Hello there! Is everyone having a wonderful Advent season? I took a little blogging break on account of my oral examination for my master’s degree. Now that it’s over and done with (successfully!) and I have caught up on my sleep so that I feel like an actual, real-life person again, I’m going to show you a couple of instant gratification projects I completed inbetween learning the past couple of weeks.

I still have to go to work and continue writing my master’s thesis, but my main goal before Christmas is to chill out. Therefore the first project I want to show to you, my dear readers, is my newest addition to the pillow fort that is my bed. Technically, I don’t need another pillow, but I’m not gonna say no to another thing to snuggle up with at night! This brings the official count to four blankets and five pillows. Why yes, I do like to be fortified at night! 😉

A few years ago I made the three pillow covers you can see in the back of the picture from leftover fabric. I remain very pleased with them, so I went for something similar this time around as well. The only change I thought of was to enlarge the squares, since that cover came out a bit too small for a 50x50cm pillow back then. First I cut out a 12x12cm square, but my Dad convinced me to go for 13x13cm just to be safe. Turns out that was a mistake! I ended up with a cover that was way too big and had to order a 55x55cm pillow over Ebay since that isn’t a standard size available in most stores.

I cut out 55 squares – 5×5 squares for the front and 6×5 squares for the “envelope” at the back of the pillow case. This meant roughly four squares from every fabric except the last one where I cut only three pieces. I then lined them up in sequence and sewed them together.

I’m fairly proud of my precise work on the pillow case. With the previous one the squares didn’t line up properly after sewing them together. Since then I’ve learnt to be patient and take my time with my sewing. Yes, nobody except for me will probably ever notice this difference in workmanship, but it’s a point of pride for me!