Sunday, July 20, 2014

Country Curtains

When it comes to decorating styles, my mother loves the French Country style. Mine is more 'eclectic'. Which is a nice way of saying "cast-off and garage sale chic". Any of you who have more than one Y Chromosome running around in your house, probably have the same decorating style. Boys can make any area resemble a war zone in mere minutes. One day, I may develop a style, but only on that day when the last one turns 18 and I change the alarm code for the last time, will I be able to figure it out.

Today's inspiration challenge is 'Country Curtains' and I genuinely like the website. I loved the seaside lines and toile, but I wanted to push myself out of those comfort zones and work with patterns I didn't really care for. I picked up this 6x6 paper pad at Hobby Lobby a year ago. It was half-price and, comfort zone notwithstanding, I ain't turning down half-price!! It's the only one of its kind in my craftroom, and has never been used til today. I saw this quilt pattern on the website http://www.countrycurtains.com/categ...+collection.do and it became my inspiration. Not only was this a first in color and style for me, it's the FIRST time I used the sewing machine I purchased a year ago and JUST FIGURED OUT HOW TO USE!!! Sort of. I managed to keep it sort of straight around the edges and did NOT injure myself!! That's SUCCESS in my book, people! After the fact, I realized I should've used a navy thread but I let it go...I'd had ALL the success I needed for one day.

The paper I sewed to the mat was so pretty, I couldn't think of anything I could do that would make it worth covering up. So, I took a second sheet and fussy cut several balloons, which I attached over each one's mate with mounting tape. Then I set 2 eyelets, punched out 5 banners with letters spelling "Merci" and glued them to the twine I strung through the eyelets. I feel like I totally cheated but DANG!! That was GREAT paper!!! I totally blame the paper company for making such spectacular paper. Feel free to do that as well.


2 comments:

  1. Your ballons are amazing! See, you CAN fussy cut and your stitching probably would show up better in a photo if it was navy, but I bet that in person, it looks great just the way it is.
    Am curious as to where this "Country Curtains" challenge came from. Is it an SCS one?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, yeah...you caught me. ;) It IS an SCS challenge. They have different daily challenges and they always have something new to learn. It's free! They do have a yearly membership for 25 dollars and I always sign up...comes with access to a few more places and templates, etc. I mostly joined because I like supporting it. It's such a great resource. Sorry I've sucked at keeping in touch but, as you can see, I'm actually creating again! Whoo hoo1

    ReplyDelete