Sew Easy

I've been doing a lot of thinking about decorating lately. I REALLY ought to start making mood boards, but instead, I've been clicking from site to site trying to store away all of the great home ideas in my mind. The latest project is sewing simple curtains for the kitchen and downstairs bathroom.

Some of you might recall my last attempt at curtains-- sophomore year in college-- we had quite the cozy dorm room with Adirondack-y valances and matching throw pillows. I selected the fabric to go with our 1970's gold nubby couch and a desk that I stenciled to match the curtains. Not your typical lava lamp and tapestry college dorm decor. Wish I could find some old photos to scan of that horrendous pattern. It was something similar to this...

In college, we'd just gotten access to email -- forget about online shopping. Maybe limited access was the reason for the ugly pattern I picked back then. Fortunately, the online world (and my decorating style) has evolved, and today there are tons of online fabric retailers that have a variety of patterns.

I was a bit constrained when choosing the pattern for the kitchen curtains. When we got married two years ago, we picked tangerine/flame as the color for our small kitchen appliances and LeCrueset cookware.

Really, it's just the tea kettle and the utensil holder that sit on the counter, but I still want the curtains to match orange. And yellow since I picked out yellow dishtowels, potholders, etc. from Williams-Sonoma.

So, I searched and searched and finally decided upon these two patterns from Hawthorne Threads, which has amazingly speedy delivery service: 

Cabana Dots

Damask

The fabric arrived this weekend, and the Sailor immediately declared that the damask print is horrible. The dots are "okay." Oops- guess I should have asked for his opinion before I ordered it! Lucky for him, we only have one window to dress, so the fabric will only be in one little area. Anyway, maybe he just doesn't have the vision...I'd like to make a basic valance with a contrasting pattern underneath. The damask will be the primary print, and the dots will go underneath. 

Moving on, the fabric for the bathroom got a thumbs up, which pleased me. 

Dena Fishbein, Taza in Josephine Blue

And, the other good news is that I finished one sewing project this weekend (pillow shams for the guest bedroom) and I made good progress on a slipcover for a desk chair. I am loving my new sewing machine--the Brother 6000si Computer. Amazon has a great deal on it if you're in the market for a machine.