Curtain Call

Another Option: If I win the lottery in the next few days, I'll have to go with this one below from Calico Corners. Malino in rust.


Actually, I'm thinking I can do some linen drapes with a border of this fabulous fabric....that could work on a budget.

New Option?: How about this one? I loved this one when it first came out at PB. It's a great mix of a bunch of colors I love. Orange? Check. Yellow? Check. Blue? Check. Green? Large print? Check. hmmmm...

I am sooo happy to be back home. I did not like being away from home for two whole weeks. It could have been worse. I could have been stuck in some awful city in the middle of nowhere; at least I was in San Diego. The weather was fabulous; the conferences okay. There was no chance for me to blog or really do anything with my computer since I was staying at a wire less hotel. I had to go to the lobby and use one of their computers to get online. Lame-O.

I'm back and ready to get some final projects done before my school year actually begins.

First up, I want new curtain in the living room.

Current state of livingroom by Eskimobar on Polyvore.com

This is what I'm looking at right now. I don't have all of those exact things. Like our couch is not IKEA, I did not buy my curtains at RH, and my rug is not C&B...etc. But, that's basically what our living room looks like. Cute, but not very exciting at the moment.

I think bringing some color with the curtains if definitely going to make a big difference. For example, Nicole's curtains over at Making it Lovely. So lovely and fun.

Making it Lovely
With that and a few other images (that I can't seem to find anymore) in mind, I've decided I want some more Amy Butler in my life. I'm currently dreaming of this pretty.

Amy Butler, Lotus Temple Garland in Lime

Bold, huh? Why not? If I don't like it, I'm sure I can find a use for it another day. Or, there's always this one...

A.B. Primrose in Olive

What I like about the temple garland is that includes yellow and orange, which are colors that are present in other parts of the house and I love them. The kitchen includes yellow accents and since the living room shares a wall with the kitchen, I figured it would work the best. But, I love that primrose. I'm just not sure about those blue flowers in the pattern. We definitely have lots of blue in the house, but I'm trying to move away from too much of it. Oh, primrose is also about $5 more a yard, so....the frugal girl in me in saying "Go for the temple garland."

What to do? Any suggestions of colorful fabrics that include green, orange, yellow, white, brown, and/or blue?

Oh yeah, that rug...I'm not to sure about it anymore. I'm thinking about moving it to our bedroom upstairs.

Faux Roman Shade

With my yards and yards of newly acquired fabric, my brain is working overtime to find creative sewing projects. Here's an easy one I thought of yesterday.

Please excuse the some of the blurry pictures. I don't know what is going on with my camera. 

I started with fabric, muslin, and a piece of wood left over from the cabinet project.

I folded the fabric over twice to create a nice edge. I put the muslin down the middle in order to use it as a liner. I like to iron the edges to get nice folds and it helps with the sewing later on.

I folded all the pleats to create a faux roman shade effect.

Then, I sewed each pleat straight across making sure that it was covered by the fold hanging above it.

Finally, I made an opening at the top to slide the wooden piece through (fold fabric over and sew across).

I nailed it to the wall by rolling the extra fabric over the wooden piece and then nailing it to the wall underneath the curtain. 

I'll have to add that picture to this when I get home today. 

There you have it. Sound easy enough? Actually, making sure to have perfect folds was the hardest part. Add nails, a broken sewing machine needle (the last one!), a grouchy pms'ing girl, and you have a recipe for a breakdown and a fearful hubby.