Latest Addiction: DIY Christmas Throw Pillows

Before I embarked on this project, my sofa throw pillows were hodge podge, at best. Seriously. One is a big square blue pillow that came from B’s last bedset, and the other is a crappy IKEA pillow that doesn’t even fill in the pillowcase. I’ve been progressively getting more irritated at seeing how awful they are.

I know doing pillow covers is so Sewing 101, but I never really paid attention to anything to home decor until recently. Since it’s the Christmas season, I thought having some awesome red and gold pillows would be festive! I followed this easy how-to to make these:

This project was 100% fun and gratifying because it took me around 40 minutes to make. All I had to do was choose fabric, trim, and the pillow form size. I swear I was so pleased with myself I kept hugging them. I foresee multiple sets for each season…If anyone knows of other easy home projects like this please let me know!

What’s Your Top 5?

I love to make lists. 

Who doesn’t? It makes your brain feel cleaner, and just the act of making one creates a sense of accomplishment!

But what kind of top five, you ask? Well, as much as I like listing my favorite foods, places, and bands, this one might be a tad more meaningful.

As my lovely colleague PaperclipFox has posted, life is indeed too short, and sometimes you don’t want to make your old laundry list of errands. To prevent daily life from becoming monotonous, I like to keep things interesting and challenging by keeping a list of top five of goals I want to accomplish in general. This means everything and anything – not just lofty, seemingly unattainable ones. The trick is to throw in one or two items that are achievable in the near future. This way, not only will you actually do it, but you’ll be able to rotate it out with another awesome project or destination. And voilà! You have just enhanced your life. For example, instead of “I want to travel the world”, consider “I would really love to visit wine country.” Or what about instead of “I will become a master chef”, how about narrowing it down to “Man, I need to learn how to make that delicious flan that my sister has perfected.” (Which is something on my list, actually.)

This is not to say that you can’t have really fantastic long-term goals. However, hopefully this tiny exercise will encourage you to pause for a minute to think about what you want. And as selfish as this sounds, I find it pretty healthy to do this  in order to not lose a total grip on yourself or what makes life fun!

So now, in visual form, I present to you my latest top five:

1. I must make this flan.

2. I plan on volunteering at the local animal shelter. I hope they’ll take my offer to take new photos of these poor animals in need! (Many thanks to my sister for letting me know this was even possible)

 3. I’ve wanted to go to Egypt since I was a kid.

4. I can’t add a photo for this because it does not yet exist, but I want to one day publish my own cookbook. Wheee!

5. I have never been to a Renaissance Festival, and I am in LUCK that Houston boasts the finest ever. So I’m going. This weekend.

This now concludes my list for the week…what’s on your list??

It Almost Killed Me: Amy Butler Take Flight Bag

The final product. I literally bled over this project.

I am finally done with this bag. It only took me about a year, or almost. Eleven months. But to begin, let me show you why I fell in love with it:

Cute right? It fits my laptop or can be used for general purposes, and I really love the peacock feather-inspired design.

I had a really good excuse not to continue this project, namely planning my wedding and doing other life things, but seriously, this bag is not for the faint-hearted or the weak-stomached. Not only is the prep work grueling (there are about a 900 individual pieces), but this pattern requires making your own bias tape. Sorry, I did not do that. I craft-cheated and used bias tape. Sadly that didn’t save me from agony either. There was so much detail in this, I must have poked myself with needles about 60 times an hour doing the slipstitching.

I am indeed proud that I powered through it, but I must say…I think I failed in the design category. What do you think? Is it a bag only your grandma would pretend to use?