Pillow talk, part 1

Remember waaaay back in blogland when I said I was going to recover my pillows??  I barely remember.  But, in all the craziness around here (I'm helping my cousin move in with my parents...  Box lifting, organizing and furniture hauling - lots of work!), I found time yesterday to finish one pair of pillows.  And when I say I found time, I mean the 20 minute slot between 11:45PM and my total crash at 12:05AM.  I also made time to take pictures because that's how effing dedicated I am much I love all of you readers.  So, here's the before...

These were given to us by a friend who was moving to the UK (LUCKY!!) a few years ago, and are originally from IKEA.  Being just married, I was so thankful for anything that made the former bachelor pad look more like a home.  But after 2+ years, they were looking tired, and did NOT go with our color scheme.  I chose this IKAT print...

...in an outdoor fabric, as these pillows are 25x25 and end up being floor cushions when my niece and nephew come over.  Durability is key, and the price tag was perfect - the fabric was purchased at JoAnn's with a 50% off coupon (booyah!) for $5.25 a yard.  And I only needed a yard and a half to make the two pillows.  So, after some hard work sewing on my mom's SWEET machine (Can you believe I usually hand-sew my things?  I think I'm NUTS for not buying a machine.  Or really cheap.  Probably the latter.), I had two adorable pillows...

Ahhh!  So cute!  I'm so excited about how they turned out.  I couldn't have hoped for better!  Just to blow your mind a little more (in case you didn't know, pillow transformations = mind blowing.... fyi), here's a sweet side by side....

And as you can see from the title of the post, I'll be sharing more pillows as I finish them.  Wish me luck!  I only pinned myself in the finger once yesterday, the gods of sewing must have been smiling on me, because it normally makes me swear like a hardened sailor.  Have you sewn any pillows recently?  I'd love any tips you'd like to share!  I learned one from my mom, but I'll save it for part 2, since it really deserves pictures and I didn't have my memory card with me at her house (fail!).  Have a wonderful Wednesday, friends, and don't forget to share your pillow stories!

linking to Craftomaniac