Summer really is a bad time to take on sewing projects. I don't have a garden this year, so I thought it would be a breeze. Right, Dana.
I have gotten several projects crossed off my list (more slowly than I've added them, sadly), and I've had plenty of fun in the process.
First, curtains. So nice to have curtains up in our family room. While I love the colors, it's a whole lot of solid blahness right now. We took down the sagging broken vertical blind/curtains on the sliding door that in their day were extremely functional. They made it 20 years only to succumb to a one year old. In their place we hung khaki grommet curtains, thanks to Lowes. I love the grommets because they open and close really easily and they hold their shape well.
There are five windows in our family room, not including the sliding door, so on three of them I took $7.99 curtains from Target and customized them. This is the first finished one.
I lurve this fabric. I picked it out months ago, and fell in love all over again when I spread it out to cut it. You know it's good fabric when that happens.
So far two windows are done and strips are cut for the third. I just have to rip about 120" of seam before I can start the next panel. The curtain fabric is a really loose weave, so it takes a lot longer than I thought. I'm still working on a valance design for the two narrow end windows. Hubby really dislikes covered windows (I don't really like them either), so the valances have to be pretty short. The nice thing about the curtains is that we hung them wider than the window to make it look wider but we hardly covered it up at all, and we're both happy.
Summer's first project was a big fun bag. I looked for the right fabric for quite awhile, but I couldn't decide if I wanted a sweet, girlie bag or a fun and funky one. Then I saw this line from Moda and got the best of both worlds. I sometimes wish I made it a little bigger, but it's just small enough that I can still find my keys. That's a good thing. Thanks to My Spare Time for the free tutorial!
My oldest niece turned 8 (of all things! - she's supposed to stay little!) this summer. For her birthday she wanted things for her room she's redecorating. Her momma told me she wants a black and white room with purple and blue for accents. She mentioned a pillow with some fur and something satiny. OOOOOOoooohhhh fun! I never get to make this stuff!
Wyatt and I jumped in the car and headed on over to Hobby Lobby where we found fur, satin, fluffy trim, and a little bling.
The other side. It might be a little hard to tell, but the black is a black on black animal print. Just a warning, the white curly fleece is a mess to work with, but it was definitely worth it. And I now have an order in for a Christmas gift for the birthday girl's little sister. The fabric is picked out and the pillow is designed in my head. Better add that one to the Finish-Before-Thanksgiving-List.
I also finished my denim skirt made from jeans and an old t-shirt. Note to self: follow the tutorial and use straight jeans rather than boot-cut. I like the skirt, but it needs shortening before it gets posted.
The last pic is my favorite find from garage saling last weekend. Our living room is still rather short on furniture, and I was just beginning to wonder what to put on the wall opposite the window when I stumbled upon this shelf and frame unit...for $9. I actually drove away from it for about 15 minutes, called Randy, and then turned around to go back. Somehow we fit it in the trunk of my Focus (well, almost. It was a slow drive home), and I immediately set it up. Turns out it's a perfect display spot for the vintage spools we keep finding at garage sales, adds a little more personality to the living room, and Wyatt has learned not to climb on it.
Now, for a funky and functional piece to use for a coffee table...and one more chair.
