Pillow Palooza!

So, I have been wanting to make some pillows and/or pillow covers for awhile. I still have 2 pillow forms to use for a couple of new patchwork pillow creations...but in the meantime I wanted to show the ones I've done so far.  Like I mentioned in my last post, the machine embroidery and applique designs are from Meringue Designs (love her!) - so I can't take credit for the results from that stitching except to congratulate myself on my good taste!  There are nice ideas to steal get inspiration from on the website too - you should check it out!

This first one is from the "vine applique" stitch pattern - I had to shrink down the large one a bit to fit in the hoop I wanted to use (likely this is because I haven't really figured out how to manipulate the stitch patterns since I do have a larger hoop but couldn't get it to work in a timely fashion - i.e. to fit my patience level!).  So overall the pillow is probably about 9" x 16".  I filled it with some recycled stuffing from some cushions rejected from a chair we had (weird shape!).  What I really like is that I did a completely improvised log cabin like pieced back from scraps that is just as fun as the front!

Is it the front...

or the back?

Next is the pillow I made for my mom's birthday - the flower is again appliquéd using a stitch design from Meringue Designs. Then I combined that piece on linen with some Wee Woodlands, and I think that is Amy Butler on the left half.  The middle band and the backing are some raw silk that I had in my stash and couldn't remember what I'd bought it for originally. hmmm. is that a good thing or a bad thing?  Anyway, she likes it, so I guess it's a good thing in the end! You can see a bit of the backing above behind the vine pillow front/back. I love the contrast in textures on this pillow - something I need to remember for future projects.

I showed a preview of the bird pillows in my last post - Wild Thing chose the thread colors for me, and I love the backing fabric which I won on a Sew Mama Sew! giveaway months ago. It seemed like a perfect complement to the stitch pattern. Very modern.

Two birds - but they won't necessarily sit next to each other on the furniture in this matchy-matchy way. 

This is the back fabric for both the bird pillows - though the first one I made (blue bird) has buttons on the back, and the second one has a zipper on the bottom. I like to be able to have enough stuffing without a gap poking out in the back. I'll have to perfect my zipper skills though...

Fun! I still have some pillow covers to replace in the living room and a couple of unused pillow forms in my crafty stash/hoarded goods.  This has been very rewarding and something I've meant to do for ages (well, there were supposed to be a few pillow Christmas gifts, but oh well.)  So more to come on my list of project to-do's!