Finishing more than stitching

Somehow during the New Year I think I lost my stitching Mojo....don't know exactly why. It might be because my Dad's health is failing and I am spending more time at their house, or if it's just a phase. But I did have a deadline to get a birthday present done (which I presented in the last entry). Now my problem was "finishing" it. Both my Mom and my MIL can sew. I asked both of them if they would make my butterflies into a pillow. Both were too scared to ruin my stitching......hmmmm, what's a girl to do? Well I guess you bite the bullet and try something new. So since we had a blizzard, I used my "snow day" to try my hand at a pillow. Here is a photo, but I have a whole album on Multiply where you can see what I did step by step. It's really easier than it appears and I am very pleased with the outcome.
Then I have had another piece of finished work (Stephanie's) that she gave me almost a year ago and wanted me to do "something" with it. I've been carrying it around with me trying to find a coordinating material and trims. Well I think I finally came up with a good combo. That color of linen was REALLY hard to match, not beige, kinda green, also grayish....or in other words a nightmare! There is also an album to show all the sides to this no sew cube.
Here is a photo of Amberlyn at our local ice festival a couple weeks ago. They had this big St. Bernard that she got to pet. He was as big (or bigger ) than she was! She is now 20 months old!