Making a Quilted Pillow and Cloth Gift Bag

The San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild  had a holiday gathering and, for those who wished to participate, a "pillow exchange".  I haven't made a pillow for ages so I was looking forward to it.  I should have stepped this out from the beginning, so forgive me for not thinking ahead.
I had a pieced top that I wasn't sure what to do with (it was an experiment) so I decided to quilt it to use for the pillow.  Rather than putting a backing on it, I decided to quilt the top using only a low-loft batting.  My thinking was that it would be softer and more pliable this way.
After quilting the top, I measured it for the pillow form and cut the length I needed.  Because I planned to fold one edge over, envelope-style, I took this into account.  I fussy-cut the exposed end and satin-stitched the exposed edge. The inside edge was folded over just enough to hide the edge, then stitched into place before the sides were sewn together.
Once I determined the needed length to accommodate the pillow size I folded the right sides together and pinned.  Before stitching, I finished the opening edges.  Once the sides were stitched together I trimmed the corners closely, then turned it right side out.

Just turned right-side out.  You can see that I created a "flap" for the finished edge.

The buttonholes are asymmetrical, and I had to custom create the holes because of the huge

diameter of the buttons!  

I like the wavy, lacy effect of the double satin-stitched edge.  I decided to 

do two layers of the satin stitch so it was nice and thick.

Back

Detail of button and flap

Inside of flap

I created a cloth "bag" which is actually another pillow cover!

A sale tag, which I had previously monoprinted and inked

I used double-sided tape to stick one of my MOO cards on the reverse side of the sale tag.

I like this card:  it is a detail of a collaborative acrylic painting

The pillow is "wrapped", then tied with a length of sari silk yarn.

Hint:  this is a fun and easy way to utilize a few "UFO"s you might have laying around.  I had such a good time making this I think I will make a few more!