Busy Work

I've been trying to cram a few smaller projects into my limited sewing time - because some of the things that I should be doing require way more energy than I actually have.

Really, most of these smaller projects started because of this: 

This is my desk and sewing chair. Not the most beautiful little thing. In fact, it certainly looks better in this picture than in real life. The wood isn't quite that luster, more a dull brown, which isn't so bad. What's really a problem is the fabric on the seat. It's a textured neutral that has seen better days. It's beginning to wear out, and it's quite grimy looking in places. It's done well for three years - especially for a free craigslist chair - but I'm ready for something a little more fun around here. 

I started by looking at my collection of oddblocks to see if there was anything I could expand into being a chair cover. And initially, I thought there was. 

Remember this little guy? It was just about the very first pieced block I ever made. Of all the pieces I have hanging out waiting for a home, I thought this might be my best choice - and I even have some of the coordinating fabric left in my stash. 

So, after doing a little repair work to fix a couple areas where my seam allowance wasn't where it should have been (which really means where I didn't manage to grab one layer of fabric at all!), I built it out a little, first with coordinating pieces, then eventually with a scrap from another project, until it was about big enough for what I had in mind. 

Okay, so, this picture isn't the greatest. But it's what I've got and it's too dark and rainy to fight over it now!  

It's ... okay.... The browns of the fabrics and the wood go fairly well in real life. But it also makes me feel a little cat lady ish. Which, don't get me wrong, I am a cat lady, I'm just not sure it's quite what I wanted to go for. 

So, then there's attempt number two. Which got started the first time I decided this was possibly too cat lady chic (prior to adding the intensely green pieces). 

I pulled some of my very favorite and very hoarded pieces out, the last scraps of the fabric that matches my April Flowers/May Showers quilts and a few more pieces I've decided probably coordinate, and started making something completely different. 

Which I love. 

But I'm not sure I can use as a seat cover. 

If I use it on the chair, at least some of the colors will be lost as it wraps around the edges of the seat (unless I really stuff it, which might be advisable?), and that's just too tragic to think on. 

But I'm not sure it's quite perfect enough to use as a mini-quilt/wall hanging kind of thing. Some of the wonky got a little more wonky than I'd planned, and I'm not sure if I see 'intentionally wonky' when I look at it, or 'whoops!' But the colors and patterns are things I love. It would be a shame to hide it away somewhere...

I also hate to think of making a third attempt at what was supposed to be a quick and easy solution. But I'm beginning to suspect I'd be better off just choosing a remnant or a nice fat quarter and using it as one piece instead of attempting to do something more quilt-y... 

Decisions, decisions!

I've got time - and I've got to find a staple gun before I get much more invested... But... any input?