Quilts & pillows for my boys

Last Christmas I made quilts and pillows  for my boys.  We had gotten them bunk beds earlier in the year and painted their room the color of their choice so I thought they needed some matching bedding.  I usually like Pottery Barn stuff so I got some ideas from this set.  I also had some really cute fabric from Joanne's with a Route 66 theme and since my boys love the Cars movies and anything related to cars, I thought I could incorporate that into their decor.  To top it all off, my Mom had an embroidery pattern for classic cars that fit right in with the fabric.  So I put it all together and got this:

I mixed in about 4 or 5 of the embroidered cars.  My boys thought they were really cool!  I got the pattern from Hobby Lobby.

Then I used the Route 66 fabric for the extra pillow.  I didn't get the second pillow done in time for Christmas so I told them I would finish the second soon.  Well...I just finished them this week.  I know, pretty pathetic.  But at least I finished them before this Christmas!  

My Mom taught me how to make pillows by covering piping with fabric and sewing it around the edges of the pillow.  It's really pretty simple and there are a million tutorials online about how to do it, like this one, so I won't go into much detail.  I also knew that I would need to wash the pillowcase every now and then so I used a pillow form and made the outside like a pillowcase with an envelope back.  The two pieces connect with velcro.

When they opened the boxes on Christmas morning they were so excited!!  It kind of surprised me.  But I love sewing for my boys when they like it so much!