Thursday, November 02, 2017

Day of the Not-Dead-Yet

Hola, all my little sugar skulls! Did you all have a lovely Halloween/Samhain? We did - even if we didn’t get very many trick-or-treaters though the weather was lovely, dry and relatively warm. We left home early anyway to go watch the neighbourhood fireworks at the little park near us aptly numbed Grimmett. It was delightful seeing all the folks hanging out together wearing costumes, carrying sparklers and balloons that were lit from inside with rainbow morphing colours, and chatting up a storm. I love neighbourly participation events like this. We even ran into some people I used to babysit 30 years or more ago! So sweet they still remember good times at my house. Awww...

Today of course is All Souls Day, aka my birthday. Some people have it right and celebrate with food and flowers, candles and skeletons, and a party in the graveyard. Instead I had a lovely day with my friends, ate potluck lunch and knitted. Perfect way to spend any day, no?

Bet you want to see my birthday present from Thom:



That’s a wee little office stool to replace my antique clunky stupid chair that falls apart every other time I sit down. This sleek beast zips back and forth from my sewing machine to my serger and slips right under the table out of the way when I don’t need it. Why didn’t I get one of these a decade or two ago? I love it. It’s soft. It goes up to the exact right height for me. I just have to be careful to actually get my behind right over it before I sit down so it doesn’t scoot out from under me. After one day, I’m already getting used to its moves and zooming all over the place. Yay.

So what was I making, you might ask? I was repairing and pimping out my living room chair. First a little history. This chair has been in my family since my parents got it as a wedding present in the 1940’s. It originally had a dark dusty rose jacquard fabric on it. I took it with me when I got married and we eventually had it repaired, reupholstered. I still love the green cotton voided velveteen fabric but it’s been developing some serious holes. The original upholsterer luckily had given me the fabric scraps left over after the job and after some serious excavation in the attic finally found them. First I added some more padding under the holes, stitched the edges of the fabric together as best I could with upholstery thread and then stitched patches on top:




You might notice I didn’t pay much attention to the direction of nap! Otherwise it hadn’t really faded all that much and the difference is just the way the light hits it. After that I still had some big pieces so I made a thin cushion and a bolster for my lower back:



I used a matching scrap of polyester suiting fabric for the back of the pillow and the ends of the bolster. The red piping was somewhat of a PITA since I’m not at all experienced in either making or applying same but I think it gives it a bit of a kick. And the colour matches the drapes. I was worried that the thin batting would shift around in the pillow so I added some yarn ties through all the layers like a tied quilt. Now I’m super comfy while watching TV and knitting on my 70+ year old chair. It’s nice to fix up something that’s actually older than I am. Ahem...

For my scenic photo today, here’s a view of Burnaby Lake looking towards Vancouver’s skyline. We had a really nice walk in the sunshine on Halloween after picking up my new stool. Chatted with the ducks and redwing blackbirds, ogled the spawning salmon below the dam and checked out the sandy nesting ground for the western painted turtles.



8 comments:

Sue @ A Colourful Canvas said...

Happy Birthday Louisa. Your day sounds perfect!

Funny...I recently bought a similar wheeled chair. Makes a world of difference, that I know!

one small stitch said...

Happy Birthday, Louisa. Your recovered chair looks like it will last many more years - as long as we do!

Sharon in Surrey said...

Happy Birthday Ole Bean!! I love that little stool!!! I could use one in my kitchen so I can sit down & SEE into all my lower cupboards & find stuff that I haven't been able to get to since I wrecked my damn knee. And there's nothing like the satisfaction of enjoying an old chair that fits your body completely.

Louisa said...

Thanks for the lovely birthday wishes! I might be getting older but there are a few compensations. Like dear friends far and near. Love yas!

Vancouver Barbara said...

Happy Birthday Louisa! Sounds like you had a lovely day.

pao said...

Happy Birthday, bay-bee. Is there anything you can't do?!

Louisa said...

There’s quite a few things I can’t do, dear pao! Run marathons, paddle a kayak, drive a car...

Melanie said...

Happy Birthday, Louisa!
Best gift, the gift of comfort and zooming across a floor.
Your chair fix looks perfect to me, and I love the red piping. It does add some zing. I'm sitting on a chair that needs a little TLC. I've been working up to a fix for a year now....
Glad you had a great Halloween/Samhain. The neighbourhood get-together sounds wonderful.