WW2 Military blanket pillows

The picture above is of my great grandparents Cleveland and Ethel Smith. This picture was taken during World War II.  This is them today:

It amazes me to think of how much history they have witnessed with their own eyes.... how much have they seen the world change in their lifetimes...

I am a very sentimental person by nature and I love to preserve memories. (Scrap booking is one my absolute favorite things to do!) So when I saw some pillows made from a World War II Italian military blanket in a magazine, I knew I had to copy it!

My husband Nick's grandfather, Ray Mofley, (pictured below) was a Marine in World War II. He passed away when Nick was 16. They were very close and Nick still talks about him often.

I knew we had stacks of Grandpa Mofley's military blankets in a box in the attic. What a perfect way to show off our history- rather than letting it collect dust in storage! So... my project began:

I had some old throw pillows that I was tired of and just about ready to sell in a garage sale- so I re-covered them!

I measured each pillow seam to seam, then added a 1/2 inch allowance on each side. I stitched 3 sides together, then about a third of the final side and flipped them right side out. (I left enough open to stuff the pillow into it.) Then I finished off the bottom  with the pillow in it, by doing a blind stitch by hand. And: walah! (Is that how you spell that??, oh well :)

Nick is so proud of these pillows, because each time he passes by them in the house, he gets to see a little piece of his grandfather.

One of my favorite craft ideas- ever! :)