01 January 2009

A lil update

Happy New Year, ya'll!!!


Since Christmas, I have just been relaxing.  It feels so good to relax and not have a lot to do.  Sleeping in is one of my favorite things to do, and lately I've been taking FULL advantage of it!  Other than that, time has been spent with family members who have come in from out-of-town, both on Steven's side of the family and on mine.  It's been nice to play a few games, watch several movies, eat good food, and just laugh together. This year, we were only missing two--Beckie and Marlena.  Life is never quite the same around the holidays w/o everyone present, but I think we all did okay.  Maybe next year we'll get 100%!


Anyway, among my holiday favorites were: a string of unique/crafty holiday bells, Steven's chocolate mint cookies, a handmade shelf that will come in handy in the kitchen, watching all three LOTR movies while sewing ridiculously loud I'm sure, MP3 players, VideoFlip camera (which I'll have to debut here in the future), and of course.... (dun, dun, dun, DUN)....a new electric toothbrush!
Now, as I mentioned before, I've been sewing (again) on my break.  I really do need something to do when I have a long break from school, or else I get totally and utterly bored.  I'm one who always has to be doing something.  So, I decided to sew some cute curtains to match my new bed ensemble that is super duper comfy-cozy! (I just LOVE Overstock.com!!):  
So, off I went to Hobby Lobby & JoAnn fabric to find the essentials.  I found great fabric at a GREAT price (on sale, of course), and all the notions that went with it.  Each year, when we go to St. Charles with Steven's family I try to find a unique treasure to add to our home.  This year, I wanted to buy buttons to adorn the curtains I would make.  Having found 30 buttons at my favorite lil shop, the perfect fabric, and having lots of spare time, this is how it all turned out:


Up close at some of the buttons I bought.  They are all shades of creams & browns:
Here is the top of about 2/3 of the first panel once it was hung.  And yes, I had to stitch every single loop (that was very tedious) and finally got the hang of the buttonholes.  UGH...very frustrating, indeed!
With some of the extra fabric, I made matching tie-backs.  I was going to put the extra buttons I had on them, but when I placed them on top, it made it look extremely tacky, so I just decided to use the extra buttons somewhere else on a future sewing job.
Here's the completed curtains, right behind our lil TV.  
Ta-dah!
And...I even had a couple extra scraps laying around, so I decided to make some cute little ties for the spare bedroom windows.  That is where we decided to put the old curtains.  Doesn't really match much in that room, but it adds some funk to the curtains (in a good way, I think).
So...what do you think?  Should I quit my day job and go into the sewing business or WHAT? :)

14 comments:

Holly said...

Very cute! I need to make some for the children's room. They still have Winnie the Pooh curtains. They are 6 and 4, so it is time to loose them. Hard to figure out what to do when you have a boy and girl sharing a room. I think you did a wonderful job on those curtains. I need to get my machine out and see what I can do.

Reggs said...

WOW!! I feel like a loser, the only thing I did over break was eat constantly and gain 5 pounds. those curtains rock!! hey they even kind of match your blog background...

Unknown said...

Since you're still on break, I've got a couple of pairs of pants that need shortening.....

Tamara said...

send 'em my way (but I had to report for duty today)...I'll send em back when they are finished.

ps- it might be summer by then...would you like them capri style?

Julina said...

looks good :-) glad you figured out the quirks and made the machine and the fabric (not to mention the buttons) all get along and be friends - no wonder you're a good teacher.

Thanks again for playing hostess and letting me invade your guest room.

Good luck getting back in the swing next week.

Julina

Marlena said...

Babe, I'm so proud of you!! So multi-talented!! Too bad I didn't get those qualities, but I did get the major cleaning quality prob from Aunt Don and Aunt Brenda. I don't know where you got the Martha Stewart quality from...Definitely not from Mom...Could it be from Aunt Barbie??

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Peeser said...

Very nice on the curtains... Every now and then, I get the urge to try sewing again (I did't do too badly in high school, but my last sewing project- making a shirt for One Voice- was so exasperatingly frustrating, I wanted to quit sewing forever). Despite the tedious button holes, those curtains don't look TOO hard- what do you think? Should I give it a try?

It was great to see you over break- I wish we had more time to relax before facing the kids again tomorrow... alas.

ollie said...

very nice very nice.... but I preferred to sleep in every day 'til about 10 or 11. Best. Vacation. EVER!

Donna said...

way to go girl. The curtains are way too cute. Where did you learn to sew - I used to sew all the time (made all of Ambers clothes when whe was little) and had a blast. Then I got older and busier - would like to take it up again and try a quilt!!!!!!
PS the tie backs on the guest room curtains are way too tight - loosen them up - but how creative to think of using the leftovers
love you and sorry you guys did not get to come down. maybe spring break????
opps - did I sound like a mother there for a sec

Colton Anne said...

They look cute to me! I'm impressed with anyone's work with a sewing machine...I just know the basics and do I mean basics!! :)

Christi said...

I didn't know you blogged too!!!! I am so excited that I can keep up with your life now, on here and Facebook!!
After I found you on facebook I was thinking about "going Bossing" Do you remember that???
Christi Edmundson Thomas

Emily S. said...

congrats on the sewing!! They look GREAT!!!

:)

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