upcycling: quilt cover + sheet = curtains

I think that title is misleading because the curtains I made for the guest bedroom just in the nick of time for my in-laws visit look waaaay better than those student houses you see with sheets thrown up over the windows. I've been searching for months for curtain fabrics for the lounge room and bedrooms but nothing has really taken my fancy, and given that huge amounts of fabric are involved with curtains I think you really need to love the fabric before committing to it. But given the short notice for my in laws arrival I had to come up with something, so I turned to my trusty stash. And in fact I'm pretty happy with how they turned out so possibly these may become more permanent than originally intended. Sorry for the bad photo, but even with a fancy camera)that I don't know how to use most of the settings) it was hard to get a good shot with the light coming in through the window:

I had bought a queen sized quilt cover from an op shop some time ago purely because I liked the pattern: a cream fabric with a yellow and brown floral pattern. It was a little bit too short to use for the curtains, and since I wanted some fabric to cover the pelmet I lopped some fabric off the the bottom and sewed on a contrasting panel from a sheet that I happened to have that is a good complementary caramel brown colour. I also had a whole roll of curtain lining and plenty ruffle tape in the stash, both also picked up from op shops over the years which was extremely handy because the only new things I had to buy were the curtain rings and ribbon.

To jazz up the curtains a little to make them look like curtains and not bed linen hanging up, I sewed on a 1in wide yellow ribbon across the join of the contrast panel, toyed with sewing on some buttons but ran of out time so didn't. Don't you love it when those decisions are made for you?

Annoyingly I think the curtains are a little long, but I blame my husband for that because he put up new curtain rod brackets and must have put them on too low, because I made these curtains the same length as the existing sheers that were over the window. I suppose I could re-hem these or get my husband to put the brackets a bit higher - or just ignore it until our next guests come to stay!

Even though the in laws gave short notice to their visit, I'm pretty happy about to see them. My husband has taken the week off so I have a few extra pair of hands to help with the baby and it's almost like a mini holiday for me - now I have some babysitters I'm getting a haircut, a facial and possibly I can even squeeze a massage in. I may even turn up to mothers group on Wednesday without the baby so I'll be able to finish a cup of tea for a change. Plus my mother in law is a whir of activity, cooking, cleaning and making cups of teas so it's been great so far!

So to reply to some comments from the last post:

Marie-Christine - I'm definitely trying to do too much, that is in my nature and I just can't help myself! And I totally agree with you in not doing more than necessary, but this particular pattern was designed to be made as two pieces sewn together so there were no facings and I couldn't be bothered drafting any. Plus with only a few seams it didn't take that much longer to fully line it and using that tutorial is much quicker than the way the pattern called for. But don't worry I look for shortcuts everywhere, in fact if I ever meet the Slapdash Sewist in real life I'll arm wrestle her for the rights to her blog title!

Dawn - I don't know how I manage to do it, but somehow I can twist my arms in all directions and get those buttons done up at the back! Very handy skill really since due to the global financial crisis I had to let go my personal maid who assisted my dressing each morning LOL

Jean - if the day comes that I finish all my UFOs, I'm going to try, try, try to avoid creating new ones but I'm sure it will only be a matter of time. I bet an annoying but cute BWOF will de-rail me.....

Lindsay T - I'm not neglecting my sleep, in fact I feel pretty good these days. Little Anna and I have to a truce of sorts - she sleeps nicely for me usually three times a day, and I let her sleep in my bed for half of the night which she loves. Secretly though I don't mind at all because it means she sleeps in to a decent time in the morning, and she doesn't wake up when she's in our bed like she does in her cot.

Matrosehase - I wish I could claim the blazer I'm wearing in the last photo, but that's actually a skirt suit from Veronika Maine, one of my favourite RTW suits so I'm greatly relieved it still fits

Well with the in-laws around I'm not sure if I'll get any sewing done since I should be visiting with them instead of locking myself away in my sewing room which is what I really want to do. But it's almost like Christmas around here with all the presents and attention Anna is getting (not that she knows what Christmas is yet), so I'll just have to make do with my hair cut and facial and massage.............