Homemade kitchen curtains.

I’m excited for this post. {Does that make me a dork? Probably.} Anyhow, last night I sewed like poor Cinderella before she got the pumpkin carriage and finally finished all the curtains for the kitchen/dining area. I still want to add some ribbon trim to the curtains over the sink and covering the microwave, but for now I’m pleased as punch with how they turned out.

Here was my original inspiration for the dining area curtains:

{image source}

And here’s how my version turned out:

And in case you’re wondering the method to my madness, here goes…

1) I washed & ironed all my fabric {remember the purchase back in March?} while my annoying needy interested pup insists on laying on the excess fabric.

2) Then I measured the inside of my windows. I added extra fabric for a 2” pocket at the top and included about a 1/2” extra to fold the raw edges under first. I added an extra 1” on both sides of the fabric to fold under for the raw edges again, and I added enough for a 2” seam at the bottom of the shade. I’ve found ironing down the seams before you sew is a HUGE help. {Highly recommend it!}

 

So once I cut and sewed all the seams & the top pocket, I simply slid the fabric panel onto a tension rod and fixed it to the window.

 

And this gave me two fabric shades, if I feel the need for a bit more privacy or less light in the dining room.

 

But I really wanted more light & a slight view of the back yard, so I purchased two 4 yard rolls of blue ribbon {$4.00 each} to tie up the shades, transforming them into more of a roman shade. I used an accordion fold for the fabric, as recommended by Making it Lovely {my original inspiration source} and simply tied a knot in the fabric. I tried bows, but nixed that quickly.

I have to be honest, the more I look at ‘em, the more I like ‘em! I like that they’re a bit unique, ever slightly country, somewhat classic, retro-ish, but still give nice clean lines - all those things wrapped up in one {if that’s even possible}, in my opinion!

Looks a tad bit better than the ivy, lace & apples from the past…

Oh, and remember the curtain I made to cover the hole where the wall oven used to be? Well, I sewed a basic curtain for over the sink pretty much exactly like this one.

 

Here’s the top of the kitchen curtain, which you don’t really see because of the scalloped trim piece {which I don’t really love.}

I’m not thrilled with these two, and I want to add a ribbon border or something to make them look a bit more finished, but for now, I’m excited with the fact that they’re up & pretty. :) I really think they’ll look great with the planned backsplash & the butcher-block countertops {that’s what we’re thinking, as of now.}

So here’s some more pics of the curtains all together. They’re not the best pics because it was still dark when I took them this morning before work.

I got the fabric discounted to $3.59 a yard {see here for details} and I used less than 7 yards {$25.13}. Plus my two rolls of ribbon {$8} & 4 tension rods {$10.50} brings my grand total for four curtains to…$43.63 including the rods! I feel pretty happy with that price & the final product. :)

And I have to wish my awesome sister-in-law a happy & super sweet 16th birthday! I’ve known her since she was eight years old, and it’s been such a blessing to watch her grow into such a beautiful woman!

 
{2008}                                                                  {2011}

I’m so thankful to have her for a friend & a sister. Happy birthday, Heidi!

UPDATE: for an update on the DIY curtains, see this post: http://janeandeugene.blogspot.com/2011/06/small-fixes.html :)

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Recognizing His voice.

I started sewing the kitchen curtains yesterday after work. I completed the curtain over the sink, but it’s just not quite what I want so I’m keep thinking today to see if I can come up with something I can add to it to make it a bit closer to what I envision. I’ll post pics of the curtains tomorrow.

Also yesterday, my parent’s got their shipment of bees. I showed some of their hive pictures on here earlier, but my dad sent me a few pictures of their arrival.

I’ll have to head out their sometime soon to snap some pics of their newest friends. :)

Now onto the meat of the blog post for today. I’ve had a couple of the same verses keep showing up lately, in email devotions, in my Monday small group discussions, on Facebook, and on the radio {www.air1.com}.  Since this blog is my safe-keeping spot for my life events, I want to write ‘em out here so that I can look back & remember the encouragement God was speaking too me at the start of May.

I’ve mentioned just small bits of it here, but to state it frankly, the end of Marcy & April were probably without a doubt the hardest days of my life in many ways – emotionally, spiritually, physically, etc. Anyhow, these scriptures that God is sending to me to start off May are so encouraging to me. It’s such a relief to hear God’s voice, despite the fact that you feel soaking wet from a recent downpour, figuratively & literally {i.e. my 6:30 am walks with the pup this week in the pouring rain}.

I read & wrote down this one sentence prayer on Monday:

“Lord, I pray that I recognize Your voice above all others.”

And God has already answered it just in a short time. Quick answers are awesome. Maybe the scriptures below will also speak to someone else reading this today. I hope so. :)

{Emphasis added below is mine.}  P.S. I took these pics of my mom’s tulips on a rainy Monday evening– my birthday – last week.

 

“And my God will meet ALL YOUR NEEDS

according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:19

 

 

“I have learned to be CONTENT whatever the circumstances.”

Philippians 4:11

 

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not sweep over you.” Isaiah 43:2

 

 

 

“But the fruit of the spirit is love, JOY, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Galatians 5:22-23

 

 

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. TRUST in God,

and trust also in me.” John 14:1

 

 

“You will keep in perfect PEACE him whose mind is steadfast,

because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3

 

 

 

“So we do not focus on what is seen, but what is unseen;

for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

2 Corinthians 4:18

 

 

“The humble will see their God at work and be glad.

Let all who seek God’s help be encouraged.”. Psalm 69:32

 

 

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble,

whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is

admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about

such things.” Philippians 4:8

 

I pray that we can recognize His voice above all others {including our own voice}, so that we can think about only such things that are lovely, excellent & praiseworthy. His voice is pure joy.

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Lovely Sunday.

As I mentioned Friday, I spend most of the weekend coordinating an annual Chamber of Commerce dinner and action and a high school prom at my banquet hall this weekend. Despite the hours of work plus Eugene’s baseball games on Saturday, we managed to squeeze in some wonderful {much needed} quality time together on Sunday afternoon/evening & some little house projects too.

Our main goal yesterday was put best by Eugene as he talked to our neighbor; we were just trying to help out “the eyesore that is our front yard!” It’s gonna just take time until we can get the outside of the house looking nice. We’ve decided to mainly concentrate our budget & effort on the inside of the house before we tackle the outside. Regardless, we had to tackle a few items asap cause the grass was getting embarrassingly high in our front yard.

Remember back when I got my lift on to pull up a whole bunch of stones in our front & back yard? Well, it’s looked like this, except with taller grass, since then. {Not okay.}

We used the excess stores we removed from the backyard to make a fire pit, but we’re not 100% sure if we’re going to use the ones left in the front for a landscaping project, so just to be safe we {finally} moved the rocks to a temporary hiding spot by the side of the house.

Eugene did some quick shoveling to  make the mound somewhat level so that we can mow over it. We’re telling ourselves that it looks somewhat better now, despite the weird crop-circleish shapes going on in our front yard from the stones & piles of leaves that we failed to move in a timely manner. {Oops.}

 

Wondering about the two little boy bikes in our front yard? {No, we didn’t adopt two fifth grade boys.} While we were working on moving the stones, two young boys rode by and asked if they could help.

Umm, YES!

They said they could help us pull weeds. What do you mean weeds? I don’t have weeds? Bahaha, riiiight! Even fifth grade boys are appalled by my overabundance of weeds! ;)

So they helped with weeding & even helped me tackle another green nemesis of mine: ivy. Man, this stuff is wicked. It’s thick and stinkin’ pesky & while we pulled some away back in the winter, it still is an ugly sight around the side & back of our house. Not to mention that it was even growing through the windows and into the basement when we first bought the house {yuck!}

 
{then}                                                                        {now…not much better}

It still doesn’t look like much, but my hands are all cut & sore today from ripping out some of this beast.

Our new neighborhood friends helped a bunch with this side of the house…

…that is, until they got distracted by the potential fun in our backyard. They untangled a swing left by the previous owners, tested our tree for chiming, & had a water fight with our hose. I just smiled as I continued pulling ivy; it was nice seeing kids play in our back yard!

I was a bit scared that the boys were going to get hurt testing the swing & they weren’t about to listen to my warnings, but, thankfully, the swing actually worked. I also did some minor damage-control weeding to reveal three red tulips on the side of our house. {Pretty surprise.}

I hung my birthday gift pansy basket on our lamp pole {that doesn’t work} just for the heck of it, so now it actually has a slight purpose.

The boys left on their bikes not long after their water fight & Eugene grilled us some FABulous steaks for our meal. I added a delish baked potato {Red Lobster style} and we savored every bite – a great in-home date night dinner!

And to top it off, I even got two coats done on our kitchen/dining area window!

And we were even left with time to watch some Shark Tank together in bed. All this in just one day! See why I said it was a lovely Sunday? :)