Tablecloth curtains

In keeping with my last couple of projects, I finally finished the curtains that I started a few weeks ago.  I had gotten rather used to them sitting in a semi-folded pile on top of Oliver's crate, but I do think they look better hanging!  They were just so simple, and I'm glad I finished them before the weather really turned to winter here in Cleveland.  Curtains just make everything seem a bit cozier, don't they?

I made them out of some white cotton lining fabric I'd been holding onto for a couple of months, and a teal tablecloth that I found in the clearance section of TJMaxx.  I'm not quite sure what the the tablecloth is made of (it was shelved sans packaging or tags) but I just loved the embroidered detailing...and for around fifteen bucks, it was quite a steal!  Since it was a large rectangular shape, I simply cut it into four pieces (two panels per window) and hemmed the unfinished edges.  To make up the difference in length (since the tablecloth wasn't quite long enough to cover the window) I cut four rectangles of the lining fabric that were about the length of the windows, but with some width to spare (as you can probably tell, I'm not exactly nit-picky with measurements.)  I hemmed the edges, and folded the top edge over two inches to make a casing for the curtain rod.  I picked up some double curtain rods, and that was it!

I just can't get enough blue these days, so I'm loving the added color in my bedroom.  I'm slowly but surely working through my list of home projects...so on to the next!  Happy Friday!

Greetings from sunny Florida!

I know I've been a little absent lately, but I have a good excuse this time.  After spending a few days out of town playing a gig, Sean flew up to Pennsylvania and we spent the weekend (drum-roll, please...) driving to Florida!  We made the last-minute decision to do it in one shot, so that we would have Sunday to rest before Sean had to return to work on Monday.  The drive was relatively uneventful (aside from a wonderfully horrible book-on-tape involving contagious mold spores, time travel, and monster babies) and Oliver was perfectly angelic.  In fact, I think he handled the drive better than I did.  So I've spent the past few days getting settled in our new house and getting to know the area a little bit.  We're living just outside of Orlando, and the weather has been beautiful for my first few days here!  It's been so beautiful that these guys decided to take a little stroll this morning, and I encountered them on my run:

Despite the fact that they were alarmingly large, I couldn't keep myself from sneaking a few pictures of them.  I think they're some sort of ibis?

I'm planning on picking up some fabric this week, and I've got quite a few projects on my to-do list, so I'll keep you all posted!  Happy Wednesday!

The "to infinity and beyond!" scarf

I know I said I was finally going to tackle some of my clothing patterns, but with the weather suddenly turning so nice, I was compelled to make a sunny, bright infinity scarf today.  I've been hanging onto a bunch of scraps in the blue-yellow-green color family (one of my favorite color families!) and just sewed a big loop!  Here is how it turned out:

I made it slightly over-sized (for comfort's sake) and I just pieced the scraps together, sewed the whole thing inside out, then turned it and closed up the loop...easy as pie!  After I finished up this little project, I headed out to Rickett's Glen State Park for a lovely hike with my sister.  We had perfect weather, and (possibly for the first time in history) didn't get lost while finding our way back to the car.  Big day!

While I didn't progress a whole lot today on my adventures in sewing with patterns, I have officially started laying out a project that I'm super excited about!  I'll let you all know how it goes!  I hope you all had wonderful Thursdays, and thanks for stopping by!