Its curtains...

While on my mini job hunting breaks I managed to solve one of the major issues with the new apartment, the bedroom window. The first couple of days in the apartment we were greeted by blindingly bright, burn your retinas out, sunlight. It became apparent that this issue needed immediate attention. Thanks to the excellent public transit system I was able to go out and procure some fabric for the project (and much more).

{Curtain Fabric}

{Muslin Backing}

Just a simple set of curtains, but they make all the difference in the world.

In addition to my newly completed project it seems that my job hunt is OVER, I found a job. Of course it's only seasonal at this moment, but its better than nothing. I start the first week of November, which leads me to ponder "whats a crafty person like myself going to do with all this free time?"

Brand spankin' "new"

So as promised previously here is my brand "new" sewing chair... but first a couple more process pictures


{during} After covering the new foam cushion



{during} Applied 3 coats of jade spray paint to my new chair on an absolutely beautiful afternoon


...
{After}
...



It really does brighten up the room, I just wish there wasn't so much STUFF out due to the upcoming move, it detracts from the wondrous-ness of my chair.

On a more personal note, yesterday was my last day at the hospital. I won't miss the paper work, the hours, the stress, the 4 hour round trip commute (public trans), but I do miss the people already. I can't help but wonder if I will ever find another job with as great co-workers and caring supervisors as I had there. Sounds cheesy I know, and after months of dreaming of this day, I'm left looking back fondly at everything I've done there and the overall impact its had on my outlook on life. I'm just going to leave it at that for now.

a quick peek at whats to come

{Before} 6 dollar chair from the salvation army, originally intended for craftster's "in the hot seat" contest, I kind of forgot about this chair until a few weeks ago.

{During} ripped off hideous fabric (apparently someone else tried to give this chair a makeover), and added new foam padding.

{During} Sanding down the chair for the next step....

::Stay tuned for the finished product::

At least I paid my taxes on time

Well its been a few weeks since I last posted, but I assure you I have been doing some work. To start things off I have finally finished my sewing desk. I had either had my sewing machine on the kitchen table or on an old wooden filing cabinet that was going to be thrown out until I thought up this project. At home depot I was able to pick up some knotty pine and have it cut to size, I then took it home a varnished the heck out it.


Here's a picture of my original filing cabinet set up; good lighting, horrible ergonomics.






Over here is my semi-completed project, you can kind of of see the interior of the filing cabinet. The bottom draw still slides in and out, I just removed the from of the drawer so I could easily see whats in it just by looking down. I removed the top drawer and I am currently thinking of making a shelf. The front of the bottom drawer was used as an expandable work space/cabinet door-unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of that in action. I'll take more pictures once the whole interior of the cabinet is finished. The important thing is that I now have my very own crafting corner.

In celebration of my new desk I was able to start and complete a quick clothing recon that I've been thinking of for a while now.


I bought these pants at Marshall's few years ago for about 10 dollars (my mom said I overpaid-notice how the pattern doesn't match up on the sides). I think I maybe wore them once, it was just too much plaid. I tried the pants on and marked them about two inches below the knee, and cut. I tucked and folded the edges and hemmed them (while at my new desk)




The result is a little something I would like to call plaid perfection.

Chicken curtains

I've been putting off finishing up the kitchen curtains for months, but today I managed to do it (with plenty of encouragement from the bf). It was just a matter of finishing the top part of the curtains and hanging them up. However before I show off the finished results, I would like to point out some of the details. I am very pleased with how the backing of the curtains came out. The backing was a gauzy fabric that I had a lot of difficulty working with in a previous project.

The idea of an elastic curtain rod was inspired by the fact that I did not want to go out and spend money on a curtain rod that would require putting even more holes into the wall of the apartment before we leave in a few months. All the "rod" consists of is some old stiff elastic that was given to me by my bf's mom that was wrapped in the same fabric that was used to line the back of the curtains sewn together and tacked up to the windows

Okay, so I've gone on long enough, here it is all finished (and looking quite snazzy in my own opinion)
It hides the cracks in the glass and blocks the view of the ambulance dispatch parking lot and its nice and cheery, who could ask for more?

well thats enough time reflecting on my accomplishment, whats next?