The big reveal

I finally got the recliner back together. We were hampered by sickness, or this project would have been completed much sooner.

First of all, the couch before (remember my $50 DI find?):

Thanks to Kerry Lynn for all the help with recovering the lovely couch:

I still need to stain the frame, but it looks pretty great. I also need to get a family picture print to hang above the couch. I love the finished product though. The pillows were a gift from Kerry Lynn for Mother’s Day.

 

Next is the baby rocking chair. I got it at DI for $10. The springs were out of place, but I just took it apart, put the springs back, and it’s good as new. This is how it was before:

And after:

Now the $17 Craig’s List 1975 recliner (the manufacturing slip was still inside it. It left Detroit in March 1975). Here it is in it’s glory:

And the 12 hour redo thanks especially to Bethany for her 12 hours of stapling and to Keli for the use of her compressor and stapler which saved us many a blister.

Isn’t it great? Here are a few more pictures:

 

A little bit of the process: and

 

The worst part was taking it apart. I guess in 1975 things were made to last, because it took me and Gene across the street about 3 hours to take it apart. (Have I talked about Gene? He’s a retired guy across the street who works in his garage on wood projects about all day. He’s also an electrician. He’s very useful and he likes me a lot, so he helps us out a lot.)

I removed very little of the upholstery. I just covered the existing stuff right up. We folded most of the edges under to  make it stronger and avoid fraying.

 

To get into the back to do tufting I literally sliced the back of the chair open with a razor blade:

The tufting was interesting. I learned that you really do need upholstery needles, waxed thread, and most important to put a button on the back too, or the thread will just pull right through the cushion.

 

And here’s how I did the little rocking chair. I  put the pad in the fabric. I pulled the sides tight and pinned it all around except the bottom. Then I pinched it together on the outsides and traced where I thought the seam should be. Then I took the cushion out and sewed on the line. It worked perfectly. I shoved the cushion in and hand stitched the bottom. Easy as can be.

     

Family History: I am doing it

I have been bitten by the bug. I started doing genealogy on Monday. Today is Thursday and I have stopped in the evenings only because Bethany has been kind enough to come over and help me re-upholster our recliner (which is looking FABULOUS. We’ve spent 8 hours so far and have 4-5 more to go. Thanks so much, Bethany). I even dreamed about genealogy last night. I even have gone to such lengths as to give my kids shovels and turn them loose on our dirt front yard while I sit researching on the porch.

 

Last night was somewhat of a victory. See this picture?

On the right is my grandpa, Lester Holcomb, who was born in 1905. The boy on the left is Harold H Owen, also born in 1905. They are cousins, and Harold was a special friend to my grandpa. Grandpa was not raised a member of the church (his conversion story deserves it's own post), and only the work for the direct Holcomb line from father to father has been done (and boy, is it done! it’s all the way back to the 1300s.) This leaves a lot of work.

Anyway, last night I was able to find Harold H Owen and his family. Did you know that you can research your genealogy and then get it all ready to go to the temple from the comfort of your own home? https://new.familysearch.org/en/action/unsec/welcome allows you to find your family, see who hasn’t had work done, then reserve ordinances online? All I need to do is print out the names I have ready, take them to the temple, and they’ll print out the cards right there for you. It’s THAT easy! And I love it. I have at least a hundred ordinances ready with plans for a bunch more.

So this has replaced my indexing obsession temporarily, but I think that’s okay. One thing is for certain, the spirit of Elijah is alive and well at our house!

I just ran across this quote and loved it:

"We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so, in a series of kindnesses there is a last one which makes the heart run over. -Samuel Johnson

I love that. We've moved a lot. Some moves have been easy. Some have been hard---oh how my heart broke when we left our friend in Murray. When we moved here I knew it would be a place we could finally have roots. We plan on being here 5 years or so. Whenever job or family size makes our house not work for us. Already I'm sick any time I think about moving because we love it so much here.