Home Improvements

So many things can be knocked out if one knows how to sew. I am using the most affordable material EVER to make curtains and other accessories here in our Florida home. Drop cloth fabric. Yes. Go to your local hardware or big box store and buy a drop cloth. The one DH brought me was less than $20 and I yielded 2 full length curtains from it.

The guest room window looks out into the lanai and it definitely needed window treatment. The panels here are the easiest type of curtains to make. Hem the bottom and create a channel at the top for the rod. Bing-badda-bing. Done.

You are also seeing how I use that one corner of the bed. I sit at the sewing machine right in that area, and the bed affords me easy access to the 1.5-inch strips I have paired up for the 9-patches. (see previous posts)

Another window treatment needing to be addressed was above the kitchen sink. I had blinds in place, but valances were needed, too. For these, I went to the scraps from last year's window treatments and found enough left over to make these.

Besides curtains, I have also made one set of slipcovers. My cousins gave me two very old and worn cubes - squares that can be used as stools. We have a low bar in the kitchen at which seating could be used, but had nothing in particular in mind for such seating. These were a perfect solution. DH and I added casters to the bottom of the stools and then I made easy-peasy slip covers for them. Awesome. I love how they fit so perfectly in that space. Here's a couple of before and after shots.

We slowly make progress on turning this double wide mobile home into our winter getaway. It has become more homey as each day passes, and we find we are quite comfortable. You see evidence there on the counter of DH's duck decoy collection. He has upwards of a couple dozen, I would say. They are pretty and will look nice grouped together on a shelf we hope to hang after we upgrade the lanai.

I have acquired a couple of sewing jobs from the cousins. One cousin wants valances made of drop cloth fabric for her dining space. Another cousin wants me to recover a bench cushion with some upholstery fabric that matches her curtains. I think I will knock those out this afternoon.

Happy Quilting, Friends!