and stuffed them directly, but I kinda like the homemade look they have, and I figure the lumps will work themselves out as we use them!

Also, since they are so little, I am toying with the idea of making a nice big pillow for the middle of the sofa out of some leftover dropcloth canvas that I have, and then experimenting with fabric painting some nautical stripes on them...

we'll see:)

For now I am happy with my summery pillows replacing the out of season"fall motif" pillows, and I have satisfied my need for crisp cool colors in my living room...for today anyway:)

Apparently Sadie liked them too, because after about two minutes of watching me snap pictures of the sofa, she decided to try them out!

:)