Projects and Parties

How was your weekend?

Ours was a blissful blur of family and friends..

Managed to take a few pics in between brunch and dinner on Sunday

to show you some of the bits I made this week.

So inspired by this palette right now...

I added glitter to some eggs we had decoupaged last Easter, a la Eddie Ross.

Love how they turned out, but let me just say,

If you plan to break out the spray adhesive spray adhesive and glitter at the same time

 be prepared to have a sparkly home :)

The ric rak trimmed linen napkins turned out really well, 

they were a lot of effort but now we have a huge set

 that will work whenever we have everyone over together, which we do quite a lot!

Fell in love with some napkins rings at Pier One inspired by vintage brooches, 

but at five dollars each, buying 34 wasn't going to happen!

Instead, I bought some silk flowers, separated the leaves, 

added a pearl to the centre of each petal (on fishing line) and strung them on some gold ribbon.

We got a similar feel for $3.00, 

and all the girls collected them later and wove them into their hair :)

D. brought home a few dozen roses

(he is such a sweetie)

and so they were all throughout the house - 

it smelled amazing!

Natasha enlisted her cousin to help her decorate cupcakes with sprinkles and peeps -

and since we had all gathered here, we celebrated her upcoming twelfth birthday as well.

Did I just say twelfth? One more year til there is a teenager living here :)

This has been a big year of change for Tash,

I am beginning to see the woman she will become and couldn't be more proud of her.

Had planned to take some pictures of the buffet we set up because there was massive amounts

 of delectable goodies (for dinner and dessert) but it was a bit mad!

Can show you pics of the new dining room curtains I sewed up..

Isn't that fabric to die for?

A major splurge, 

but this window is the first thing you see entering the room and it needed some love!

This room is next on the list to be finished.

The chairs got new cushions - I was going to custom make some but went to Wal-Mart 

(yes, you read that correctly - WALMART!!!)

to buy the pillow forms and found these - 

perfect size, durable cotton linen-look fabric, tufted, piped box cushions for $10 dollars each!! Score!

 Scouting out art for a gallery wall in the next couple of weeks 

but since we had cleared out the previous display, and needed something up here for Easter,

 I framed a really beautiful bit of silk that I fell in love with recently.

(couldn't leave the store without a metre, although I had no idea where it was going to end up!)

The frame came from the thrift store - 

bought it for the original figural pastel inside, which is going to be re-framed and hung somewhere...

 The frame was in good shape, so a lick of black paint and it works for now.

What would we ever do without black and white paint?!!

Speaking of white paint,

I've been reading about a fellow bloggers struggle to find the right white paint this week.

Since it is such a common struggle,

thinking that perhaps a post about how to get white right might be helpful.

I'll try to get it up this week :) 

Looking forward to hearing (and reading) about how all of you spent your weekend...

The Blinds Are Finished!

If you've been reading for a while, 

you know that I've been working on my home office/craft room.

After organizing the craft supplies a while back, it was on to the next project.

          

This room faces west, and although it's partially shaded by the roof of our front porch,

the afternoon sun can be overwhelming some days.

It needs a window treatment.

The fabric I planned to use was the end of a roll -

three precious metres!

I searched for a way to make it work back in this post, 

and you all encouraged me to make roman blinds,

thank you!

I looked into Martha's instructions for sewing Roman Blinds,

and although they would have been perfect, 

it began to seem a bit daunting 

(her projects are always done properly and always have a million steps, don't they?)

I admit it, I was looking for they easy way out!

Jennifer from Rambling Renovators had suggested roller blinds..hmmm..

using roller blinds and laminating my fabric on top,

a la Design Sponge, seemed simple enough and I liked the clean look.

A little research, however, revealed that the narrow width of the windows

would have required custom roller blinds to the tune of $60 each.

Onward.

Amanda of {Re}Cycled Cosign and Design had mentioned mini-blinds diys,

so the googling began.

Found the Little Green Notebook tutorial, which seemed to be the original,

and has spawned heaps of copycats.

That must mean it works, right?

Off to the store to buy mini blinds for $1.80 each (how do they manufacture them for this price?)

and fabric glue, which I have never used before, being a sewer.

All set to begin cutting, I realized each blind needed to be 21" wide,

and my pattern repeat was only 17", and the print would not be centred.

So what, you say?

This is the window that I look at every day as I work at my desk,

and I knew that would drive me bananas... 

(trying to overcome mytype-a tendencies!)

so off to the fabric store to buy navy linen,

which was going to serve as a liner and border,

which, as a bonus, also meant these would hold up to the sun a bit longer.

Now, the original tutorial is super-easy -

but of course I made it more complicated with this lining/border business..

I measured the window, adding 8" to the width

(3" for each border, 2" for seam allowance)

and 5" to the length

(3" for the bottom border, 2" for seam allowance).

Cut the navy linen fabric, 

using a framing square and chalk to make sure everything was cut straight

(there's that type-a again :)

Then cut the suzani fabric,

17" wide (pattern repeat) and the length of the window.

Ironed all the seams into place, 

using a guide cut to the border width,

and mitring the corners.

This took the longest of any step, but DON'T skip ironing,

this is how you get that crisp finish that makes your finished product looks professionally made.

Placed the patterned fabric inside and sewed them up.

The Little Green Notebook tutorial has all the additional steps,

which involve removing the majority of the slats from a set of miniblinds,

and literally gluing the remaining few to the back of the fabric.

Because I used two layers of fabric, there was A LOT of glue used, 

so that it not only adhered the mini blind slats to the fabric but also to each other,

ensuring they would hang properly.

They dried for a day and, voila - 

Perfect little spot for sewing now, isn't it?

This is a great method to create some more attractive window treatments

 if you already have those dreaded miniblinds in place.

I know that the sun will take it's toll on these and I will be replacing them every few years, 

so I didn't mind doing it the easy way -

 but if you are making roman blinds to last a long time,

 I would say bite the bullet and use Martha's method.

1 project down, 3789 more to go :)
next I'll be tackling a desk update, and a really cool wall display...


Hope you all have a wonderful weekend,
and please pop over to Project Gadabout for my
Glamorous Gadabouts bits.

I can never get over how gorgeous Poppy's blog is!
Yesterday she created a fantastic post with my
Secret Cheese Fondue recipe
(D. and I are fondue junkies! Even the kids get into it now, lol)
So many people have tried to get that recipe from me over the years,
and it's yours for the taking!

Cast a Vote on the Office Curtains...

Happy Monday!

Thank you all so much for your well-wishes for the girls night -

it was a blast, of course,

We stayed up far too late remembering old stories and sharing new ones.
And laughing.
Hope you all had a good weekend :)

Sunday I drove around to several locations of a fabric chain we have here,

because I have a dilemma.

This is my office window.
It's missing a window treatment, right?
(Please excuse this photo,
the glaring light from the sixth foot of snow outside (LOL) threw of the camera wee bit!)

Remember the fabrics for the office?

See the third one down, that fantastic-take-on-a-suzani-with-the-exact-colors-of-my-space?

I found it while buying something else, but could only get three metres.

I assumed I'd be able to pick up more at another location, 

but sadly, none of the SEVEN stores I checked have any. At all.

Most likely because it has been discontinued and was being cleared at a whopping $4.00 a metre!

So.

Here's the dilemma.

Planned to make two panels for either side of the window framing a tortoise-shell blind.

So love the look of these blinds,
and the texture perfectly picks up on all the baskets I have here for storage
 and the wood tones in the room.
The large patterned panels would give some presence to this side of the room -
it's the first thing you see upon entering and it needs to balance
 the busy bits of my desk and shelves on the other side.

Now, since I have limited fabric, I am considering a few other options
 and I am hoping you will weigh in on the one you like the best :)

Option #1

I could simply use the navy stripe (bottom fabric) that I bought as back-up for the panels

 and go ahead with the tortoise-shell blinds. 

The suzani fabric would work for some other items in the room, possible inspiration board cover, etc..

This is my least favorite option because although it would frame the window out nicely,

 I really want to bring this area to life with some pattern (namely my fabric :)

Option #2

Keep some pattern by using oatmeal linen for panels and

 sewing bands of suzani along the bottom,

 but this feels a bit tired to me - you?

Option #3

Create roman blinds of my beloved suzani for each window section and skip the panels.
Clean and tailored, and I have just enough fabric to pull it off!
This will give the area the boost it needs without overwhelming the space.
I think it's my best option.

Option #4

I could sew up simple blissfully patterned cafe curtains 

(which would mean never having to fuss with any window treatment)

 Like this becauseit also gives me a lick of privacy if I am working in the evening.

So what do you think?

I would really appreciate your thoughts, all you talented ladies out there!
This is a busy week for me, but going to try and get started on these in the next couple of days..