A work in progress

During lockdown I mucked around with an idea I've toyed with. I have a tartin rug that was my Nana's. It's in a cupboard, occasionally used as a picnic rug. I've wondered if part of it could be used to cover the stools at my kitchen island.

I'm not keen on ties, velcro or sticking the rug to the stool. After much musing I decided that removable covers that slip on like hat would be best. Nice and simple.

There are challenges. The stools have rounded corners and a slight flare from the seat to the floor. And I wasn't sure if the rug would fold and tuck neatly.

Before lockdown I'd researched someone locally with sewing and soft furnishings skills. I visited her a few weeks ago with a stool, my rug and my drawings to talk about what I had in mind.

Very quickly I decided that Rachel has the respect for the rug along with the skills to work out how best to do it.

Today Rachel showed me the pattern she's tried out using similarly sized check fabric. It's just as I hoped, she's nailed the curved corners and slight outward flair of the stool from top to floor.

This test has double the depth of foam padding on the seat. With the eventual finished depth the bottom edge of stool seen here won't be visible.

Rachel now feels confident cutting the rug and I'm sure that this is a better use of Nana's rug than keeping it in a cupboard. When the covers are finished I'll still have a tartin knee rug too as the 3 covers will only use half of the rug.

She's such a talented woman, able to take my idea and brief and work it out first using other fabric. I'm really pleased and can't wait. One of the 3 covers will have a wee quirk too ;-)

I was back to physio late this afternoon. My back has made progress. From being sick we'll load it carefully over the next week or so. I have a new crab walk exercise too. Something for the hallway rather than the driveway methinks. It's not pretty.

Today's gratitude: For starting a chunk of a project at work. I got past my fear about it and started to enjoy the challenge.