Vicki loves her new curtains. The valances – which I thought were going to be too long – were just right and could have possibly been a bit longer even. Here are some shots of her dining room windows:
This shows the valance a bit closer:
Here is her bedroom curtain tied back:
The final products turned out better than I thought they would and Vicki was very pleased with all of them. The bedroom curtain definitely blocked the light and helped her to sleep better.
Original Post I’ve been working on a valance for Vicki’s dining room windows. In my motif book, there is a flower line which is quite fun. This fits Vicki and she marked it with one of her little tabs (this is what she does to all my crochet books in the hopes I’ll make her all the things she marks).
I finally finished the valances for her two windows in her dining room. I made 62 flowers of 4 different designs. These were quick little flowers which took very little time to make but they are quite fun. The one on the left (peach petal with white smaller petals and orange center) is an adaptation from the patterns because I wasn’t thrilled with how the third style (yellow/green petals peach center) worked up and looked. I ended up doing two of this style and they are the center flower for each of the valances.
In the book the flowers are put together with fishing line so they look like they are floating. I joined mine together with green chain so it looks like a vine. I could have just done a simple chain but that seemed a bit boring. Instead I played with a leaf pattern. I was going to try to make a triangle type leaf but the few things I tried I didn’t like. As I was playing with the design I realized it would be easy to use the Crocodile Stitch for leaves. In the picture below you can see where I did just chaining and then a different spot where I put four crocodile stitches in a row. These four were worked directly above each other.
I also played with the spacing of the chains – from number of chains to number of leaves as the pictures show.
When I did the crocodile stitch I discovered an interesting occurrence when I worked the stitches from the last stitch in the crocodile stitch instead of slip stitching into the center to make them straight above each other (see above). When I worked the next crocodile stitch from the last stitch it created a coiling affect which I liked – see the picture below.
So Vicki would have two unique valances – I started the vine with a crocodile stitch for one and two crocodile stitches for the other one.
In general I would chain a certain number of times (generally 5 or 10) before I added another feature sometimes a flower, sometimes a leaf or four. As you can see from the picture below, I would sometimes put the flowers very close together.
I got the flowers to hang differently from the vine by varying how I attached the flowers. In the picture below the left hand flower (white petals) is attached with a slip stitch at the bottom and top of a petal. The right hand flower (pink petals) is joined by slip stitching on either side of the center flower. The white flower hangs differently which adds variety just like you would see in nature.
This last picture shows a variety of flowers and leaf sequences.Vicki will be tacking them to her wall around the upper part of her window (unless she decides to use a curtain rod to twine them around).These will hang down in whatever arrangement she puts them.My only concern is that Sasha may think this is a toy for her to bat at and play with but that isn’t going to be my problem.
This is just the valance and the curtains are going to be a café type curtain with dots all over it in the same colors. It should look good when we are done. I’ll try to take a couple of pictures and post them later.
It’s been a busy weekend.I’ve got my list for while I’m on vacation and I’ve already started on it.I have a two page post it list of what I want to get done during my vacation.I’ve also got a whole bunch of paperwork on my desk that needs sorting.
Errands are done.Somehow I never put those on my list so when I look at my list it looks like I’ve done next to nothing but I got a fleece blanket done while I watched a movie – Fair Game about the CIA agent who was exposed by the government.Good movie and it was well worth borrowing from the library (heck it would be worth renting too).I also started a gift for someone.I am really LOVING the pattern.I love discovering an easy pattern that works up nicely and looks so much better than I thought it would.It amazes me how you can buy a skein of yarn and with a bit of skill turn it into something useful and beautiful.
I’ve worked on transcribing this weekend and plan to do more.I hope by the time I go to bed tonight I’ll have two of the four interviews done.The client is waiting on them and I’m trying to meet the deadline.
We talked to the girls this weekend.Mom is down there visiting.It sounds like they are all having a great time.I saw pictures on Facebook that shows the gardens they went to which had a ton of flowers – I do love flowers.
It has been a good weekend with down time balancing out all the other stuff that needs to get done.I sat for a couple hours today and helped Vicki paint ornaments.I enjoyed the intricacy of the wood ornament and the simplicity of just covering it with paint.
Now it is time to settle in to the real work of the week.I have to revise two stories, start my final project, do some work for the union, edit some other papers and a whole list of other things.I may not be at work this week but I’m still going to be working my bum off
Every spring our front garden slowly starts to blossom.I’ve had white daffodils blooming for the last two or three weeks.This morning I was a bit grumpy because I was up early and had to go back to work.It isn’t the work – it is the up early part.I stepped out of my house feeling slightly grumbly and looked at my garden as I try to every morning.This morning I was greeted by happy bright pink flowers on my rhododendron bush.It was cheerful and bright and beautiful.It made me smile.
I went to grab my phone and realized I’d left it inside.I had to find my house keys and go back for my phone.Then I snapped a quick shot of my pretty flowers and text my two daughters in Georgia.The response I got was – look no snow.Never mind the gorgeous flowers.They just commented on the no snow.
To be fair, we’ve had a bit of a gloomy month for April.We had snow and a lot of rain.I’m definitely ready for there to be some bright days.Just because she lives in Georgia and they’ve had beautiful weather for like three months, doesn’t mean she should rain on my parade.
Well I just ignored her comment and enjoyed the pretty flowers.They are a pink / purple color that is just a happy color.It put a smile on my face and started my day right.Now I’ll have to keep watch on the rest of the garden to see what pops up next.
In my back yard I have a daffodils and hyacinth up.The hyacinths are pink and purple.The daffodils are white.At some point I’m going to have more tulips.They are one of my favorite spring flowers.
My bushes in the back yard are sprouting green and red.I have some dogwood bushes, hydrangea, lilac, and others I can’t remember the names of.The spirea bushes haven’t bloomed yet and I’m waiting on those.We have two in the front yard and one in the back yard.
It will be so nice to sit in the yard again.It will be great to enjoy the smells and sounds in the yard.I’m looking forward to the spring and summer.
