Window treatment

We are having a VERY cold and gloomy day here today. There might even be snow! Although it will probably be sleet. But if there's any frozen precip I'll try to get pictures of it so my northern readers can laugh at how excited such an experience makes all of us down here.

However, I'm spending most of the weekend working on curtains. This is an activity that I haven't attempted in many, many, years. But I'm finding that the deeply-rooted experiences passed on from my mother and grandmother have remained accessible by my brain's RAM system. Not to mention that my ancient sewing machine (a surprise present from my Mom while I was in college; which, trust me, was a LONG time ago) is still functional.

Looks like a good day to be inside instead of outside...

In spite of the fact that the window above looks like it could use a treatment, too, what I'm working on are curtains for our place in Colorado. We've had new shades installed for the expansive windows in the main room of our place (thanks to super-handyman Chris for sending us this picture...we haven't personally seen the shades yet):

We think they will cut down on the glare from the low winter sun while still letting in some of the ambient scenery. But for one of the windows, that faces our next-door-neighbor's place rather cosily, we thought privacy might occasionally be appropriate. So that's the main curtain I'm constructing. 

However, thanks to a cache of attractive fabric that my mother-in-law had put away, and that we recently discovered (I'd seen it in the bin before but thought it was a tablecloth...Tootsie was very big on table settings), I have enough material for not only that curtain, but also for some in the bathroom, a kitchen door, and valences for above the shades. 

Here's the fabric we found:

Isn't it pretty?! And we think it will both complement our newly cream-colored walls and provide welcome splashes of color on them.

I got sort of an idea of how the things will hang by trying them out on a new curtain rod suspended between two doors, as you see below. I'm going to wait to do the final hemming up of the bottoms until they are in situ, since I don't fully trust my measurements. But I'm pleased with how they're coming out.

The whole process would be going much more smoothly, and would be more enjoyable, if Mom and Momoo were around to consult with and answer questions. But I hope they would be happy with how I've channeled their expertise. I can't even think about sewing anything without remembering their patient teaching sessions. 

So much for the blogging break...back to work!