Stripey Pillows

We lived in our house for a year before purchasing furniture for our "formal" living room. I still remember the first Halloween we lived here, one little boy came to the door, took one look in our formal living room and walked right into the house and said "Wow, you guys must be rich!!" His eyes were as round as saucers as he looked around at our empty room.

I guess it all is a matter of perspective! Anyhow, a year after we moved in, we ordered furniture for the living room. We decided to break away from our usual neutral color palette and "be brave" and go for colored furniture--so we chose a deep blue color for our sofa and two chairs. When we ordered the furniture, I told my husband that I could envision crisp blue and yellow pillows on the furniture in the summertime.

Well, I bought some plush red throw pillows for those couches for Christmas decor...and never took them off! I kept spotting pillows that I loved (especially in the Pottery Barn catalogue) but the price never was right. I do have a sewing machine, but I'm not the greatest at using it.

A month or so ago I spotted a great little throw pillow tutorial over at Cottage Magpie. She actually made it all look so easy!! Easy is GOOD! Then a few weeks ago I spotted the perfect blue and yellow stripe fabric in the clearance section at Jo-Ann Fabrics. Nautica brand fabric, at that. I loved it and knew it was just right for my new pillows. I picked up the matching plaid fabric on a return trip to the fabric store.



And, as if that weren't enough, when I opened up my sewing machine box, I found this little piece of paper that gave instructions for threading the machine--instructions that are *totally* different from the instructions in the manual. How I've overlooked this little piece of paper for 4+ years is beyond me, but it made a WORLD of difference in my sewing. Wow!

I'm really happy with the look of the pillows and they really brighten up the room. I'm happy with how the living room is coming together. Give me your thoughts on the plaid table topper I made though--although I love the splash of color it gives me, I'm not convinced it's the right fabric for a table topper. What do you think?

Does it look too much like a picnic blanket?