inhale...exhale...relax your shoulders...repeat as often as needed

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

practical stitching

Here are Hannah's new curtains,
made with fabric and hardware from IKEA.
These were so, so easy to stitch up, 
and the nifty little clips made hanging them a breeze.
(artwork on the wall is by Nikki McClure, a Reed family favorite)
During the day a lovely tree screens her view to the neighbors,
but in a few short weeks, when the leaves fall,
those same neighbors will be up close and personal.
The nifty curtain ring/clip mechanism will make it easy to keep
the curtains open or closed, according to need.

Any of you who quilt may recognize 
leftover binding strips stuffed into my basket.
And call me crazy, but I save used bags 
from onions, citrus and potato purchases.
Before returning to college a few weeks ago,
 Gretta asked me about making some produce bags.
(We are trying to bring as little plastic into 
our homes as we can these days.)
  I used some of the leftover binding strips to create
 a sturdy closure for the bottom of a newly made bag.
I also stitched some co-ordinating strips to use as tie closures
for the bags, to keep things from tumbling out at the 
checkout counter.
Some of the bags were already pretty sturdy,
so I just added tie strips.
I hope Gretta will remember to toss them into her 
backpack when she heads off to the store on her sweet bike.

The more sew-it-yourself,
recycled,
use-it-up
projects I can manage,
the better I feel.

I am so grateful to have my trusty sewing machine
and a long line of creative, seam-stressy women who came before me. 

4 comments:

  1. Great curtains, great bags, great post!
    Cheers,

    Jeanneke.

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  2. What a great idea. And love the curtains, especially the fabric and that you made them long. Great idea for the space!

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  3. Wow, great projects, Karen!! Those curtains are stunning - they would give me a visual boost every time I closed them! Lucky Hannah! And the strengthened produce bags are a great idea! You have a knack for turning the ordinary and functional things in life into something special.
    Love your sewing posts!

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