Fabric Miracle

It's a miracle!  Ok, not really, but it is a record.   I bought fabric to make something for our house and completed the project within the first month! 

This is amazing because usually, ok always, the project is conceived, the fabric is purchased and then it sits - for months, sometimes years!  I think the average is something like 2 years between purchase and my actually making something for myself.  I have some drapery fabric for the dining room that I know I've had a good 4 years.  It's gorgeous fabric but no one can see that all rolled up. 

Anway, when we went on vacation, we shopped in the lovely town of Healdburg, CA. All the shops around the town square were upper end, I'd say, and I was amazed to come to a fabric store!  We don't have many fabric stores at all and certainly not on the town square.  I oohed and aahed over everything.  Fabrications, the store's name, had very high end quilt fabrics and I was especially delighted to find some in weights suitable for table linens.  (yes, I know you have to be a fabric junkie to get excited about that.)

And so I just had to buy some of these beautiful fabrics for a table cloth and napkins.  We are already enjoying them because I promised myself these would not sit and wait on me to get to making something for myself.

I'd purchased a cookbook that day and along with these fabrics were the momentos I brought home from our trip.  Very suitable since we spent so much time eatting wonderful food in Sonoma County.  I've made a couple of recipes and then got derailed when the stove died.  It is finally fixed.  Yippee!  I'll have to pull out the cookbook and see what I was planning to try next.  For now, I'm just happy to boil water.

Happy Friday!  What will you do with your extra hour this weekend?

HomeArama '10

The Charlotte HomeArama continues through October 10 off I-77 Exit 25.  I went yesterday with two friends and we had an enjoyable day touring the 5 homes.  Here are just a few of the photos I took:

If you are in the Charlotte area and interested in building, remodeling, or decorating, HomeArama is a great event.  Details are at:   http://www.homearamacharlotte.com/

Note: It takes 2 to 3 hours to do the self-paced tour. Parking is a mix of paved and 'field.'  There are no shuttles.  You can walk from parking to the houses. 

None of the homes have basements this year.  Also the window treatments were very simple - mostly drapery panels.  Although each house had a different interior designer, the design styles were simliar, very fresh, light, liveable contemporary.  The cabinets are gorgeous and the outdoor spaces inspiring.

Our favorite feature was a porch that converts from open to screened in with a touch of a button.  Ingenious!

Another stage

A few weeks ago, we installed a new bed frame for the upstairs bed which is in my guest bedroom/craft room.  This eliminated the footboard that I have tripped over more times than I can count.  Also it allowed us to install bed risers and create much needed underbed storage for quilts and linens.  (The actual linen closet long ago became a stamp/craft magazine storage area.)

A few days ago I finished making the box pleated bedskirt so the storage is succesfully hidden and another stage of the perfect "bedroom shared with craft space" is complete.  Slowly I plow along... Oh well, if I did it all at once, I wouldn't get to enjoy each step so much :-)

Pretty Fabric Patterns

Pattern paper isn't my only patterned passion.  My first love was beautiful patterned fabrics.  I love it when a customer selects a pretty floral print like the chintz in the center of these pillow shams and on the window treatment below.  The fabric has 4 distinct floral designs spread througout that made it easy to use in creative ways. 

Originally the "back" of the shams shown above were supposed to be just a stripe fabric with something fairly solid for the placket covering the zipper.  But it as just too boring, too much stripe, too something.  And that pretty floral which covers the entire front side of the sham just called out to be combined with the stripe.  I had a yard of a fabric I'd bought for my own use years ago but never had done anything with.  My client loved the large green check portion so it got thrown into the mix along with a little cording made from the same fabric as the coverlet.  The resulting 4 fabric pillow shams are shown above.  I also did the little decorative pillow using some more of these fabrics and a pretty bullion fringe. 

A close up of the matching window treatments shows a little more of the pretty pattern fabric.  My customer and I love the same colors so this job was a particular joy to complete.

Top Down, Bottom Up

The shade on the left is a traditional Roman shade that lowers from the top down. The one on the right is positioned so the upper part of the window stays clear allowing privacy and some light in this bathroom (raises from the bottom up). Two different shades? No, this is the same window!

I've often ordered and installed Top Down/Bottom Up shades from Hunter Douglas (tm) but I'd never made this type of shade myself. I'd always made my Roman shades the traditional top down variety. This bathroom window was the perfect opportunity. The window is mounted high off the floor. She can keep the shade at about half way up from the bottom and still have all the privacy she needs yet get natural light. Otherwise, the bathroom shade would have to be lowered often or people just tend to leave them down all the time and not enjoy natural lighting. It is also important if you have Roman shades to move the position from time to time so you don't collect mildew.

Thought you might like a peek into my real job here. Tomorrow I'll return to papercrafts.

Sheer Delight

A few weeks ago a customer called and asked for gold sheers. My first thought was the type of sheer on the far right of this photo, a plain voile fabric colored gold. Then I quickly thought of all the beautiful patterned sheers I have and our choices opened up extensively. We looked at other solids but with some texture to them in various shades of gold. Her final choice was the diamond printed sheer on the left. It has a little texture and shading in the fabric and the diamond print is embroidered. I'm working with this fabric now and it is just beautiful. I can't wait to see them installed.

One of the other benefits besides the beautiful pattern and texture is the weight. While the fabric is still technically a sheer and will be unlined, it is heavy enough to hang alone without draperies - just what she wanted.

When you have a sliding door, french door or large window to cover, consider using sheer panels rather than draperies. You can draw them to filter light or let them hang in panels on the side. Sheers come in a wide range of colors and patterns adding a light, finishing touch to the room.