When we first moved in to the little Pink house my mom asked "Well don't you think you need curtains for your room?" At the time I didn't think I did, so I lived 2+ years without them – content with my window blinds.Each morning I would open the blinds for Gus to be able to gaze out in to the forbidden outside world (he is an inside cat after all, no matter how much he wants to ne an outside cat). As time passed one of the blinds in my room became more and more difficult to open (one side would go up and the other wouldn't and vice versa when trying to lower the blinds.) Each passing day the contentment I had shared with the blinds began to fade. Did I mention the fact that each night after closing the blinds Gus would feel the need to climb through the slats of the blinds making a crazy "clackity-clack" sounds that can become obnoxious when one is trying to sleep.
A few weeks ago I decided I'd had enough of the shenanigans (both Gus's and the blinds) so I decreed to whomever was listening at the time "I'm going to make some curtains for my room!" After all I've got the know-how and a sewing machine that's been collecting dust in the pantry since the last sewing project (New Year's Day 2009 when I made myself a purse – which has since become infamous, but that's a subject for another blog).
On January 23rd, with my intentions decreed I located my coupon for the local fabric store and headed over with roommate in tow to pick out some fabric. I wanted something fairly simple that would work with the bright green walls of my room and my very colorful duvet cover. I finally found some cute fabric that I liked enough and bought enough to make the curtains. Fabric in hand I was well on my way (or so I thought)
Then I was side-tracked by life for a week or two—during which time I learned that one of my nieces was diagnosed with a hip problem, my dad has mysterious kidney problems, and the announcement that we have 2 babies joining our family this year.
Feb 6th – I found myself at Wally-world buying more fabric for the lining of the curtains.
Fast forward to President's Day – Toby and I took the day off to play – after going to see a movie and buying a lamp at IKEA we headed to Pila's to use her big table and finally got the job done. One can only take so much frustration due to the lack of space to spread out (let alone cut) the fabric. With the panels cut we headed home.
My first attempt to sew them was thwarted by my elevated frustration level. There are just some days when you should go near a sewing machine – thus was my first attempt at making the curtains. After a 10 day struggle and the interruption of many Olympic events (Apolo Anton Ohno and his speed skating being the biggest threat to my project) I finally got into the groove of it and finished sewing the last of the curtain panels on Saturday the 27th.
I am impressed with how well they turned out. I forget sometimes that I am a pretty good seamstress (perfection complex aside).
I don't know that I'm used to the change yet, but Gus seems to like the fact that he doesn't have to climb through the blinds anymore and it is no longer a hassle and a frustration to get the blinds to open each morning.
It's nice to finally have one of my projects crossed off of my to-do list!