Monogram Pillow

This weekend I will work on a blog post regarding our recent transition from the lovely Ventura to the lovely Visalia.It's been an interesting journey so far and I know many of my family and friends who read my blog are curious to know how it is all going. Until then, however, here is a project I started and finished yesterday.

It is hot in Visalia and, though it is a cute town, there is not a lot to do that doesn't require being out in the sun. As a result, I am finding that I need to have indoor projects to think about and work on in order to maintain sanity.

I saw this idea for monogrammed pillows on one of my most favorite blogs, Lemon Tree Creations, and decided to give it a try...

Sawyer and I ventured out to Joann's (thankfully Visalia's is still in business) and found, of course, some baseball material for the letter "S." This was the only baseball themed material that couldn't double as 4th of July fabric so I went for it. I found some red felt and made my way to the cutting station.

Now let me step away from the pillow for a moment and share my cutting station experience...

So I walk up to the young girl with the scissors. No one is around. No one. I place my material in front of her and say "hello." She looks at me, smiles, and says, "Did you take a number?" "A number?" I asked. "Yes," she replied, "you must take a number and wait for your number to be called." I looked around the store. Again, there was NO ONE around. I walked over to the other side of the counter and pulled number 91 out of the dispenser. I watched the young Joann's employee walk over to the loudspeaker and say, "Number 91."

It was like a bad movie.

I wish someone could have taken a picture of my face as I walked back to the counter to face the girl with the scissors. I'm sure my expression exuded compassion and grace and understanding. Uh huh.

So anyways, once my material was cut, we headed home, put Sawyer down for a nap and began to work.

First I found the size and font of "S" I wanted on the computer and printed out my stencil.

I cut the "S" out of the red fabric and placed the baseball material behind the cut out.

Next, I stitched around the "S" with doubled up white thread. Please don't look too closely at my stitching skills. They are far from impressive...

Once I was done with the stitching, I sewed up three and half sides and starting stuffing the pillow. Some of my edges are a bit rough but I have some ideas for next time.

The red and green is a bit "Christmasy" but I liked the idea of adding color other than blue and khaki to Sawyer's room.

Anyways, I am happy that I was able to do it in one afternoon. Thanks Lemon Tree Creations for the inspiration!