Pushin' For A Cushion

Well, I just finished a custom made bench cushion for my oldest daughter. Oh, I had the usual fun of planning a sewing project for a family member. I loved looking for the fabric all the while matching it to the newspaper ad of tomato soup. While I was visiting her in Columbus, OH, she gave me an ad of tomato soup in a nice off white bowl and said, “There, those are exactly the colors I am looking for!“ After I got off the plane back in Fargo, I went right to Joann Fabrics, still clutching that newspaper clipping and holding it up against all the fabrics. There they were! They jumped right out at me! I got so excited and as usual, I had to tell all the strangers waiting to buy fabric about my find. They all agreed…it matched the soup or they were being polite to an overly excited woman.

First of all, I made the piping myself and it turned out so nice that it was pure pleasure to work with. I measured twice, cut once and was happy with it. That is always a scary thing. OK...I asked myself, why is this turning out so well? What is in store for me?

The piping also went on very well. I loved it and I loved the colors. I had not been sure of them but once I got used to the color and not the idea of eating soup it was OK. I continued on and put on the side of the pad to make the box-like cushion it was intended to become. Oh, the excitement was building. You have no idea how much I love to sew!

OK...sewed on both sides and then turned it inside out to see how wonderful the piping was. OH, MY. It was lovely. And then…what the hell? I had put the side piece on with the seams to the outside!! Oh, there was no way I was going to tear all that out. I decided to just take out the bad seams and fix them. OH...#$%^$&^#$% ...I am OK now…deep breath…it worked....whew....



Now, on to putting in the foam piece! Have you EVER tried to stuff 6 feet of green rubber foam into a very form fitting casing? It was like wrestling an old alligator without teeth. It was soft enough, safe enough, but by gosh that thing wanted to fight me for all it was worth.

I had left a large enough opening on the side to push it there, or so I thought. I would put in one end and then it just wouldn’t move so I had to actually shimmy it on there. Kinda like putting a size small panty hose on a queen size woman. I know this from experience...and it is not pretty.

OK…got it shimmied on but then the other end had to also go through that same opening, all the while the other piece was still sticking out. Another round of wrestling. I yelled downstairs to hubby, “Hey, you might have to help me with this”. He yelled up to me, “What are you doing?” He could hear me huffing and puffing through the floor grate of this old house and I am sure he felt pieces of green foam raining down on him but he is smart...he plays dumb...so he probably thought it was best to just keep his distance. I yelled back, “I am trying to stick a 50 pound 'gater into a 5 pound bag.” All I heard was silence. He knows after 30 years that it is best to just let me have fun with my hobbies and experiments no matter what kind of noises come out of me or what is raining down that floor grate. He did just that and I do know he would have helped if I had “specifically” asked. He does well with directions but I have to outline them for him. By that time I would have it done, sat on it and probably had time to replace it!
Anyway, by the time I got done I was actually sweating. Now THAT was hard work because it’s dumping freezing rain outside…I should NOT be sweating...no one should be sweating.

I finally got that thing wrestled in there and finally got it sewed up. It ain’t goin’ nowhere! Oh, I hope it looks nicer when it is tied to her beautiful bench.

I do hope my daughter loves it. If she doesn’t, I may have to take up “gator” wrestling instead because after this...I have the experience!