Tuesday 10 July 2012

Recent Ta-Dahs


Well I say recent but I think I finished this project well over a month ago. Ah well, never worry, it's just a little overdue but here goes........

A wee while ago I took a notion to work with some fabric and my sewing machine and I did a little patchwork project. After Baby R was born I spent many hours (most of which in the dead of night) feeding him in a wicker chair in our bedroom. The chair was fine as a decoration but after some time spent breastfeeding it in, it was soon realised to be hideously uncomfortable! So we made a decision to get a new chair so that I could nurse in comfort in the wee hours. Having Baby R did strange things to me.. a usually very, VERY indecisive person I knew we needed a chair IMMEDIATELY and within a couple of days (very decisive for me I can assure you) we found and purchased a green velvet chair (this was actually our exact requirements, probably a bit specific but hey we found one!). So why am I telling you this? Well the chair was very comfortable and looked very sweet in our pale green bedroom and fit the bill for quite a few months but as my little Baby R got a bit bigger I realised little spills of milk were being left on the very comfortable and very sweet little chair. So we covered the seat with a baby blanket (just a yellow one that someone had bought for us, you know the kind of thing you get when you don't know your baby's gender in advance) and an old cushion that I made a cover for when I first started to learn to use my sewing machine. To say I wasn't in love with either the blanket or the cushion (which was falling apart at the seams!) would be an understatement and a much more organised and efficient blogger (which I most definitely am not!) would have taken a 'before' picture to help you understand the injustice being done to the very comfortable and very sweet little green velvet chair. So I devised a plan. I bought some fabric squares from Ebay and set about making a patchwork cover for the little chair. I couldn't stop there and I bought some beautiful Tilda fabric called Christmas house (I intend to make some Christmas stockings with this stunning fabric but I'm not entirely sure which year or indeed decade I'll get this done!).  I combined the fabrics and this is the result.
A little close up
I couldn't stop there though. The very comfortable and very sweet little chair needed a new cushion, I was rather ashamed of the existing cushion cover. I didn't want to use up all the lovely Tilda fabric, like I say some day it will be a proud Christmas stocking, but I also didn't have much money to spend on fabric. I did a little blog browsing and general searching for some reasonable cheap fabric and I came across the Ikea Cath Kidston fabric range. A trip to my local Ikea in Belfast paid off, I got 1M of scrummy floral fabric for  roughly £5. Result! 

So I covered the old cushion...
In my crafty drawers I found a little cushion that I had never found a use for and made a little cover for it too...
 I didn't bother with zips, I just did a little envelope at the back as I was under time constraints and I'm very happy with how it turned out
I think the very comfortable and very sweet little chair now looks much better with it's patchwork cover and little cushions. It's protected from milk stains and looks pretty too. 

I felt the very comfortable and very sweet little chair's corner of the room was lacking in the picture department so I had these lovely Rob Ryan cards (I can't tell you how much I love this man's stuff) that I bought for my husband for our 4th Wedding Anniversary (a few weeks before Baby R was born)... 
and for the arrival of our little bundle of Joy.
D always said he liked the cards so much he wanted them framed and hung on the wall. However I only just got around to framing them and mounting them on the wall when the chair was sorted. Am I lazy or a procrastinator or just extremely pushed for time?! I'll let you decide! 
♥ I'm really happy with the look of this corner of our room now and so happy to have been able to play with fabric and my sewing machine. Little amuses the innocent they say! ♥ 






3 comments:

  1. Your patchwork throw is fabulous, Helen! Absolutely to die for! I love those fabrics! And the cushions too - just gorgeous. It's always a happy turn of events when one can revamp something that's looking a little worse for wear with a bit of homemade creativity. And of course presumably even if there is the odd milk spill on your lovely throw - perish the thought but you know how these things go! - you can just wash it! All good! And very pretty indeed! Well done you! E x

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  2. dear helen,
    wow ......your patchwork throw is amazing.......love the fabric,too.
    and the cushion is wonderful,great job!!!
    wish you a nice day,
    love regina

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  3. I do love your choice of fabrics for this quilt, just gorgeous and a job well done. I have done very little patchwork in my life and I don't seem to be the best on a sewing machine so I appreciate how much work went into it.
    xx Sandi

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