Mario Pillow

For W's redone room, I found this tutorial online just a few days before I needed it to be finished!  I love the idea and how they made an entire quilt, but I had hours to work with, not whole days.  I decided to use fleece and just make one Mario for a pillow.  (Note to self and anyone who cares...  Next time, use fleece that is all the same weight.  The various thicknesses did not help the squares line up.)
First, I had to cut out 272 2-inch squares.  I love my rotary cutter.

I then, used the grid in the tutorial to get each row stacked in order.  This helps speed up the sewing, but don't forget to double check when doing the actual sewing.

Then, after sewing a few rows, I would sew the rows together.  This really makes it look like something that might actually be finished before his birthday!  Here is how it all went together.  I took a picture about every 12-18 hours.  I just did it a bit here and there since I was home with sick toddlers for most of it.

 Then, I added a border all around Mario, so that he would not lose any body parts on the pillow edges and look weird.

 I cut a piece of fabric for the backing.  This is where I should have used pins, but time was running out.  I sewed them together, rights sides together, leaving a hole for turning right side out.  Trimmed the corners, turned it right sides out, stuffed it with 3 bags of stuffing, and hand sewed the opening shut!

 Add finished pillow to what I now know if called "Video Game HQ."

I will probably revisit this tutorial to make him a quilt, but that will just have to wait.  I can only handle so many tiny squares in one week.

W's Birthday Surprise

Yes, I actually had a Saturday with no children in my home.  D and M are with their dad, and W had gone on a scout camping trip.  So, as planned, my mom and I spent the day destroying redecorating W's room for his birthday.  I had already ordered and received a blanket and wall stickers online.  I found this awesome tutorial and used it to make a huge pillow that was finished on this morning (More on that later).  The new bed was put together, and the room cleaned from top to bottom.  And now..... W's room.
The view from the door....  (And yes, I know that there is a lack of curtain on the window.  I can really only do so much with him only being gone for 27 hours.)

Mario wall...

The new bed... (The slide is fun.)

 W's Halloween picture is hanging over the bed, and I found the little Mario stickers at Target!

The video game cave is under the bed.  The giant bowl of stuff is for him to put away.  I don't want to mess up any of the game stuff.  The stickers under the bed came from IKEA.

And, a better shot of his pillow.  I will post more about making it later!

It is still not close to everyone's view of a perfect kids bedroom, but I think he will love it!  I will try to get some reaction pictures when he sees it!