Pillows pillows everywhere

I know I say it often, but I really do have the most talented group of friends there is. My friend Michelle, author of Neatloaf blog and designer of beautiful goods sold at Jot Living, among other creative endeavors, is teaching me to sew. Before last Friday, I had never touched a sewing machine. No, kids growing up in Los Angeles do not get any sort of home-economics training. No cooking, no sewing.

Our first project is a pillow. She immediately had me jump on an intermediate level task (in my mind at least) - sewing a zipper. My line with 90% straight, 10% handcrafted-looking.

Here's my progress thus far:
Concealed zipper pillow back. The front will be Michelle's xoxo pattern below...

I will (hopefully) be finishing this puppy on Friday

Michelle's gorgeous pillows (a graphic designer, she designs the silk screened motifs herself) look like this:

Hopefully mine will look that good!

Once I get moving and grooving on this, here are some fabrics I'm feeling inspired to use:

From Lulu DK

Funky birds




Eco-friendly, bold and beautiful fabrics from Rubie Green:


My moss green printed bedspread could use a jolt/accent of pink - perhaps this pink zigzag?



Eco chic zebra

For those of you like me, who have never touched a sewing machine in your life, some pre-made pillows:
Inexpensive options:

Furry friends from West Elm




CB2:
Sweet little yellow bird

A well priced little luxe option from Crate and Barrel. Metallic croc - oh my!

They make me drool, but are a little pricier options:

From Velocity

Because pillows don't ALWAYS have to be square...

From Hable Construction


Fun splash of color for my living room

Pop colors from my favorite Jonathan Adler




This image from Real Simple magazine shows us that a little pillow can give a vignette that extra umph it needs.

The year I learned to knit, everyone got scarves for Christmas... wonder what you're all getting this year!