"Birds of Autumn" Blanket & Pillow Set

I wanted to make a blanket for my mom
for her birthday so I went fabric shopping...
I found this absolutely gorgeous bird fabric

and coordinating leaf fabric

at JoAnn's Fabrics in Watertown, WI.

I couldn't resist buying it for a blanket.

I wanted a soft fabric for the back of the blanket

 so I went with a brown "oh-so-soft" fabric
that I found at JoAnn's as well.

Since I had a little leftover fabric,

I decided to make a matching pillow.
And I'm so excited!

Last year I had spent over $40 on a ruffling foot

for my sewing machine, but for the life of me

I couldn't figure out how to make it work.

I had recently bought myself a book:

The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook

By

Charlene Phillips

I HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone!

I learned how to use my ruffling foot because of this book!

I used the ruffling foot for the ruffles on the ends of the pillow.

And here's what I made...

(The above pictures were taken w/my Blackberry,

so the coloring and clarity isn't as good as the pictures below.

The pictures below were taken w/my digital camera).

The hardest part of making the pillow was

hand sewing the buttons on

because of my carpal tunnel

and having to pull them so tight.

But the end results turned out fantastic!