Sewing some comfort..........

This past weekend, I took some time to sew something totally not related to quilting. It all started when I made curtains for the window in our basement family room. I found the fabric for those curtains in a box of decorator fabrics that I've bought the last few years. The curtain is a nice deep russet color and looks great in the window. It was not photo-worthy. :-) However, also in the box was a pretty floral remnant that I remembered buying a few years ago. I just had to use it for something but it didn't go with anything in any room of our house. And then I thought...........why not use it for a cushion for my front porch chair? And so I did and here it is..........complete with a little tabletopper made from the leftover scraps.

My husband tested the chair on Sunday afternoon and gave it the "seat of approval". :-)  Then yesterday, I tested it when I took my lunch out to the front porch and enjoyed the view. It was a bit windy but the view was lovely. Take a look...........

We have had a lot of rain lately but on Monday the sun was out all day and the clouds were beautiful.  Perfect summer day!
Just in case you have a plastic or a wooden lawn chair that you'd like to make a cushion for, here's how I started..........I took newspaper to the chair and placed it there, marked with a large marker the approximate shape of the back and the seat of the chair. Then I center those pieces over the larger floral design and cut them out.

I backed the cushion with a solid deep red fabric. Front and back pieces and the seat sections each got a piece of batting secured to them (I used quilt basting spray). Then I added the piping around the edge of each piece. I cut a two inch strip of fabric that became the sides and top. When the top was sewn together and the seat, too, I inserted a piece of one inch thick foam that I had cut to the shape of the initial paper pattern. It was interesting getting that foam placed just right. I had to trim the foam a bit but when I had it just right, I sewed the two sections together with one machine seam along the floral side and then I handstitched the back side closure. Amazingly, it all worked out, just as I could see it in my mind. I started the cushion on Saturday afternoon and finished it later Sunday afternoon.  I didn't spend all that time sewing because, I'll be honest.......I took numerous breaks. :-)  Granted, this was a bit of work for just a front porch chair but I wanted something lovely where I could sit and enjoy my lunch or read a book. Life has been just a wee bit crazy lately and I needed a place to sit and relax, a place where I can "think straight".   I made the little table topper on Sunday evening. There's a tie on it that secures it to the table. In the wind we had yesterday, it would have been gone had I not done that. I really enjoyed sitting in that comfy chair and enjoying my lunch. Oh, and the chair has a story. It was a birthday gift from my husband in 2004. Sometimes he misses birthdays but that year, he remembered that I wanted a chair for our small deck on our old house. He bought the chair and put it out on the deck before I got up on my birthday. I remember I went out to walk the dog that morning and almost didn't realize the chair was there. LOL! 

I really enjoyed making the chair cushion and wanted to do it for another reason than just comfort. I have a couple of chairs that I want to upholster and I needed to refresh my skills. It's been many years since I did any upholstery. I'm ready now but before I do the chairs, my next non-quilty project is making drapes for our upstairs bedroom. That project begins on Wednesday because today being Tuesday..........it's time for Tuesday Crazies. That's right, my crazy quilting friends will be here at 11:00 a.m. and we will enjoy some lunch and then stitch and chat away the afternoon. It's been a long time, since last fall I think, that we were all together to stitch. I'll have pictures to share, I'm sure........

Sandi