Quick, Easy Peasy Curtains

Since we moved my oldest crazything into her new bedroom in September, it's still October, so I'm not that far behind, she has been asking for curtains to go with her quilt that I made her, which you can read about here. Well, life FINALLY slowed down for a day and I needed to have a quick finish to say I did something productive this week. Is it just me that needs that feel good feeling when you crossed something off of the To Do list that's been on the To Do list forever? So during nap time for the youngest crazything, yesterday I got these curtains started and finished AND hung up. It took me an hour and a half to do everything.
So here is how I made these Quick, Easy Peasy Curtains.

I had two yards of Frozen material laying around, doesn't everyone with young kids, lol. They fit perfectly into her window. She doesn't need a lot of curtain, just enough to keep the sun out during the summer when she goes to bed or lightening when it storms.

Did I mention this material is very glittery too? 

 

I wanted two curtains, one to hang on either side of the window. I folded the material in half, with salvage ends together. Then I ironed the material with right sides together to get a crisp fold. Then, I barely, barely, cut the folded end to give me two halves of equal width. I also squared off the top and bottom edges at this time too.

Next, I hemmed the long sides of each curtain with a half inch hem. This is how I hem, feel free to do the hem the way you are most comfortable with and at the size of hem you want. I took my long, 24 inch ruler and mark a 1 inch line with chalk all the way down each side I want to hem at the moment. I will talk about hemming the tops and bottoms in a minute.

Fold the fabric up to that line over at your ironing board. I start at one end and use my iron as a hold spot and continually move my free hand folding the fabric up to the marked hem line and then ironing what was just folded over with the iron. (I think that makes sense) Then, you can go back to the start on the same side or flip your fabric around to the other side and iron fabric up to the hem line. Once you have the first fold down, I then used the raw edge of the fabric to create another fold, this encases the raw edge into the hem. I just folded over at the raw edge line, ironing as I went, just like the first time folding the fabric over. From there, I went straight to my sewing machine, no pins since the fold should be nice and crisp from just been ironed and using my quarter inch foot, I sewed down the hem on both long sides of each set of curtains. You can sew closer to the far edge of the hem if you wanted to.

Now for the top and bottom. I just wanted to be quick about the project, so hemmed both the tops and bottoms at the same time. This time, I knew I was pushing the length of the curtains, so I wanted to keep as much as possible. I drew my line at 3/4 of an inch instead of the full inch. Quarter inch hemming is a pain, I think, 3/4 of an inch just gives you a little more fabric to grab a hold of. Again, I folded and ironed the fabric up to the hem line, then turned the fabric under again using the raw edge as my guide. Back over to the sewing machine and sewed another quarter inch seam.

Great! Now tops, bottoms and sides are all hemmed. Now to figure out how much you need to turn over on the top to create a loop for your curtain rod to go through. I "dry" fit mine, the only time I used pins on the entire project (I tend to use a lot of pins, when pinning).

Anyway, mine looked nice with three inches of the top folded over. I finger pressed the  three inches of the top down and back over to the sewing machine. Sewing on the BACK, I used the hem seam as my guide to keep a straight seam across the top as I sewed the top fold into place. Voilà! Finished!  I easily slipped the curtains onto the rod and hung them up. Now the room glows pepto pink when the sun hits them, but hey, she likes them, so I like them.
Before and after photos:

Linking up with NTT over at My Quilt Infatuation and Finish it Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts
Thanks for reading,
Just a Mom who Sews

Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long

Have you ever done a Quilt A Long with another blogger? I did this spring over at Happy Quilting with Melissa. First off, of you haven't visited her blog, you are missing out! She has all kinds of wonderful tutorials, videos, former quilt-a-longs and her blogs are wonderful sources of quilty info.

For this quilt-a-long, I chose the single star, picnic size. She has multiple sizes with up to four stars across.

I decided that my oldest crazy thing would use this as her bed quilt. She helped picked the fabrics, both front and back.
For a quilt-a-long each week you get an assignment. The quilt is usually broken down anywhere from six to eight week assignments. Bonus, for getting your week's assignment done, a chance at weekly prizes!! Now if that's not motivation, I don't know what is. :) I must pat myself on the back here and say I completed each week's assignment. I did not make it to the finished quilt parade, but I had it done in the next week. Hand binding takes awhile, is my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Lol I quilted this one in purple variegated thread in a circular pattern.

Here it is in it's final resting place, for now. My crazy thing has a hard time deciding which side to have up for the week, fairies or frozen. Yes, the frozen craze is still strong at my house.

Thanks for reading!
Just a Mom who Sews

Sad Day

Last Saturday was a sad day at my house. My Grandmother passed away. So not much has gotten done in the sewing room since Friday. I wanted to share this quilt that I made her back in 2010.

Okay, so the pictures aren't great, but all I had was my ipod, not my good camera.

 



I wanted something very light weight, but also something that would keep her warm. I tried a crazy quilt pattern, but it didn't turn out that way. I still like the way it turned out. It reminds me of a house in the center and layers extending around the house. Just like a family, you start from a house of love and it keeps getting bigger and bigger as new members are added.

Since I sewed the strips onto a muslin, I just used a purple fleece as the backing to keep it light. I used some of her stash that she had given me, which is what prompted the quilt being made in the first place, as a Thank You. You can't tell purple was her favorite color, can you? I will miss you Grandma, but I know you are watching over us now.

Thanks for Reading!
Just a Mom who Sews

MIA

Sorry I have been MIA for a while. I have been doing what I love, sewing; every spare minute of the day and night. Is it bedtime yet?? Or at least naptime? =) No fun pictures to share with you, just Olaf hats and Costumes, which you can read about here. I have had lots of time to let me mind wander as I sew. Lots of topics I want to write about. One involves stealing borrowing your husband or mate's tools to complete sewing projects. Hmmm, how did all these get here?

Thanks for reading!
Just a Mom who Sews

I like warm Hugs!!

I was lucky enough to join Joy2Sew pattern testers in trying out this wonderful pattern. Who doesn't like Olaf? He's so adorable. This pattern is available through Joy2Sew in sizes 12months through size 12. I made the size 3/4 for my youngest crazything, but she is not interested in wearing it today. The other day she wouldn't let me take it off of her, even after she had been running around in it for an hour! So, my oldest crazything decided she was going to try it on and by jolly it fit her! So, I went with the more bribable cooperative model. Here are some fun pictures we took on this blustery, chilly (like 40 degrees) morning.

 The back has a zipper for easy off and on

 

The body can be made stuffed or unstuffed. Or you can just make the hat. It's a wonderful winter hat! Fleece is so cozy. We plan on using the hat as a winter hat, I'm sure my youngest crazything will get many wonderful comments on it, once I convince her that it's okay to wear it, again.

Want a costume or hat and no time to make it? Check out my Esty store where you can get one custom made for you!

Thanks for reading!
Just a Mom who Sews

Tetris baby quilt

While browsing tutorials and former quilt-a-longs over at Happy Quilting with Melissa, I found a Tetris quilt-a-long. What a find! One of my best friends' husband is a huge video gamer. They are expecting a baby girl this winter.

I needed a quilt that was not an ounce of girlie and one he would be willing to take along to different places. This quilt fit that tall order to a T! I scaled down the squares from the original 5 inch square to a 3 inch square.
After one fun night of playing Tetris on paper I had my 6 blocks and off I went to cut and sew. I was so happy to piece one block in an hour. This made me very happy since I had to have it finished by the end of the month. Deadlines are great are they? ;) I added a large black boarder just to the top to give the illusion of more space to place pieces yet to come. Finishing with a dark grey boarder all around.

I love it! I cross hatched quilted this to really show off the simple design of the quilt. The back is a pretty grey chevron print. Not girlie either to finish off the quilt. The quilt finished at 57'' x 35''. I can't wait to see my friend's and her husband's reactions! (Note: They LOVE it and the husband gave it two thumbs up, bonus!)

A few more photos since I got the "good" camera out. ;)

 

Linking up with NNT over at My Quilt Infatuation and Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Thanks for reading!
Just a Mom who Sews

9(9) problems but a stitch ain't one

Amy over at 13spools has done it again. She blogged about her 9(9) problems only quilters will understand. Her list is awesome. I have been making a list in my head since I read her blog earlier today. So without further ado, here is my...

 

1) There will never be enough time to get all the projects done I want to. If I just did my projects I have planned now, right this second, it would take me a good year, okay maybe two, to get them done.
2) Co-workers/family/friends give me strange looks when I take days off to sew or go to sewing retreats.
3) I swear gremlins aka children come in my sewing room and move stuff at night. Scissors, thread spools, etc...
4) Speaking of children, I love mine to the moon and back, but I cringe when they step into my sewing room. About a year ago, my oldest crazything "made" a present for my youngest crazything. She cut up a project that I had made to sell. I found out I front of all our family and friends when the present was opened. My sewing room is now gated off from crazythings, that is when I remember to put up the gate.
5) When I forget to change thread and or bobbin when I switch between projects, because I can never just work on one thing at a time. It's always the worse color possible too.
6) When my camera memory card is full and I have ten seconds to get photos in of a project. Like earlier this week. Grrr!
7) I miscalculate how much time a project will take. This is something I need to get better at. Sewing the binding on my last quilt 40 mins before the baby shower might have been pushing the envelope. Especially since I still needed to shower, change, buy a card and drive to the shower yet. I was only 5 minutes fashionably late. (All my friends asked the minute I got there, if I was still working on the present and if it was done. Thanks, guys!)
8) Forgetting to turn off the iron and then having a panic attack when I am out of the house, praying that I did turn off the iron. I have gone upstairs in the middle of the night to check to see if I did. It's at 50/50 (on/off) when I check on it.
9) The quilt store is never open when I just need to pick up one little thing. Or close for that matter of fact. Not living in a city has it's disadvantages, sometimes.

 

There are my 9(9) quilter's problems in no particular order. Linking up with 13spools. Come on over and join the linky party too or just enjoy reading the quilter's problems.

 

Thanks for reading!

Just a Mom who Sews