Lesson learned

Ah, the credit we give our memories. I figured I knew what size my bathroom window was and I could just guess how much fabric I needed when I found one I loved. That did not work out so well. My memory imagined a much smaller window. Normally I'm cautious and get more than I think I need, but this was kinda pricey fabric and I didn't want a lot left over.


So I have half curtains for my downstairs bathroom. The design was a necessity due to a mistake, but I actually think they work just fine. They give enough privacy while still letting a lot of light into the small room. Plus I've learned a valuable lesson to always measure for a project. (Seems obvious, right?)

The fabric is Anna Maria Horner cotton voile. Very nice, but takes patience to sew. The bright colours go perfectly with the quilted wallhanging my mom made. Below the wallhanging you can kinda see a swatch of the paint colour. A bright, light blue called cloudless, I just had to paint a patch because it looked like white in the can. I seriously thought they must have missed putting in the pigment (and, I admit, was a bit outraged at the presumed mistake when I thought I'd have to take it back to fix). The room will look great when it's all done, and surprisingly bright for a teeny bathroom.

Two birds

Here's the yarn I spun from the fibre I dyed with red cabbage. The colour variation is subtle (read: barely noticeable, especially in the photo) from mixing at the spinning wheel the two slightly different fibre colours I got from the original dye and then adding baking soda to half the batch for some chemistry magic. First the fibre was muted blue, and then the altered pH turned it more green.


This picture also shows the rather outrageous colour in my craft room. I love this deep pink. It's so invigorating! Too bad I can't admire the colour because that room door must be closed unless I'm in there crafting. Too many tempting goodies are in there for the kitties to resist.

Pretty and silly

Finally I overcame my fear of sewing curtains. I don't know why I was so hesitant. It's probably the easiest sewing project. Do a little ironing, sew a few hems, press and voila! Curtains! I made these for my upstairs hallway with Cloud 9 fabric.


The walls will eventually be a light grey, which happens to be in the print but is a colour I'm bringing from my old place. My favourite picture is beside the window - a limited edition print by Berkley Illustration. It's so peculiar - in a good way. I love their quirky animal prints. Check out their etsy shop (www.etsy.com/shop/berkleyillustration) for a smile.

Necessity

My old iPod shuffle fit perfectly in a pocket at the front of my biking backpack. My new, wider touch did not. The new gadget is also way more fragile than my sturdy shuffle and I wanted to keep it safe while I out riding on bumpy country roads.


I sewed this little pouch to hang off my handlebars and it does the trick. I just can't easily skip tracks like I used to. That's probably a good thing anyway. I put all those songs on there cuz I liked them, so I should just listen to whatever tune pops up on shuffle and focus more on the ride.

Ps. I'm not alone in thinking we're spoiled by digital music. Check out this recent post on THXTHXTHX, a blog of daily thank you notes.

Hanging in

My posting and crafting has been quite lacking lately. It seems any weekend I'm not busy with friends or things to do, then I'm painting. Including my craft room - which is now an amazing, deep pink called dragonfruit. I will post a photo, but I have to be around for the right light so it doesn't look like a crazy person picked the colour. Lots of people may think that no matter the light. It's intense, but I love it.

I spun up the fibre I dyed, but haven't taken a photo yet. And I made curtains for my upstairs hall tonight. Paint and curtains are steadily spreading through my new home, thanks mostly to my talented and fast-sewing mother. We got some amazing Echino fabric on the weekend for the living room.

Last week was absorbed unfortunately with the loss of my sweet dog Marie. I wasn't feeling much like crafting or anything really. Here's a photo of my lovely girl I took just a few months ago.


Those big, dark eyes are what I first noticed about Marie at the adoption centre. What a gentle, wise look. How could anyone resist that face?