You know what they say about big pillows...

...they make up for faraway godparents. Or so I hear, anyway.


My dear little goddaughter, who lives a state away with one of my best friends (her mom, obv.), is about to celebrate her #1 birthday. That is big news in baby land, to be sure. And since I can't be there in person, I'm sending the most enormous play pillow to ever walk the earth, in my place.

This pattern was an impulse purchase during a previous Amy Butler pattern spend-a-thon last summer when I was feeling shoppy AND guilty - two states of mind that don't ever belong in the same room together with my credit card. I made one of the patterns right away and wore it right out for a summertime bbq, but this pattern got tucked into my craft binder, so lovingly gifted to me by my good friend Donk, and didn't see the light of day again.

Until last Sunday. When I was suddenly overwhelmed with a stifling wave of guilt for only having a boring savings bond and birthday card to send off for the wee child's birthday.

"I must make something!" I said to no one in particular, and then made for the craft binder with a hungry Fat Rocket in tow.

The rest of the day is pretty much history - it involved a few hours feeling up the cotton prints at the fabric store (while wearing my iPod, I might add. WHY is the music always so bad in there?), about an hour waiting for the five hundred year old woman at the fabric counter to cut my fabric down to size and a good solid afternoon/early evening spent dicing up petals, wrestling with moody Velcro and attempting to tame the circus attraction that my pillow was rapidly becoming.

However ridiculous I might have looked trying to pull this enormous creation through the suddenly miniscule foot of my sewing machine, it was all worth it when it emerged as a Big Nap Pillow that looked as much like the photo on the pattern as I could have hoped. In fact, I'm now vividly aware of how similar mine is to the pattern and am mildly ashamed of my lack of creativity when choosing fabric.

Oh well, what do you want for a handcrafted gift at the 11th hour? See. You know.

With the pillow finished to my satisfaction, the significant job that remained was that of wrapping The Pillow Beast.

Obviously I don't have wrapping paper enough to cover it's acreage. Nor do I have a box the size of a bathtub. I don't even have the unnecessarily large bag from my last trip to Bed Bath and Beyond (Do these people even realize how stupid they look putting two hand towels into a bag big enough for a baby elephant?).

What to do?

Why bust out the craft paper and ALL THE RIBBON, of course. Half a roll of craft paper and a spool of pink gingham later and the Biggest Nap pillow is safely wrapped and ready for shipping. Which, thankfully, I have the help of Bubba to acheive. I can safely say that this is the largest thing I've ever sewn and definitely the most awkward hot air balloon I've ever attempted to wrap.