A Little Patchwork

I'm not sure what has possessed me recently, but I got the itch to create some pillows for the boys room and I couldn't rest until I started.  I have a not-so-secret life goal to sew a quilt but alas I have no idea how to actually quilt  so I've never tried before.  This time, however, I've thrown caution to the wind and decided to quilt anyway--after all, I'll never learn how to make a quilt unless I try to make a quilt....right?  Well, like most of my sewing projects I'm totally making this up as I go......

I thought these euro shams would be perfect for practicing since they're so much smaller than a quilt :)

I went to the fabric store (with the boys--mistake #1) to grab some extra fabric and quilting supplies.  The lovely woman at the counter asked what pattern I was using..... I replied that I was winging it....she didn't look very hopeful......

Well I managed to use some graph paper to sketch out a design and then patchworked my pieces into the right shape...I was pretty worried it would turn into a misshapen mess.....then I got really fancy, looked up some pictures online for a how-to, and mitered the corners too.  I know, you're super impressed :)

A lot of the fabrics I'm using are from my random fabric stash which mostly consists of old clothes and cast offs--including our old holey duvet cover.  I thought it would be fun (and easier) to use the button closure from the duvet for the back of my pillow.  This ended up probably being a lot more work than just making a normal back to the pillows but I think it will end up being cute--hopefully!  I also want to embroider the boys names on the edge there to make them a little more special.  I was going to do it to the front but I chickened out when I began to think that I might ruin them with my kind-of-sad hand embroidery skills.....

I've started hand quilting them now.....I'll let you know how they turn out!  For now how about a little cowboy David to tide you over.....