Project Weekend

I finished a big paper this week, one that has been hanging over my head for almost two semesters. When I have a major school accomplishment like that, I often feel justified taking in a day (or two or three) to focus on some of my own projects, whether it be finishing a book or trying a new recipe or completing some home maintenance or organization task, or just putting my creative juices to work in some way (like my marzipan Lost figures or my Pi Day pie).

So the last couple days have been project days, and I've really enjoyed myself. I did a lot of reading and caught up on my book review blog. I put together a long overdue package for a friend on her mission. I created a seat cover for my car's backseat to help with the dog hair problem. I tried my hand at a hamhock soup with the ham bone leftover my Easter ham last weekend. I unclogged my shower drain. And my major project for the weekend was making curtains. Kelsey would be proud of me.

The project was inspired by the need for a new window covering. Jin is a wonderful, lovable dog, but he has a bad habit (which didn't manifest itself until a month or so after I got him) of hurling himself at our windows when another dog passes by. This practice of his has completely destroyed the blinds in my bedroom:



The blinds badly needed replacing, but I knew Jin would just destroy them again. So when Stephanie H. suggested that I make curtains I recognized this as a brilliant solution to the problem. I have never made curtains before, however, and so since neither of us had anything going on Friday evening, Stephanie came over and helped me with the project. We took a trip to the fabric store but nothing caught our eye, so we went out to the IKEA in Canton, because it turns out that they sell material specifically for making your own curtains. Inspired by the two-panel curtains hanging in some of the display rooms, we chose out two different kinds of material, one sort of stripey, and one solid and dark blue. Then we came home, popped in a chick flick to play in the background while we worked, and set about cutting the fabric and pinning and ironing it. And of course I had Ashley help document the process. I was already mentally mapping out my blog entry.




The most difficult part of the project was dealing with Jin (who was, himself, the cause for our domestic efforts in the first place). Since we were hanging out on the floor, he assumed this meant we wanted to pay attention to him. Why else would we be down at his level? And there was also this interesting new surface for him to lay on. When you're a dog and spend most of your time laying on the floor, I imagine that new textures must be sort of exciting. It was really hard to keep Jin off the fabric, and as a consequence my blue curtains have a thin layer of dog hair on them. Jin was also completely oblivious to the needles, and to the hot iron, and so he got himself shut in my bedroom a couple times for his own safety until he could behave and sit quietly off to the side.


The next evening I borrowed a sewing machine from Damien, who lives conveniently on the other side of the parking lot, and then had help loading the thread onto the sewing machine from Ashley's mom, who was conveniently in town for Ashley's recital. The last time I used a sewing machine was about six years ago when I attempted (unsuccessfully) to sew a shrug for a sleeveless bridesmaid dress I was going to be wearing, and the last time before that was probably six years earlier. I do not have vast sewing experience. But it was just a lot of straight stitches, and it wasn't like anyone would be wearing the curtains, so a crooked stitch or two (or ten or twenty as it turned out) didn't have too many negative repercussions.

Actually, in the end I was pretty proud of the result. I think the curtains turned out well, and I think they solve the Jin-throwing-himself-at-the-window problem.


(If you look carefully, you'll see that I'm completely toasted. The weather has been beautiful here and I spent a lot of Friday and Saturday soaking up a little too much sun while walking my dog, reading out on the lawn, and barbecuing in the park.)

Here's one last shot of the final Jin-proof product. My bedroom in my current apartment is my first real attempt at some kind of coherent interior decoration scheme, and I'm sort of proud of it. I feel like the curtains fit in particularly well, and I'm really pleased with the effect.