A new sofa cushion cover

The sofa on the screened porch finally has a proper foam cushion and that cushion now has a cover.  Using a combination of a sale and a great coupon, I was able to get the foam for about half price--a huge help.  I found some decorator fabric at Hancock's that was a very close match to the pillows I'd already made, so I was ready to go.

With the fabric doubled and wrong sides out, I drew around the foam for the top and bottom pieces.

The side piece was cut and seamed so that it is like a ring.  I needed continuous bias binding and cording for top and bottom edges.  The Quilter's Strip Ticket provided the correct large square size.  Above, the square is now resewn and ready to be cut into a strip.

Cording goes into the bias binding and is then pinned to the edges of both the top and bottom pieces.

Using a zipper foot on the machine, piping is sewn to the edges of both the top and bottom pieces. All corners are rounded making application of the continuous piping easier.

Next, the side piece is pinned to the top piece over the piping.

Here's the top piece with the side piece attached to it all the way around.

Then the bottom piece and the side are sewn together, leaving the back open to insert the foam.

The foam is inserted into the cover and pinned closed.

Back seam is hand stitched closed.  All finished.

Dan was lucky enough to get to meet little Demos last week and took an iPhone picture of him and his lovely mommy with his new quilt.

Have sewing machine. Will travel.

The weather was so lovely, that I couldn't think of going in the house to sew on the binding.  Since I needed to use the portable Viking with its walking foot, I decided to move it out to the screened porch.  The binding is sewn on the front by machine and now I can sit on the porch to bring it around to the back, pin it, and sew it down by hand.  Henry's quilts will be in the mail to him by the weekend.

May Day 2011

It's been one of those incredibly beautiful weekends, so I had to get out and work in the yard and clean the porch off.  Hopefully, the pine pollen has peaked, but if not, I can always run the vacuum again.  I planted herbs, cleaned off the Adirondack chair and got a beautiful hanging basket of geraniums for this great little spot outside the porch.

All the furniture got washed down with Murphy's Oil Soap, as did the fan blades,  and I swept and swept to get up leaves, pollen, and winter dirt and dust that gets through the screens.  Finally, the porch is all put back together and ready for sittin'. We're having dinner out here tonight.

Happy May Day to you all.

World Workers, whatever may bind ye,
    This day let your work be undone:
Cast the clouds of the winter behind ye,
     And come forth and be glad in the sun.
                               ~from "The Worker's Maypole" by Walter Crane (1894)

Friday Mixed Bag

I am so pleased with the new siding.  It makes the porch so much lighter looking.  I've been taking pictures every day whilst the work has continued, so I'll do a before and after post soon.

The battery is dead in my old camera, so I had to switch to the new Nikon.  I'm still not thrilled with the focus, but I'll keep working with it.  Quilting continues on Anna and Matty's quilt.

Dan shot film at the wedding--both color and black and white.  I love this one of Anna and Matty's first dance.

New rug for the screened porch

I have waxed rhapsodic about my lovely screened porch on other occasions, (and here and here), but I wanted to show off my new rug today. I spent Saturday wiping pollen off all the furniture and surfaces, scrubbing the floor, and getting rid of the spider webs. The new rug, which is much bigger than the old one, allowed me to expand the conversation area. It's also a rug that can be sprayed with the hose.

Hopefully, we will be spending lots of time out here during the wedding festivities. I'm putting in an order for lots of fine days with low humidity.