How I fought with a bobbin and lost (aka pillow talk part 2)

Sorry this post is coming late, it's been cuh-razy up in here!  I found another spare few minutes to sew a few pillows yesterday, but first I had to have a war with the sewing machine.  This is why I normally hand sew; there's so many frickin' little pieces on a sewing machine!  You have to wind the thread around about 16 little knobs and spindles, before it makes it's way through the Candy Cane Forest and the Sea of Whirly Twirly Gum Drops (Elf reference, anyone?) on it's way to the needle with the hole in the absolute wrong place.  Holy jeeze!  And IF you can make the thread be obedient until it gets to the needle, you still have to place the OTHER thread in the bobbin.  Two threads?  Hand-sewing me is trying to keep her head from spinning.  Once the bobbin is placed, the needle has to go pick up the bobbin thread (are you confused/frustrated yet?!).  This is what kept me from sewing for about an hour yesterday, until my mom could come and show me what I was doing wrong (Hi, my name is April and I am 8 years old.  Sheesh!).

Turns out, the little thread piece was hanging on the wrong side of the bobbin (obviously??).  I'm telling you, this machine is smarter than me and it makes me uncomfortable.  Anyone else ever been frightened away from sewing just because of the machine?  Tell me I'm not alone, people!  At any rate, I have another "before and after" for you.  Since I was all wigged out from my bobbin war, I accidentally put both pillows into their new covers without taking a "before" picture.  I bought two pillows at Ross for $4.00 each, knowing I wanted to cover them.  They were so CHEAP - love Ross.  So, here's a glimpse of their yucky stripey-ness inside the new cover, try to focus on the old and make the "new a surprise...

Love those stripes?  I didn't either, but you can't beat a quality pillow insert for $4.00!   So, after the addition of some more 50% off fabric (that's again, JoAnn's!) and a few thousand stitches...

Ooh, I love them!  I'm pretty excited about the color they add to the room...

After adding that pop of color to my reading nook, I'm thinking the garden stool may need a coat of bright spray paint.  Any suggestions?  Should I play it safe and go with white (the color of many other accents in the room), or be wild and crazy with a bright blue?  Maybe another color? Opinions wanted!

But, there's something you all should know.  I've been lying to you.  I've been showing you all of these pillows, leading you to believe that they're perfect, when in reality...

...I have yet to sew any of them shut.  I'm definitely going to hand sew these bits, but does anyone have any pillow closing suggestions?  I want them sewn, but just wondering if there's any way to make it look like the seam is done the same way as the rest of the seams.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend, all 10 pillows will be completed!  Maybe we'll get a chance to remove the kitchen lighting and replace it with track lighting while we're at it?  It's getting crazier over here! 

With that, I'm off to finish planning the baby shower I'm throwing on Saturday morning.  I'm using this amazing post as inspiration.  I hope I can make my gathering look HALF as put together.  How do these ladies come up with these amazing ideas?  I'm in awe.  Have a wonderful Thursday, friends!