I usually get pajamas for my kids every christmas. I don’t ever make them, though one christmas I did sew robes for all of them. This christmas I thought I’d do something a little different: I made pillows to put their pajamas in (really branching out, I know).

For my daughter I made the kitty in the first picture. I completely copied the design from a lovely pillow I saw on Pinterest, but can’t for the life of my find it now  edited to add: I based the design on this beautiful cat cushion by Jenni from Cloth & Thread. She makes absolutely gorgeous soft toys! 

The lion I made for my 6 (almost 7!) year old son. I hemmed and hawed a bunch about the design. I got great advice on instgram about what direction to take (eyelashes? eyebrows? tongue?). I skipped the eyebrows, made a tiny tongue, and trimmed the fringe to use as eyelashes.  I’m pretty happy with how he turned out–though I did forget the ears. Oops!

My youngest has been obsessed with cheetahs for what seems like forever now. So of course I had to make him a cheetah pillow. Like the real thing, this cheetah has tear lines–the lines that run from his eye to his chin. Black piping worked perfectly! And the leather I used–on all the animals–gives it a beautiful texture. My 4 year old cheetah  approves.

The back is done up just like a simple fold-over pillow. I’m keeping the secret construction bits secret, because there might just be a pattern for these guys someday…

And here they are all filled up with pjs!

I need your advice on a few projects I’ve got going on. First is this vintage quilt I picked up at the thrift store recently. It is super fantastic, there is no doubt. The colors are super saturated and somehow read neon and pastel at the same time. The prints are flat out amazing…

…but the thing is ginormous! Queen size? King size? I don’t know but it weighs a ton. I’m thinking of cutting it down to a twin size for my daughter’s bed. What do you think? I’m pretty sure I can just cut it to size and then hand bind it. I want to use a pattern binding (stripes or polka dots), but is that too much? If I just do a solid color, which color?

And then what to do with the rest? There might be enough for curtains for my daughter’s room, but is that too crazy? Is a pillow to boring and matchy matchy? Advice! Direction! I need you!

Second is this cheetah print. Leopard really, but my youngest son is obsessed with cheetahs and he is convinced this is a cheetah print. He has requested a jacket made out of it. I’m planning on using the Study Hall Jacket pattern. How do I do it so it’s not too costumey? I was thinking of pairing it with that dark green jersey. That’s one option. Another is dying the print:

Another idea is to do more of a color block thing with the print–like Shauna from Shwin and Shwin did. I don’t want the thing to look goofy. I mean he’s 4, so he can rock goofy, but still. Any ideas?! Any advice?