Pillows to solve the world's problems

Ooh, I am in love with this pillow! And not just because I amazed myself by figuring out the blocks correctly. (My brain strains on spacial reasoning.) The combo of orange and blue, with the dark grey and white is just so wonderfully bold. And I love the dense diamond cross-hatch quilting in light blue. And really I just can't be happier than when I'm sewing with Alison Glass fabric.

For the back, I pulled from my stash this grey fabric that's so wonderfully soft to the touch. Then for fun, I added this neat Kokka deer print with a sateen feel I bought when I was in Spain for a pretty penny.

This is where I got clever. I didn't want to waste fabric making a band when half of it would be hidden inside the pillow. Instead, I sewed a strip to the back of the grey, then pulled it around front and carefully ironed the seam. I folded over about 1/4" on the top of the band and ironed it flat, and then top stitched at the bottom and top. And voila! A nice detail without wasting fabric.

It gives the pillow back a nice sturdy feel too and I'm sure I'll do this again.