I don’t really believe in the adage, “Practice makes perfect,” but I do believe that practice makes better. I decided awhile ago to make two pillow covers to go with my stepson’s Japanese Quilt for his Christmas present this year. I’ve made some HSTs to use for the pillow covers, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten. Yesterday I had the thought that I should make a practice Christmas pillow cover to work out the kinks since I’ve never made a pillow cover before, so I made up a simple pattern with nine 5″ Moda Jol charm squares and some white Grunge sashing strips (yes, I have a huge bin of Grunge fabric!). It went mostly as I thought it would, but then the outside sashing was going to be so narrow, that I chose to make it even narrower and added another narrow outer border strip in red to make it look a little like a flanged binding.

I followed Jeni Baker’s instructions in her Mystery Pillow pattern to finish this pillow cover with an envelope backing, which went fine EXCEPT my backing fabric is directional, and I should have made sure the deer were facing the right direction when I cut the fabric. Oh well, this pillow is for me, and I certainly learned an important lesson. And if the back of this pillow is showing for some reason, I just need to rotate it 90 degrees, and it will look just fine!

Linking up to My Quilt Infatuation: Needle and Thread Thursday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict: Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?