#60 Part 1- "Well hello there yellow and gray fabric..."

That was me as I ran through JoAnn Fabrics the other day to pick up a zipper for our busted couch cushion.  I was totally minding my business, heading straight for the notions section, and I pass this little lovely on the end cap:

"Wow, and you're 60% off too.  You saucy little minx..."

Now that I have you all thoroughly concerned for my well being that I talk dirty to my fabric, I'll try to maintain my dignity for the rest of this post.  The fabric was exactly what I had in mind for our gray and yellow themed Guest Bedroom, and looks a lot like these beauties from Target that I've had my eyes on.

Not a great photo from Target.com BTW, in reality these pillows are the same color yellow.

Those pillows are $24.99 each though, and even though I admit that this is a good price at a discount store, I still can justify throwing 50 bones at two pillows.  Maybe I'm cheap, but we have a lot of rehab to do in this house, and I can't throw all my cash at decor. 

So I threw the fabric in the cart and ran back to notions for some piping, which they just happened to have in the perfect color.

Of course I totally forgot about the zipper I came in for, but let's focus on the task at hand people. I headed to the check out where my two-thirds of a yard of fabric, on sale for 60% off, and the piping was a whooping $3.17.  Cue mini-celebration dance at register.

Once home I grabbed a spare pillow form from a red throw pillow that was on our old guest bed that I knew we wouldn't use again.  I actually had a lot more fabric than I thought, so I grabbed a memo board and did a little fist-pump when I realized I was going to get both a pillow and a memo board out of my $3.17 fabric.  (More on the memo board later.)

For the pillow all I needed to do was cut my fabric into two equal sized rectangles.   Then I laid out the piping on the "good" side of the first piece, pinning it on tight like so:

Then I placed the other piece on top like a sandwich, "good side" down, and pinned it secure again.  After a quick run through the sewing machine, sewing as close to the piping as possible, I turned it right-side out, and stuffed the pillow form into the 4 inch gap I left at the bottom, and then hand stitched it shut. 

 

Not bad, eh?  I can't tell if I'm more excited about the great pattern and perfect color match, or the low $3.17 price tag.  Plus I was able to do it all while enjoying a glass of wine one evening after my boys went to bed.  Which sadly, is my idea of a perfect Friday evening these days.  NextI'll give you all the details on the sweet memo board I was able to make to go with it.  Stay tuned...