Nana's Chair

Sometimes I get so emotional thinking about what my Nana would say to me if she could see me now.   I was close to Grammy (mom's mom) as well but my Nana used to come from Massachusetts in the winter and stay with us so I got to spend a good amount of time with her.   I would come home at night and she would be sitting in the living room waiting on me to tell her all about my night.  I would make us a sandwich and a drink and she would tickle my back and we would laugh out loud until we were both near sleep and headed off to our own rooms. 

I can still remember the last time I spoke to her.  She was getting ready to have open heart surgery at Beth Israel in Boston and we called her to wish her luck.  I had some friends over from school and we were working on a project.  For some reason my whole family was standing around the island and we all went around, one by one talking to her.  We went back and forth sharing inside jokes and she got a little choked up when it was time to go.  She went in for surgery, they found a defect she had probably had since birth, unsuccessfully tried to repair it and she never really woke up.  Luckily my dad was able to make it to Boston in time to say goodbye.  He was the only one with her when she passed away.  I remember one day after we had returned back from her funeral, hearing him talking on the phone to a colleague and whoever was on the other line had obviously asked about my Nana and I heard my dad say "Loosing my Mom has really broken  my heart."  I leaned up against the wall and realized I felt the same way. 

There have been a million times in the past 11 years that I have thought to myself "I wish Nana was here for this".  My mom and I will be driving in the car and we start to talk about her and how in love she would be with Aidan and before you know it, we both have tears running down our cheeks. 

There is a reason for this post.  My Mom and Dad have a wing back chair that they have had forever.  Literally I can remember it in every house we have lived in.  The wing back chair was unofficially my Nana's chair.  When she wasn't visiting my Dad would carry it up to her room and when she came for the winter he would bring it downstairs to the living room so that she could sit in it everyday.   She would nap in it, people watch and  and that's where she sat when I would come home at night and we would talk.   It was still in "her" room until my parents put their house on the market and now it is being stored at my brother Bobby's house.   I have decided that the wing back chair would be the perfect chair for my "new" living room and it would be a great chair for me to sit in and tell Aidan story's of his great grandmother and I for years to come.  Honestly, as cheesy as it sounds, it will probably make me feel closer to her.  Their is one problem.  It has a hideous 80's Waverly pattern on it.  I'm not in the position to have it reupholstered right now so I am going to attempt to make a slipcover for the chair and the matching ottoman.  I am kind of nervous but I  have been watching a ton of tutorials on the Internet and reading some DIY blogs.  I just need to make the trek to Mary Jo's and pick out my fabric. I am thinking an oatmeal shade in a twill.  Whatever I can get for around $6 a yard.   Luckily one of the women whose blog I am reading for instruction (and inspiration) lives in Charlotte so she got her fabric at Mary Jo's and can recommend what's good.  

From all indication, I think this project can be done in a day.  That's if my sewing machine cooperates.   Wish me luck and I'll let you know how it goes. I can't wait to have a little piece of my Nana in my house. xoxoxox