Interactive Pillow

In designing the Wee Wander Play Mat for Sarah Jane's Blog Tour, I ended up with one extra block. Though my son urged me to include it in the final quilt, the poor galloping horse got ousted. In response to my son's objections that the precious footprint block that was selected in favor of the steed "doesn't do anything," I handed him a ruler and told him that they are for measuring. That's what you get when you mother is an  elementary school teacher turned stay-at-home mom. Lest you be misguided into thinking it's all education and no play around here, I must tell you we reached a compromise. The end result is this pillow which my son tells me is his new pillow. Well, all right. I suppose that's fair since he helped.

If you want to make your own, gather up enough of the Summer Ride fabric to extract one horse, a 5" square of any fabric for the back of the horse, a jingle ball or mini rattle (if you so desire), 1/4" - 1/2" cream ribbon, Polyfil, thread, a hand-stitching needle, enough With the Birds fabric to create whatever size pillow you desire and the same amount of fabric for the back of the pillow. I used the Nature Walk print from the same collection. Fold a 2" piece of ribbon in half, and stitch the raw edges down on the right side of the fabric for the back of the horse as shown.

Fold the ribbon back the opposite direction, over the stitches you just made. I used orange ribbon, but any 1/4" - 1/2" wide ribbon will be fine.

Place the Summer Ride (horse) fabric right side together with the fabric for the back of the horse, adjusting the ribbon to be centered on the horse. When the horse is orientated upright, the ribbon piece should be going vertically as shown in the above picture. 

Using a fabric marking pencil or pen, draw a bubble around the horse for stitching. Leave at least 1/4" outside of all edges. Sew on the line using a 1.5 stitch length, leaving a gap large enough for turning and inserting an optional mini rattle or jingle ball. Cut to a 1/4" seam allowance. Notch curves for easier turning. 

Flip the horse right side out. Fill with Polyfil and noise-maker. Hand stitch the opening closed.

Cut the With The Birds and fabric for the back of the pillow to your desired dimension plus 1". Measure across the With the Birds rectangle from corner to corner and subtract four. Cut a piece of cream ribbon this length. Sew the end of the ribbon 2" from the corner of the With the Birds block using a .5 or smaller stitch, with the ribbon protruding off the corner. Fold the ribbon back in the opposite direction and thread it through the ribbon on the back of the horse.

Extend the ribbon diagonally across the pillow. Tuck the end under 2" from the corner and pin.

Fold over the With the Birds fabric to stitch down the other end of the ribbon, as you did with the opposite side.

Lay the With the Birds fabric right sides together with the back of the pillow. Stitch around the edge with a 1/2" seam, leaving a gap for turning. Flip right-sides-out and fill with Polyfil. That is---when you're done playing with it.

Then, hand stitch the opening closed and enjoy.