Pillow Project

Over the weekend, I accomplished a little decorating task that I'd been procrastinating about for over a year. Last winter, I bought two new-looking and well-made pillows at a nearby garage sale. My intention was to use them for the pillow forms, as opposed to buying new pillow forms. I would make new pillow covers that would reflect my preference for quilt designs using colors that would reflect a sunny Florida porch.

And a whole year later, I have finally followed through on my plan. Take a look at my pretty new pillows.

In early February, I picked up a nice variety of brightly colored fat quarters while shopping at Quilted Twins. I sorta' had in mind that I would make 'granny squares' as a pattern on the pillows, so I would use the same 3-4 colors in different order to make a pair of pillows.

The pillows I started with are perfectly fine for a family room sofa, but for my porch sofa, brighter, cheerier colors were needed. 

I had the first one mostly made, and needed to add the orange outer border. Then I used some leftover fabric from previous projects for the back. I used the envelop style of back for easy removal for laundering.

After finishing the first pillow, I took a rainy Sunday afternoon to finish the second.

Not a lot of effort for quite a lot of pizzazz! I'm loving them! The colors really set the tone for the sun porch (Floridians call them lanais) through which you enter our house. This lanai needs more sprucing up, and that will be our primary effort of next winter.

Sometimes just a little change makes for large impact, and that's what these pillows do for our porch space. More inviting and more appropriate for our Florida porch. One gets a hint of  Florida vibe upon entering the lanai.

On a little side note, I made granny square pillow covers last winter for our guest bedroom. These pillows are larger, but I followed the same plan - forms from thrifted pillows and colors that suited both the Florida vibes and my preference for quilt block patterns.

Believe it or not, I have two more pillows to transform in similar fashion. The pillow shams on our bed have needed this same treatment for going on the second year. As shams, these are much bigger and I have made Ohio Star blocks for the fronts. My goal is to finish them off this month. Stay tuned... 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne