Getting there. . . Behind the Ironed Curtains

Ok, who among us is old enough to get the joke in the title?

However... what is here, below, are un-ironed curtains,
waiting for their place in the sun.

It's a tale of Great Expectations!

Back on Friday, what was I thinking? (Read here.)

I challenged myself to sew all the curtains for That Old House over the weekend, and also paint the hall bath vanity, and have my husband and brother-in-law hang a mirror over that vanity.

Well, the guys did their job on Sunday evening. Since this job involved power tools, my sister and I made sure they got that mirror up before they got their glasses of wine.

So -- there's a new mirror in place of the old medicine chest.

And the vanity is painted a lovely off-black.... not. I haven't done that yet. I am using the excuse that I need to do some touch up paint here and there, and I will do all the painting on the same day, to minimize the mess.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

But the curtains? They are sewn! And I have the very sore shoulder muscles and swollen hands to prove it. I wrapped up the sewing late Monday night, so I did not manage to make my Sunday night deadline, but -- they are done!

Those bolts of fabric?

They are now big piles of folded curtain panels. Sewn, but not yet ironed and hung.

I hit some roadblocks along the way, not least of which was using unfamiliar machines. My own serger and sewing machine are 20-plus year old Kenmores, and I figured that using my designer daughter's spiffy new White serger. . .


and electronic Juki sewing machine would make the whole job quicker and easier. . .


Proving the maxim about making new friends, but keeping the old.... because the old are gold. It would have helped to have the instruction booklets for these new machines; it took me an hour just to figure out how to load the Juki's bobbin, and that was after it took me 40 minutes to find the foot pedal.

I hope that tonight Howard and I will get the curtain rods installed. So that tomorrow -- ta da! -- I can really take after pictures of the windows!

One missed opportunity -- I didn't have enough of that rose-printed fabric. I bought that fabric for the dining room which has 3 windows. The pink bedroom has 4 windows. Oops. I don't have time to shop for new fabric, so that room will have simple bamboo shades for the Open House on Saturday. I doubt anyone will faint.

The clock still ticks... our Saturday Open House looms, and there's still so much to do!

I love a party!