In the eyes of the beholder…

Sue’s Chair… at first.

Last summer — or was it summer before last? — Nyel and I were on a garage clean-out marathon.  Among the  things we put a “For Sale” sign on was the ugliest chair in the world.  It had been in the Back Forty for as long as I could remember.  I don’t think I ever did see it in use and I’d have been happy just to haul it to the dump.

But “no” said my ever-practical husband, and he put a reasonable price on it and set it outside on the verge.  I didn’t think much about it as long as there were strangers looking at all our sad discards.  But then along came our friends, Sue and Bill Grennan, and… Yikes!  Sue was actually sitting in that ugly old chair!

And then… were they actually considering buying it???  I was truly mortified.  “But I really want it,” said Sue.  “You don’t know how hard it is for my short little legs to find a chair that’s comfortable — a chair that I can sit in and have both feet on the floor.  And, in this case, maybe even rock a bit!”

When I saw that she was serious, I tried to give her the chair.  “Just take it,” I said.  But she was having none of it.  I can’t remember what she paid, but she truly looked so pleased with herself that I wondered what I was missing.

It took a long time to find out…  and it’s still a work in progress.  The wooden frame has been stripped of it’s ugly varnish — did Bill say it was mahogany?  The back has been re-caned and, says Sue, will be done again.  “It was a learning experience,” she laughs.  “By the time I got to the seat — that ugly old upholstered seat — “I knew better what I was doing.”  And now she plans to re-do the back.

I should have known!  Sue is a prize-winning quilter.  She’s good with her hands.  She’s a perfectionist.  And, she’s obviously motivated by those needy little legs of hers, though I don’t believe that for a minute!  I have a feeling that only other quilters and caners and knitters and crocheters will truly understand.  But no one will clap louder than I!

 

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