sewing saturday. handmade medallion curtains.. and some shop news!

This weekend's project is something Neil and I really needed in our house.. every window of ours is bare, save for some pretty ugly off white blinds. And it's also, by far, the easiest Sewing Saturday ever.

Curtains.

The curtains I decided to sew are fairly simple, although I'm planning some cute, ruffled valances for our kitchen one day (really kitschy style and feminine.. maybe gingham or seersucker?), which will be a little more complicated to make. But for these, all it took was sewing a few straight lines.

Ingredients you'll need.. enough fabric to cover the window space (plus seam allowances), a curtain rod, scissors, a tape measurer, thread, and a sewing machine.

My fabric was originally an Urban Outfitters tapestry that we used to cover our bedspread. Lucky for me, all of the edges were finished and it exactly fit our large windows in the living room. Because the edges were finished, it saved me a LOT of time.

First, I asked Neil to put the curtain rod up. Then, I measured out the fabric to check that it'd fit the window, then to make sure I knew which side to cut. I cut it in half down the middle.

Then, I finished the two raw edges of the halves I had just cut. Afterwards, I pressed the tops of both halves down, insides together, by three inches to form a casing for the curtain rod. I sewed the casing shut.

You guys, it was seriously that simple.

Here is what the window area looked like before.

And here is its new look with the finished curtains!

I tied the curtains with a bit of black lace that I had stashed away in my sewing room. Our television faces the windows, so it'll be nice to pull the curtains shut when we're watching movies during the day. Or when I'm playing Mass Effect 2 and I want it all sci fi creepy style.

I've got some exciting shop news to share with you! Just recently, I bought about thirty beautiful vintage pieces, pieces I'm very much in love with. They hail from the 40's all the way to the early 90's.. prairie maxi dresses, cute 90's crop tops and striped high waisted shorts, lovely 40's silk blouses, and all sorts of pretty floral rompers from the 60's.

A couple favorites are the white dress with eyelet lace detail at the bottom and the blue and white striped shirt dress -a golfing dress from the 40's. The yellow gingham mini is not too far off, either. You might recognize the velvet bodice Gunne Sax maxi from a post a week or so ago.. I can't let go of that one for awhile.

The honey colored maxi with lace trim and heart and floral detail was actually owned by Skeeter Davis during her touring days nearly forty years ago!

Because I need to make room for my new summer stock, I'll be having a serious sale starting Monday.. so definitely check back tomorrow to see my shop update and sale!

Here's a glimpse of some lovely items that will be hitting the shop soon.

In other news, my college friend Jessica asked me to guest post on her blog about my new hometown! Check it out here.

What's Black and White and Red All Over? Our Powder Room!

There's a Toile Party going on, at the Pretty Organized Palace blog. Visit here to read more!

And now. . .

. . . what's black and white and red all over?

On the playground at Eagle Avenue Elementary School on Long Island, we used to say "a newspaper!" and laugh ourselves silly.

But now at That Old House, the answer is ... The Powder Room!
Not as witty, perhaps, but more satisfying.

My most-viewed-ever post was my February 16th one about the metamorphosis of our Powder Room;
if you are curious, click here. The "befores" were interesting. . .

. . . the "afters" were not complete. . . .

No curtains!

(Oddly enough, taped up samples don't count.)

Toile was the fabric of choice for most of you who expressed an opinion, and as luck would have it, I had a generous length of $1.00 a yard cream and black cotton toile that I bought last year at WalMart (bottom fabric in picture, above).

Kismet.

I am really pleased with how this $1.00 a year fabric looks at this window. I self-lined it, just doubled over the fabric so if the blind is raised, it will look the same from the outside as from the inside. The print is busy enough and fabric substantial enough that the pattern doesn't "shine through" from one side to the other.

Hope you like the new curtain! It needed to be swagged to one side, as the sconce would otherwise interfere with the fabric. But luckily, it's all period appropriate!

It needs a tieback -- right now just a narrow bit of satin ribbon is doing tieback duty. Time for a tassel, maybe?

And just let's peek in from the dining room. . .

Now...what is black & white & black & white & black & white & black & . . . ??? As we used to say at old Eagle Avenue, "A nun rolling downhill." You need to have grown up in the days of nuns wearing habits to appreciate this witty bit of school yard hilarity.

Have a lovely weekend! ... Cass

Hooked On Curtains & Guestrooms, And a Foodie Friday Trainwreck!

It is Friday, and it is the first day of Spring! Mother Nature sprinkled our world with a light dusting of snow early this morning; she is such a card, that Mother Nature.

Meanwhile. . .

Over at Julia's wonderful Hooked On Houses site, there's a "Hooked on...." party going on. Check it out here.

Hostess Gollum has declared this a Foodie Friday Trainwreck Day. Visit a vast array of them right here.

My Foodie Trainwreck could qualify for a Wordless Wednesday post.
I am among friends, so I invite you to take a look:

Now that is a train wreck!
Click and enlarge that picture at your peril. You have been warned.

It's one end of our kitchen, in the early cleanup phase after Saturday's House Blessing party.
As my mother-in-law (just visible walking near the fridge) would say ... "Oy!"
As my sister would say, "You couldn't fit a booger on that counter!"

(At the end of this post, for Foodie Friday involving actual food, there's a recipe for chili from The Silver Palate in New York. It's good and complex, with some surprising ingredients. It is not a blazing hot chili, so if you want a scorcher you'll have to tinker with it.)

Since I am Hooked On Curtains this Friday -- I am going to just detour a bit from my guest room and steer you into the butler's pantry.
It is one of the most "BEFORE" spots in That Old House. . . witness this:


See what I mean?

But with no time or budget to do an overhaul before Saturday's gathering,
I resorted to the creative use of a hastily sewn curtain on a tension rod. . .

It became our coffee station, with urns of regular and de-caf, and guests could help themselves.

Speaking of guests, my Florida-dwelling in-laws stayed in the Yellow Bedroom for this long weekend,
and I did indeed get curtains hung in that room in time for their Friday arrival.

But -- I am not happy with them. (The curtains, not the in-laws!)

Take a look:

Notice the poofy-ness. Don't they look stiff? The drapes don't drape! It's the lining.
I wanted a heavy curtain that would block out light in this room, so I ordered "black out lining." Big mistake. Big, big mistake.

This lining fabric is cotton, but it's solidly bonded to a rubbery material
that is stiff, wrinkles and even makes noise.
Although that may be my imagination. It even looks stiff on the bolt:

You can't iron it with a hot iron ("I'm melting, I'm melting!"),
so there is a network of wrinkles like a road map all over the curtains.

I should have used normal cotton lining and interlined with flannel, but I am a thrifty soul, and I had already paid for this bolt of rubbery and somewhat creepy stuff, and by gum... I was going to use it!

And now I'm going to remove it, and replace it with real lining.
Ah well, everyone needs a hobby.

***************
But meanwhile ... if you have time, take a tour of the Yellow Bedroom, our official guestroom.
It's where you would stay if you knocked on our door and needed a refuge.

Come in. . .

This is a small room, so we maximize guest storage (does that seem as if we are storing our guests?).

Near the door, there's a vintage bombe chest, one of my Craigslist cheaper-than-cheap buys.
The top and middle drawers are empty for guests to use.
The bottom drawer holds extra sets of linens for the bed.

The lamp is a pineapple, a symbol of hospitality. I like to buy old lamps and my Dad rewires them, but this one is new, bought at JC Penney
at their huge after-Christmas sale; I think it cost 34 dollars, shade and all.


A little peachy-pink tole basket ($9 at Home Goods) holds practical plastic glasses, bottled water,
and wrapped chocolate covered mints and hard candies when guests are in residence.

We have an old hotel luggage rack, bought for a few bucks when the Carlton House closed in Pittsburgh in the early '80s. It's near the window, holding back the *&%$#* curtains!


On built-in shelves, we keep books, a plastic carry basket for bath items, and two sets of towels.
Plenty more towels are stored on the shelves underneath, behind the doors.

I use yellow towels for guests in this room; they always know which are theirs.
Guests in the Pink Bedroom get ... yeah, you guessed it.
A pair of Teddy Bears perches on the shelves;
you never know when you might need a Teddy.

In the closet, kept empty, there are wooden and padded hangers (no wire!), and extra pillows.
(Now how often do you see the inside of a closet? It's the only one of mine you will ever see!)


On an old quilt rack ($5 at a yard sale): extra blankets and a sweet little quilt.


For bare toes, a small rug, hooked by a gentleman who was my father's best friend.
His wife was French, and the little rug has "Bonne nuit" and "Bon jour" worked into it.


And on one of the bedside tables, a little lamp I recently bought on Ebay.
($24 with free shipping.) Can you see what it is? Look closely. . . .


It is a miniature replica of an old wicker suitcase!
There's a small brass handle at the top.
I just get such a kick out of a suitcase lamp in a guest room.


Simple things amuse me. Just ask my husband. He amuses me no end.


The low-post cherry and poplar bed is one we bought 30 years ago at The Whale's Tail antiques shop in Mars, Pennsylvania.
I love it, but there is the creakiness factor.
180-year old beds have a tendency to audibly protest when used. Can't say I blame them.


The nightstands are from my in-laws' block-front Newport-style mahogany bedroom furniture,
handmade in Boston in the 1940s. Most of this set is in our master bedroom,
but these little guys just fit in so well in this small room; they struck out on their own.




The needlepoint chair I wrote about in another post, here; another Craigslist bargain!


Well, this is long enough!
Tomorrow: More curtains! Remember the powder room?
Those black and cream toile curtains were just what it needed.
You ladies who suggested it were absolutely right.

The Powder Room curtains post is up!
What's Black & White & Red all over? Click here.

Then there's the dining room, the parlor, the master bedroom, the Pink Bedroom. . . .

And maybe, just maybe, the retro-fitted guest room curtains. I hope to get them re-sewn,
and re-hung, today. Yeah, we'll see how that works out.

And remember... as it says in the pillow on the bed in the Yellow Bedroom:


Anyone interested in a partial bolt of rubbery insulated blackout lining?
I know where you can get it, CHEAP! Very cheap.

And.... now for the Silver Palate Chili for a Crowd Recipe, on this Foodie Friday:

Silver Palate Chili For a Crowd

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound yellow onions, coarsely chopped
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings
4 pounds beef chuck, ground
1 can (12 ounces) tomato paste
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/3 cup ground cumin
1/2 cup chili powder
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 1/2 tablespoons salt,
or to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
3 cans (28 ounces each) Italian plum tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill (Use fresh if available, but dried will work in a pinch; just use less -- Cass)
1/4 cup chopped parsley (Dried parsley flakes can be used if you can't get fresh; use less -- Cass)
2 cans (16 ounces each) dark-red kidney beans, drained
2 cans (5 1/2 ounces each) pitted black olives, drained (I use sliced black olives -- Cass)

1. Heat the olive oil in a very large pot. Add the onions and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until wilted, about 15 minutes. Add the sausage meat and ground chuck; cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the meats are well browned. Spoon off any excess fat and discard.
2. Stir in the tomato paste, garlic, cumin, chili powder, mustard, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes, wine, lemon juice, dill, parsley and kidney beans. Stir well and simmer, uncovered, for another 15 minutes.
3. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add olives; simmer for 5 minutes more to heat through. Serve immediately.

Serves 20. (Easily doubled!) Per serving: 260 calories, 19g carbohydrate, 26g protein,
10g fat, 55mg cholesterol.

Metamorphosis Monday -- A Conservative Conservatory

It's Metamorphosis Monday -- or at least it is for the next 75 or so minutes. It was a snowy crazy day here, and my computer was held hostage by a ruthless capitalist all day long!

But I'm sneaking this one in just under the wire, I hope.... and thanks to Susan of Between Naps On the Porch for hosting! Click here for more stories of magical metamorphii. Or whatever the plural is!

My story is simple, incomplete, and I hope some of you can help write the ending!

Once upon a time... ok, last March... we bought an old house. I love all its old spaces and nooks, but one of the best spots in That Old House is not quite ten years old -- the conservatory.



Previous owners had it built, replacing an open porch that ran along the kitchen "el" of the house. You can see it here, on the right side of the house, if you promise not to look at the peeling old yellow paint and crooked shutters!



Here's my husband, last March, strolling through the sunroom, carrying some unidentified large thing -- I think a shade destined for the give-away pile -- when we were in the paint-before-we-move-in phase:

This picture was taken from the kitchen.


An impromptu meal at a temporary table in the "eating" end of the room.
My girls home for spring break, and roped into house fix-up.

Hey, they went to Alabama to work on Katrina homes! Fair's fair.

:-)

Next picture .... moving day, May 2008, in the pouring rain. Ugh.
And, this room has off-white wall to wall carpeting.

Say it with me now, ladies and gents: "What were they thinking?"

By the end of this day, the room was full of boxes, mud,
exhausted wet people and dogs, and very dirty carpet.

I took down the lace curtains, decided we were not ready to replace the
off-white carpeting just yet, and decided to keep the gold color paint for the time being.

So we did a mini-metamorphosis.

In our book-lined family room at the last house,
we had two leather love seats. They are now in the conservatory here,
along with a club chair we moved out of our study when my husband
decided that he wanted (no, deserved) a recliner in the room with the TV.

Presto! A place to sit and chat:
And at the other end of the room, a wonderful old oak table.
Because, ummm boy, we do like our meals, and
so do our friends and family!

This old oak table has a very interesting past. . . but that is a story for a different post!
(Hint: I didn't have to pay for it.)

Don't you love the toe nails on the big feet?

This amazing table has endless leaves, and expands to about ten feet long. Wonderful for holidays, and thankfully there's enough room in the conservatory to let it stretch!

There's still a long way to go in this metamorphosis from empty shell to comfortable sunroom/family room/room off the kitchen.

Big decisions -- what to do about the floor? You walk right into this room from the patio, and it's the entrance most used by everyone, family and friends. Carpeting this pale is a nightmare. The kitchen next door has stone-look ceramic tile, and we'd never be able to match it. Wood? Pricey. Laminate? I worry about moisture with everyone using this entrance right from ground level. More carpet? Aaarrgghhh!!!!!!

The other thing... window coverings. We have none now. What should we get? Any? There's a limit to how much we want to entertain the neighbors, plus the windows get this reflective spooky-black-hole look at night.

See what I mean? Those black windows and ceiling are a little creepy.
One of my possible ghost sightings was in this room. . .
but that story, too, is for another post.

I don't want heavy drapes or shades, and the windows need to swing open, but I'd like something that would give at least the illusion of a bit of privacy when wanted.

What do you think?
Any inspiration?

And why am I so late with this post?

We got about 8-inches of snow today in my part of New Jersey, so my husband decided not to trek to Manhattan, and worked instead from home on my computer.


Sadly, he actually works when he says he will, so I didn't have computer access all day. Hence, the very late post, just squeaking in for Met Monday.

But, boy -- that snow is sure pretty. Howard took these pics; I stayed in with the conservatory heater keeping me nice and toasty!

And about that recliner Howard says he deserves? He is right.
But that doesn't mean he gets to pick it out!