Half the Earth

Have you seen these pillows on Etsy? They make it to the front page quite often, and they always catch my attention. I thought these were super cool because i LOVE where I live. Plus I think the shape of California is kind of iconic... it's a symbol of sunshine and laid-back-ness.

I've had this picture in my mind for awhile. I wanted to incorporate my home state of California with my boyfriend's home country of South Africa.

I've always thought it was kind of fateful that we came from opposite sides of the Earth and we somehow found each other and fell in love. I don't think I believe in fate, but I'm thankful for the happy coincidence that we were in the same place at the same time.

I looked it up, and the distance between us for most of our lives was something like 10,870 miles. But not anymore.

I made up this pillow to remind us of where we came from and how wonderful it is that we are together now.

 Here is a brief rundown of the steps I used to make my new favorite pillow:

1. Print map images from Google to trace onto fusible web.

2. Cut out appliques and iron to front of pillow. I used this tutorial for the applique.

3. Stitch around the edges. I hand-stitched the hearts to make them look more homemade.

4. Insert pillow form. I made a simple envelope pillowcase. Here is a great tutorial for that.

So that's my pillow and my love story. 

It was very simple to make, and I hope some of you will try it. You could use two hearts in the same state, or country or continent. It would make a great Valentine's day gift for your sweetie, or give it to someone you know who traveled far away for love.

I'm entering in the Bloggers Pillow Party! See the rest of the entries here!

ETA: These photos are not the best quality. My camera is broken so I have been using my Blackberry. I did what I could with Picnik, but please know that I am capable of better photography. Try not to cringe :)