Curtains for me!

Today was not the best of days.  I had an audition, which never fails to freak me out.  I don’t get stage fright, and I love to perform, it’s the being judged (a necessary part of an audition!) that never fails get to me.  Whenever someone comments on the arrogance of actors and musicians I usually say: A. You’re right and B: Seriously, it’s a coping mechanism.  It’s like a life full of never ending job interviews.

But eh… I’ll live.  To cheer myself up I went to my new favorite restaurant (Tom and Chee – an entire restaurant of grilled cheese sandwiches!)  Afterwards I was happy to find that my linen fabric samples had arrived:

I ordered these samples from fabrics-store.com.  They specialize in linen and they send free swatches on request.  The price was great for the quality.  I decided on plain linen for the large curtain in my living room, but I needed to pick a color.  I decided on the middle color above, which is called simply “natural.”  The other shades are (right to left) aluminum, bleached, natural, krista, and mix natural.  All swatches are the IL019 medium weight linen.  I’d consider the weight to be comprable to Kauffamn Essex linen.  It’s not heavy, but I think it will drape nicely for me (I am lining my curtains anyway!)  I had to order 8 yards to get the fullness I prefer (2x the width of the window).  You can see why I was trying to keep costs down!

I also ordered fabric from fabric.com to make simple tie top cafe curtains for my hall.

 

The pattern I’m using I found at Make it Love it (you can see their finished curtains in the photo  above).  The fabrics are by Michael Miller.  I love those charcoal and pink dala horses, called Wooden Horses,  to death!  They will be the main curtain, and the top/ties will be made of the wood block print behind, also by Michael miller.  I’m going to fully line these curtains.  Thank you for all the advice – I decided that I agreed making the long curtains from quilting cotton might not work, but it’s perfect for a small hallway window!

I’m starting to put the living room back together – I have a rug!

Leon the cat, as you can see, is helping to break it in by shedding furiously.  This is a flat woven cotton rug from Ikea.  I  am planning to paint a design on this rug using fabric medium – I like the white, but it’s not practical around him.  I still don’t have anything else in the room, but I’m working on it!  This project has been intensive, but I’m so much happier already that it’s worth the stress.