On the Last Day of Summer

Gaura Flowers

On its official last day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, Summer decided to make itself felt before leaving!  We went up to 98F, today!  I, of course, loved it! 

I had a phone call from neighbor T's daughter K, this morning.  Yesterday, T was having one of those mornings where everything was going wrong and finding her phone (landline) was not working when she was trying to call her daughter was just too much!  (Our area was having an internet and phone service outage yesterday morning.)  My daughter heard her shouting and calling my name and we rushed out to see what was wrong.  T wanted us to call K.  Fortunately, although our internet was out, our phone was working (I had switched over to a fiber optics cable for my landline, several years ago).  I called K and T was able to speak with her.  Later in the evening, T called to thank me and my daughter for coming to her aid, saying we had been a blessing.  I told her I was glad we could have helped her.  This morning, K called to thank me.  She said her mother did have a cell phone, but, was not accustomed to using it.  I also told K that I had replaced my old landline with a fiber optics cable and it seems to work during phone service outages and suggested having her mother's landline replaced.  K said she will look into it.  In the meantime, she is calling her mother on the cell phone to familiarize her with using it.  

Afterwards, I brought in the trash cans and watered the front garden.

There was another short internet outage in the afternoon, but, service was restored in a little while. 

Today's project was to restore one of the sofa cushions.  The family room sofas have three cushions as seats and three cushions along the back on which to lean.  The cushions have an inner cover made from a woven material that isn't cloth (don't really know what it is called, but it almost looks like a type of paper) and have white denim slip covers.  I took the slip covers off and washed them over the weekend.  That's when I noticed this:

Torn Inner Cover

The inner cover of one of the cushions had torn and the filling was falling out!  I tried to sew the cover back together, but, it was rather worn and continued to tear!  What was needed was a new inner cover!  I didn't want to use my new white fabric (reserved for projects like patchwork and pillowcases), so used some bigger pieces of scrap fabric that I had, even though it is patterned, and sewed a new inner cover:

New Inner Cover

The cushion is one of the end cushions with a piece that juts over the arm of the sofa.  I had to cut strips from another fabric for the sides and the bottom of the cover because I didn't have enough of the flowers fabric!  I won't win any prizes for my sewing or upholstery skills, but, I have a serviceable inner cover!

One of the Side Strips

Then, I put the slip cover back on.  You can see the flowered inner cover through the slip cover, but, it doesn't matter to me.  I usually cover the entire sofa with an old sheet, anyway, to keep the cat fur off!

Finished Cushion with Slip Cover Over the New Inner Cover

That project kept me busy for most of the evening!  

Today, I am grateful for:

- Phone and internet services
- Being able to help a neighbor 
- Water for the garden
- Basic sewing skills
- My fabric stash!

Today's joyful activity was sewing an inner cover with fabric I had on hand!

Plans for tomorrow include some housework and having M tend to the garden.

How was your Tuesday?  What are your plans for Wednesday?

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September Decluttering:  I am continuing to declutter at least one item a day in September, too.

9/1 - 1 Crossword book, completed (recycled)

9/2 - 1 T shirt (daughter's; to be donated)

9/3 - 1 knitting book (to be donated)

9/4 - unused cards (to be donated)

9/5 - 1 participation medal (daughter's; tossed)

9/6 - 1 seashell necklace (to be donated)

9/7 - 3 copper bowls (to be donated)
      - 3 text books (daughter's; recycled)

9/8 - 1 text book (daughter's; recycled)

9/9 - 2 metal spare parts that are no longer needed (recycled)

9/10 - 1 CD (chemistry lecture supplement; daughter's; tossed)

9/11 - 1 bag of small plastic toy reptiles and amphibians (3 snakes, 4 frogs, and 4 lizards; to be donated)

9/12 - 2 crocheted shawls

9/13 - 1 ice bucket printer paper tray

9/14 - 1 homemade iPad cover

9/15 - a set of 4 stem glasses (to be donated)

9/16 - 3 books (daughter's; to be donated)

        - 1 handbag/purse (daughter's; to be donated)

        - 2 telephone directories (recycled)

        - 3 magazines (recycled)

        - 1 knitted shrug (to be donated)

        - 2 zippered plastic covers that bedding came in
        - 2 storage boxes 

9/17 - 1 jacket (to be donated)

9/18 - 3 disposable food containers (given with food)
        - 1 hooded sweatshirt (to be donated)
        - more old make up (eye liner that was dry! Tossed)

9/19 - 1 old wash cloth that was torn in the middle  (tossed)
        - 1 wooden cat shaped letter holder
        - 1 clock radio
        - 3 collectible dolls
        - several posters (daughter's; recycled)

9/20 - 1 broken picture frame (tossed)

9/21 - 3 hair bands (tossed)