Burlap Virgin No More!

Until I started stalking craft blogs I had no idea how cool burlap was.  Even after I started reading them obsessively, even after I started my own, I resisted the burlap trend.  I don’t know why, now…
No more!
Recently, I bought myself some burlap. And oh, the things I’ve used it for…

This gorgeous lamp shade – the project that started them all!  I bought just one yard – planning to cover this shade – and the leftovers have made ALL the other projects!

The “FALL” banner that’s so very popular right now!

Lined this cute tray

And finally…this ADORABLE pillow with a Burlap center. Originally I was going to monogram it, then this bit of typography popped into my head. Divine inspiration, I’m SURE!

Here’s the step-by-step for it – because it was SO tough! ;)

I used white quilters cotton for the base.  Sewed a square, leaving a 3 inch gap on one side open.

Then I turned it inside out, trimmed my burlap to the size I wanted it, and top stitched it on with brown thread.
Like I said, I had planned to put a monogram on this pillow, but as I sat down at my computer to find a font I liked, the ampersand popped into my head. I’m surprised this is my first punctuation project. As a former English major and wannabe writer, punctuation is one of my favorite things!
Anyway, I chose an ampersand. Printed it, cut it out and used it as a stencil with dark brown craft paint.

LOVE the way it turned out. I’m thinking about making a few more….an exclamation point, a question mark, even quotation marks would be darling, don’t you think?

So pretty on the bed!