Sew Saturday: X-stitch upcycle

I've been holding onto these x-stitches I was gifted for about four years. They are lovely...and I knew I wanted to make pillows out of them...but they were glued fast to their embroidery hoops...

So, step one was carefully prying them off the hoop...and then trimming the glue edge and ironing them flat.  I say carefully because I didn't want to stretch the aida...or ruin the stitching.

After sewing right sides together and flipping inside out...I had a minion stuff them...

Then, I hand sewed them shut! Pretty pretty...I have about five more...and plan to put them all in a row on my bed!  I may use fabric around the front to make a few a bit larger.

I look for x-stitch to rescue from thrift stores. After spending so much time stitching myself...it makes me sad to see great work "thrown" away...Happy up-cycling.