Nesting!

We are getting settled in here at our apartment in Missoula. (Fun fact: Missoula is known as the Garden City. I just moved from the Garden State, to the Garden City!)


Settling is leaving me more opportunities to get crafty. Fortunately, a lot of that craftiness has been put toward the baby blanket. Yes, I'm still working on it. I've got about 22 inches. I plan to knit it 36 inches long, so I'm getting closer.

I also decided to make curtains. First, I wanted to make curtains for the kitchen - there's just one window and the back door - because the tile on the backsplash and countertop trim is such an unusual shade of blue. Turquoise or aqua probably comes closest in describing it. I knew I could get standard white or maybe black curtains that would look fine, but I thought it would be fun to find a fabric that picks up the color. DB and I went to Jo-Ann Fabric to pick out some and found a pattern of leaves in various colors, including the blue. When we got home, I found it is just about a perfect match to the tiles! I'll credit DB's eye, since he picked out the bolt first.

While in this crafty vein of thinking, I thought it might be nice to make some luxe-looking drapes for the reading room (also known as the Kitty Den, as we anticipate Isis will be spending a lot of time there when DB is reading there - no man caves for us!). We picked out a chocolate taffeta with a subtle, elegant scroll pattern, and crushed taffeta in the same color as the backing.

I've so far made the two panels for the kitchen window. My original plan was to use no-sew, iron-on seaming (as I have no sewing machine and even if I did, my sewing skills are terrible), and create the side, bottom and top hems, as well as the rod pocket. Well, here I run into a pre-existing problem: I cannot cut on a straight line, ever. It really doesn't matter how much I measure (twice, at least) or iron lines or anything. If I am using scissors, some awful rule dictates that my cuts are as crooked as possible. This led to difficulties seaming properly...and ultimately to not really having enough fabric to make two more panels for the door. (Also, I estimated wrong and probably should've gotten four, instead of three, yards. Oops.) I do have enough left to make a valance, so it's something to consider. (Or getting more fabric. Also, Jo-Ann had these cute no-sew roman shade and similar projects, so I might do something like that.)

Another issue with the rod pocket....because of my crooked cutting and off measurements, I didn't end up with enough fabric to have both the upper hem and rod pocket and the iron-on seaming wasn't holding up. I had bought curtain grommets intending to use them for the more elegant reading room drapes, but decided to put them to use for the kitchen curtains. This was probably my favorite part of the project because it was well within my skill set and the result was very rewarding. All I had to do was measure the distance for the grommets, trace the outline, cut it out, and snap in the grommets. Technically I should have used almost just as a thick an upper hem, but I had just enough in addition to a double layer of fabric.

I haven't yet attempted the reading room curtains. I need more seaming and grommets, and as nice as the kitchen curtains look, overall it was a very frustrating process. I'm sticking with knitting for now, and just regular, old decorating.

I've got the living room almost done, aside from curtains. I'm not planning on making any, but our landlady plans on painting, so we're waiting for that. I didn't plan too much for this room, but it ended up going in a greens with hints of blue direction and organic/nature-inspired accents way, so that's where I followed it. Potpourri-filled, green owl form, green bamboo bowl filled with pretty wooden and floral stuff, wooden lamp base with a natural colored, textured shade....plant stand with our housewarming spathiphyllum....green silk pillows and another with blues and greens in it. (Brought to you by....Target, TJMaxx and the great furniture store we found!) For curtains I'm planning on using another textured fabric, either in a complementary green or neutral shade.

So things are coming together. I don't have pictures of our reading room, though I will once I make and put up the curtains. We have no kitchen table yet, or office furniture, and the bedroom is a bit spare. However, there are so many built-ins in the hallway that we really don't need a dresser or anything. Once I'm back for good, I will put a small table there for my hairdryer and stuff, because strangely the bathroom has no outlets whatsoever. Although....

I am getting my hair cut on Monday! Short....I'm thinking 1920s, 1930s bob...Louise Brooks....between earlobe and chin length....some kind of bangs....sleek but still with some texture, not too severe or angled....and ideally something I do not have to blow dry. I'm drawn again to one of my favorites, but I can't remember how it actually looked on me. I do remember I had a hard time achieving similar messiness, but that it was okay. I know I'm asking a lot especially considering that I have a lot of hair and it tends to do bad things when I let it be. Even with its current length it is very flippy. Well, anything shorter than this must be more manageable and look better. Being able to put my hair up is not as much fun as I remembered it to be, and certainly not worth all the trouble.

Off to make dinner....by the way, it is after 9 here and still very, very light out. Apparently that's some effect of being so far north. It's weird....feels more like it should be 7 or so.