Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Day

Todd had Monday off of work. He kindly gave me the day off of my regular job and learned more about how school works on a daily basis. He slept in, but that was still early for the rest of us. School was finished before 4 PM though so his first suggestion was to get up earlier. We tried today. We will try harder tomorrow.

After school was done he encouraged everyone to get out side. G loves to skate on the pond, but that means someone has to keep the snow off of some of it. Todd becomes the human Zamboni. This is his first attempt at a home made snow removal device. He made a "blade" out of scrap metal from the corn crib that had fallen down on the property years ago and 2 x 4s. He attached that to a furniture dolly. It works better then shoveling, but it still is a lot of work to do the 600+ foot drive. I will try to get pictures of his second invention later.J had taken a walk in the woods earlier. She saw lots of deer prints. T doesn't handle to cold well so she and J worked on something on J's laptop--music organization I think.
After some fresh air Todd and G worked on math facts.
And J and T made cookies. Here she is offering me the chocolate chips that were left over.T got the most important job--licking the beaters.
I spent the day sewing curtains. I was happy to get them done, but did get bored of sewing straight lines.
D has a John Deere room so he chose curtains to match.

This is an close of the fabric.
G and N chose a silky sheer print that looks like water to go in their tropical room. I made sheers instead of lining theirs. All the others are lined with white muslin.



My favorite are the ones I made for the little girls. M's response was worth the extra effort: she stared for a moment then said, "They are cooooollll and beautiful!"I found the main fabric and was amazed how well it matched their room--green and orange with numbers to go with the letters on the border. Then I saw the coordinating stripey print and bought some to do "something fun with". I used the ancient ruffler attachment for my ancient machine (that lost a part in the move) to make a ruffle, but that wasn't enough so I added the valence. I originally planned to use the ribbon to tie the curtains to the rod, but changed my mind when I added the valence. The ribbon makes a nice contrast.I ran out of orange thread with one and a half seams yet to top stitch on the ribbon. I called some nearby friends, they didn't have any orange thread. I was I was getting worried. I had to go into town for something else (and lunch out on my day off I thought I might as well live it up and grab a quarter pounder). I was not surprised that nowhere in our little town could I find orange thread, but I did think in the quiet of my van that I could use clear or mono filament thread. So I was able to finish. No one will every know...well you know, but I doubt you will go looking for the difference.
The master suite curtains are up but need hemming. Maybe I will get pictures up when that is done.

5 comments:

Lisa said...

The curtains are GORGEOUS! Well worth the straight-line boredom!

Lainie said...

Holy cow! You're a sewing maniac! We've lived here for three years and I haven't finished that many curtains. Great job!

Becky said...

I haven't done any sewing for over nine months I was in withdrawl.

Mackenzie said...

They're great!! I love the ones for your girls...both sets. :) A day very well spent! Good luck with your early mornings. I was homeschooled, so early mornings are very been there, done that! I'm enjoying these last few years before I have to start getting my babies up to start our own lessons!
~Mackenzie (from S&S)

Mama Sewing said...

My sons would just love the John Deere curtains--I won't let them see your post or I may be looking for that fabric!