One Thing Leads to Another

It all started so innocently. 

I told my friend Rachel I would make the crib skirt and curtains for her nursery so she wouldn't have to pay for a seamstress. 

But then I felt guilty about finishing her curtains while the curtains for my kids' playroom still sat, half finished, in my craft room. 

So I decided to use her curtains as an incentive to finish my own.

I got motivated and whipped out the ol' sewing machine, only to discover that I didn't have enough liner for my curtains.  And JoAnn didn't have any more of that same liner.  I bought new liner and had to reline both valances. 

Then it was time to hang the valances, but I didn't have any rods.  I wanted brown rods, but I could only find black ones in the length I needed.  Jim told me to make sure I got a center bracket because he didn't want the rods to bend in the middle like our downstairs ones.  I listened to my dear husband, but on my way home it hit me: You can't use a center bracket with valances!  Too bad I now had two black rods with center brackets when I needed brown ones without the brackets.

I had a perfect solution!  I'd move the too-flimsy-for-heavily-lined-drapes curtain rods upstairs to the playroom (and get the brown color I wanted) and use the black ones downstairs.  Crisis averted!

But when I took down the toile curtains down, I realized having Jim install the new, black rods was my opportunity to have him move the brackets out further, making the window look bigger. 

I also realized that I was going to need to lengthen the panels because they had always been too short and I didn't want to move the brackets down any closer to the window.

So I ripped stitches and pulled out more of the ticking that I had so brilliantly folded under, in case I needed more.  I stitched everything back up, really excited to see it all done.

I showed Jim where to put the brackets, and when I got the curtains up...

They were way too long.

I suggested that we would have to move the brackets.  He more than suggested that he was not putting more holes in the wall.  (He had already filled and sanded all of the pre-existing holes.)  I said that I was not hemming the curtains.

 

So Jim had the idea to pull the curtains up and make them tighter against the rod, leaving some extra fabric gathered at the top.  I discovered that I liked the look, and it made the curtains stay gathered on the rod better, so I took them down and ran some extra stitches.  All in all, a happy mistake.

But moving the curtains meant that the printer's drawer was badly off center on the wall.

Jim fixed it while I was gone one night, and it made me realize how badly I want to get french doors... and a deck... and a swing set... and pretty weather in which to watch my kids swing while I sip lemonade.  Can you tell I'm easily distracted?

Yesterday morning I finally finished working on the curtains for Rachel, and this afternoon I'm heading over to her house to help put the room together.

I'm sure that when I get there, I'll find that hanging the curtains will lead to some new project.  I guess I am a mouse, and projects are my cookies???

 

Mmm... chocolate chip cookies... Maybe I should bake today...