Pillow made from hand towels and an other up-cycle project

Soooo its a great night here at Crafty Scrappy Happy WORLD!!!!  I finally after forcing myself NOT to open up my new sewing machine I got for Christmas until after my 3 days of written boards, tonight was my night to learn and play.  I am sooooo lucky to have my sister hear to be my instructor, wow is that easier than reading and following instructions---YUCK!!!  As always I jump into new crafts all the way---I am always willing to fail as long as I am learning...for better or worse

Ahhh my first stitches captured by Lizzie---PLEASE note this is my FIRST attempt-any advise would be very welcome and any encouragement well let me just say---YES PLEASE!!!

Once again I must say that my inspiration was my pottery barn outlet pillow cover that I found last week that I am IN-LOVE-WITH

 I found these cute hand towels at World Market on clearance today for $3.00-ish (for the pair) as I openly admit I L-O-V-E anything in this worn/vintage fabric so I just had to grab all of them....they are soft and fun and since I have more than one set it made it easier for me to "experiment" with since I am a novice and I really do love these towels.

I cut one of the two towels, ironed them, and did some pinning and then went for it---GLUP!

Once you sew the three sides fold the longer fourth side over and sew just the sides and leave the horizontal sleeve open so you can take the pillow out easily

Not to bad for my first try right?!?!  I like that by doing it this way you can easily wash the pillow covers or change them out----I mean I do love this fabric right now but who knows how long that will last...

And my proof of a successful evening:

Finally I have a little up-cycle before and after to show just for fun...

Let me be honest I LOVE to be thrifty when it comes to decor and I can't tell you how many finds I have passed up because I couldn't see past the imperfect exterior well not anymore---I LOVE what paint can do.

This was a dollar at a thrift store and lets just say it is not quite my taste as it is here:

but wow with some paint and destruction techniques I really love this...in-fact it is safe to say I will be on an official hunt for more---so watch out if we happen to be at the same garage sale together I might grab one of these old school beauties right out of your hands....hahah well I do like to be nice so maybe not, but you had better bet I would eye you up until your sale was final :o) and then I might run up to you and ask you what you plan to do with it---WOW I am dorky!

Here is what I did:

Sand, prime, add white pain, sand---BE AGGRESSIVE from my experience the more sanding the better.

And this is proof that I am having SOOO much fun crafting---and I love that I might inspire others, I appreciate comments more than anything!