Sans sommeil - Without sleep

It's amazing what a good nights sleep can do for your exhausted being. I am saying this only from past memories and not from the life that I am currently existing in. A deep, uninterrupted, full 8 (I will even take seven) hour sleep, where you wake up without a screaming alarm or a small child inches away from your face asking for water from the cup beside his bed that he himself put there at the beginning of the night - but for some reason you are the only person who can lift it to his mouth to assist in the quenching of thirst. See, as I am typing this, I have a happily twitching, snoring husband adventuring through the windy avenues of dreamland beside me, a teething kid with a belly full of food having his own misguided magic play dates across the hall, and me...unable to even get relaxed enough to R.E.M for even a snippet of a sleep. At night I make a plan of attack, I write lists in my head to transcribe in the a.m, I analyse the week just past and recount tactless moments that slipped under my minds radar, I think about what I am going to make for dinner the next day and if we will have enough leftovers to fill us for another serving (we will...don't worry). I do everything at night but sleep.   

So, you might be wondering how I am going to segue my rambles about sleep into a blog about a craft project...I cut up a blanket to make pillows. Pretty clear transition.

Basically, I went into an Army surplus store and bought an old French Military blanket, cut it into the sizes of  pillows I wanted (I found pillows super cheap and they had sizes written on them - handy). 

*Health Service Army

When you are measuring you need to have enough material to cover both sides plus a flap (it will be stitched on the sides so it isn't just flapping around - like an envelope but with the corners stuck down) that covers about half or 3/4 of the back or front - depending on how you want your pillow to look. 

This is a really easy sew if you use one long piece of material - two sides to be sewn - easy. One thing to remember when sewing this up is to have your flap part against your finished side - you are sewing this inside out just like you would anything else. But really, it's only a few stitches to remove if you do accidentally get a bit backwards. Sometimes it's nice to add some buttons to hold the flappy bit closed, and you could totally use this as detailing make the flap side the front.