Recent Project

I have a To-Do List this summer.

(Did you notice the capital letters?  That means it is important to me and I REALLY intend to get those things on that List done!  See...capital letter again.)

The first thing on the list has been for me to recoup from the sinus/ear infection and rest up.  I know I am getting really old to lead a fast-paced life, but, still, this school-year really sapped my energy.

One of the things on my list was to spruce up the sofa on our back porch.  The cushions were originally bought as a make-do sort of fix.  You see, this sofa frame is one of those things which belonged to some dead relative of Mike's.  So, even if we didn't like it and even if it didn't sit well and even if it was hideous and horrible, we would have to keep it because SOMEBODY is very sentimental and leans toward being a hoarder.  And the good news is that the sofa is not any of those things - well, except it did belong to the dead relative and Mike inherited it.  It is really a comfortable sitter and I like it and it is nice and wonderful.  Only...

It didn't have any cushions when I first met it.  It was just a bare, sad, lonely frame crying out for some cushy goodness.

So, I went to places like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Trees-N-Trends, Lowe's, and Home Depot looking for cushions for that bare, sad, lonely, crying out for some cushy goodness sofa frame.  I had in mind something Martha-ish.  (Now that she is out of the Big House she is in almost every store imaginable, isn't she?)  The least expensive thing I could find was about $100 for one set of cushions...and it would need three cushions...and even then those cushions would not fit precisely...and I could buy a whole new sofa, cushions, and companion chair for about $400.

***Sigh***

So, I tried to figure out a way to make-do.  I stumbled upon a sale and bought several chair seat cushions.  I think I got about eight of them for less than $40.  We made that work for a while but, honestly, nobody wanted to sit there because those loose cushions just kept falling over and tumbling around and attacking whoever was sitting on it and it just wasn't very comfortable.  So, I wound up giving the cushions to my daughter, Bridgette, who turned them into something wonderful at her house on a Craft Day.  So, it was back to the drawing board for me and our sofa.

First, I thought I would just buy a couple of long foam cushions and cover them.  Then, I remembered my Bay Window Seat project.  The one piece of foam for that was about $100.  Then, there would be fabric.  Then, there would be sewing.  Then, there would be wrestling the alligator-like piece of foam into the cover.  And...I decided buying the pre-made cushions might be a better option.  So, I began pinching my pennies and planning my budget to include this luxury...

Then, one day while I was at Old Time Pottery looking for an outdoor umbrella after a spring storm had destroyed ours and... there was my solution... a chaise cushion.  It was exactly the correct length and the price was only about $25!  Deal!  I decided that these were a bit thin and wrangled three of them into my cart - two for the sitter and one for the back.  I chose this cute, snappy, red, geometric print that looked so cheerful and I thought it would provide a wonderful contrast to our green and white house.  Then, when SOMEBODY came home from work, the cute, snappy, red, geometric print that looked so cheerful and contrasty to me...did not look so to SOMEBODY.  So, I was back to the store with that set in a couple of days and got a bright-but-conventional-striped set of cushions that my daughter-in-law, Jessica, helped me select.

Those have served us well but the stripey colors were looking rather tired, sad, and faded. Plus, they had been subject to abuse from the cats and Scientific Trials.

So...I began looking for something to update them last fall when there was a wonderful sale on outdoor fabrics at Sir's Fabrics.  The table with odd pieces of outdoor fabric was labeled $4.99 per yard.  Deal!

I found a print that is all scrolly and geometric and modern and traditional all at the same time.  The colors are black, cream, and an olivey-hunter green.  It is perfect to coordinate with everything out there.  Plus, it is fresh and up-to-date.  If you don't believe me about this being something that is new and fresh, just look at THIS PIN of mine on one of my Pinterest Boards.

So, last week I set to it and stitched up some simple covers.

I'm not sure if I like the looseness of the fit of the covers and I may go back and do a bit more stitching to make them fit more crisply and snugly.  For now, though, I like the freshness and trendiness and cushy comfort of the sofa on the porch!

Plus, the bonus is, I have about a yard left and, when I can think of what I want to do with it, I will have a whole new project for free.  Deal!