Monday, February 28, 2011

Jon never thought I would finish...




Jon is a professional at finding inexpensive chairs. We picked this one up for half off ($25!) because of a flaw that you can't see in the wood under the cushion. The cushions themselves were in decent shape, but ugly. I had a bunch of upholstery weight yardage from a project that I changed my mind about, so I decided to make some new covers. I tore the old ones apart and used them as patterns, and recycled the zippers and cording to make the piping. I got to try out a new technique, which was making one continuous bias strip out of a square instead of cutting and connecting individual ones, which is tedious and also uses up fabric inefficiently. I figured there had to be a better way--and of course there was.  (link is a pdf file) I know that further discussion of this topic will be boring for most of you, just know that it was a bit magical and I will excitedly talk about bias strips to those who are interested. It all turned out pretty well, especially the zippers. Zippers and I are enemies and these went in perfectly on the first try, a rarity for me. I hosted book club last week, so luckily I had a deadline, as Theo got croup and progress was slow. I was also motivated by Theo constantly trying to eat the polyester batting wrapped around the foam cushions.

Speaking of Theo eating, we (I) have given up on baby food. (Thanks to Grace for the baby led weaning tip.) He ate a whole asparagus spear recently so things are looking up! I have to say watching him trying to eat something is a lot more fun than aimlessly waving a spoon in his face. I am a little sad not to use my baby food book with its amazing looking recipes, but I have to get over myself a little bit and give up my desire to make baby peas with mint.

And what of baby Theo? Here he is on a walk last week, fully unappreciative of nature as he sleeps away in his bear suit.

8 comments:

Tyler said...

Looks awesome! Love it!

vanessa said...

ah, i dream of the days where i can sew zippers and cording. oh wait, i mean sew at all... can't wait to pick your brain after i take my class. the chair looks great!

kenzie said...

you've motivated me to get my cushions done. great job! I am a little petrified of zippers.

linds said...

that looks amazing! zipper sewing...that is craziness! now can you teach me?

Leslie said...

beautiful cushions and what a beautiful walk.

Lorrie said...

The cushions are amazing. Theo is even more amazing!

Can't you still make peas with mint? Noah ate a pea just last night!

jennifer hall said...

Do you think you could redo my couch and 2 wing back chairs for our living room! I will even fly you out and watch Theo while you work your magic--you are an amazing daughter and so talented--lucky Jonathan & Theo!
Love you all and miss you terribly!

Erin + Geoff said...

so glad that you found me in the blogging world! I just spent the last 30 mins checking out your amazing life! Theo is so great.. I'm excited to keep in touch with you through our blogs!