Reading Pillows

Here is an adorable little something I whipped up a week ago for a certain birthday girl in our house.

We are a Reading House.  We all love to read.  It is common to find anywhere from one to all four of us with a book in our hand at any given time and our kids wouldn't know how to function if they didn't read in bed at night before falling asleep.  I also believe that one can never have too many pillows floating around so a Book/Reading Pillow makes perfect sense!  I have had this idea pinned for years and finally got around to making one.  (And, yes, the Babysitters Club books were part of the present - what goes around comes around!)

The front side has one deep pocket going across the entire pillow front.  

The back side is plain - no pocket.

I added the ruffle to the front of the pocket just for fun...

... some embroidered initials ...

... you can tote it around the house with a sturdy strap ...

... and it closes on the bottom with an invisible zipper so it can be washed if needed.  

It was a relatively quick project, although those initials were stitched three times. The first time I wasn't happy with how the stitching looked so I ripped it out and did it a second time with different floss.  They looked much better, but unfortunately that time I stitched through too many layers and stitched the pocket closed in that corner.  Soooo... out came those stitches.  Third time was the charm, I guess.  :)  I had intended to make it up in purple (her favorite color) but when it was finally time to choose fabrics this mint was just calling my name too loudly to ignore.  She recently made herself a new pillow for her bed in a similar light blue/green color so it was a pretty safe bet.

It now lives happily on her bed and/or gets toted around the house.  Happy reading, Leah.  I hope to make a pink Eiffel Tower one for Grace but she doesn't know that yet so we'll see how much time goes by before that one gets made!  (Grace still sleeps every. single. night. on this cat pillow I made her three years ago - you just never know which projects will become favorites!)