To remember it by....

Maybe it has something to do with the Christmas tree coming down.

Maybe it has to do with the freshly painted walls and imminent placement of new flooring in a few of our house's rooms.

Maybe it has to do with the single digit degree temperature.

It is probably a mixture of it all.

All that I am sure of is that I can't keep my fingers busy enough!  There is so much that I want to do....Now that the holidays are officially over there is a lull in the air that has stirred my desire to craft.

On the top of the list was our Advent pillow.

I had ironed the stack of quilting square satchels once that the Advent tree was taken down and they stared at me for a few days while I considered what to do with them.   I knew, of course, that they would become a pillow, but I definitely wanted to jazz it up a bit.

For the pillow construction, I had sewn the 25 squares together into a square as the front of the pillow.

Then for the back if the pillow, I used some of the lovely blue flannel that I had received from Heather of Blooming Heather from the Vintage Swap back in October.

 I then stuffed it plump with this stuffing called "Cluster Stuff".

Have you ever used this stuff?  What a NIGHTMARE....it is all of these little balls of fluff that didn't want to cooperate with me and then ended up flying all over the room when I tried to pack it into the too small hole that I had made in the pillow!

Seriously, unless you like a struggle....avoid this stuff....-I-N-G.

About an hour later, I was able to sew the hole shut with a whip stitch.

  Then I had to decide on a little detail.
 I had all of that amazing yarn and a stack of gorgeous doilies from Heather's care package that was just burning a hole in my pocket.

Surely, I could spare one little doily and some yarn. 

I placed the doily at the center of the front of the pillow and then, using a large needle and 2 strands of the fingerling yarn, I stitched the doily into place.

   (Sharpie....so it won't wash off)

When all was said and done,  I wrote a reminder on the back of the pillow. 

A reminder of the year that my boy was five.

A reminder of the year that his Great Grandma Bam passed away.

A reminder of the year that I rekindled my love of crafting.

A reminder of the year that I found my place in the land of Blog.

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A pillow to remember it all by.