As many of you know, I’m addicted to hiking.
Fresh, crisp mountain air, burning thighs, cool animals and plants, the views…I can’t get enough.
After Half Dome, I started collecting patches from the locations/national parks where I’ve hiked. I guess I’ll just have to return to the places I hiked prior to that, drat 😉
For months, I’d been trying to find a neat way to showcase the patches. I wanted something that could readily remind me of the great memories and keep my love affair with hiking strong since living in North Texas isn’t very scenic…hopefully grad school or a job will take me to a more hiking-friendly location one day haha 😀 I had them hot glued on my hiking backpack for awhile, but they started falling off, and I didn’t want to risk losing them. I would’ve sewn them on, but the patches proved to be impenetrable to a needle. I also considered framing them in a shadowbox, but it just seemed “meh” to me.
Introducing…
The patch pillow!!
What You’ll Need:
- Needle and thread (or sewing machine if you’re high-tech like that)
- Pillow
- Fabric (unless you like the pillow how it is)
- Patches
- Hot glue gun
Instructions:
- Cut some fabric to fit your pillow and flip it inside out so the seams won’t show.
- With a needle and thread, stitch closed 3 of the sides of the fabric, leaving about half of the fourth side open. You could bypass the whole needle and thread aspect if you have a sewing machine.
- Flip fabric inside out (so the pattern is on the outside and your stitches are on the inside) and stuff the pillow into the hole you left.
- Once pillow is inside the fabric, sew the rest of the fourth side and tie a good knot at the end.
- Fire up your hot glue gun and arrange your patches to your heart’s desire!
The pillow now resides on my bed and each night, I look at the patches, reflecting on the fun memories and hoping to dream of the adventures each patch represents! 🙂
The Globetrotting Guppy 