Adding Ribbon to My Shabby Chic Curtains

My Guest Bathroom Window Curtain Project.

OK... I have put off this project long enough.  

We've been in our home over 11 years and except for a Hunter Douglas shade there have been no curtains at our Guest Bathroom window.   

There I've said it.  

I have good intentions.  

My head spins from all the decorating ideas I have but I am terrible sometimes about following through with them.  

I think it's because I can't make up my mind.  

This project is an excellent example.  

 I changed our Guest Bathroom to a black and white theme awhile ago and blogged about it (here) and (here).  

I really liked the new color combination but I knew it wasn't finished yet without any curtains or drapes at the window.  I debated with myself whether to purchase or make roman shades.  I knew what I wanted ~ a simple white shade with black ribbon trim ~ but just couldn't find any at a price I wanted to pay.  I reasoned with myself that I had muslin on hand and could make the roman shades without spending any money.  Not a difficult sewing project but one I never got around to.  

 Then one day we were in Target and I found a white Shabby Chic balloon shade for just $25.   The price was right so I grabbed it and bought it home.  

Good-bye Roman Shade...hello Balloon Shade. 

I was one step closer to doing something....finally.  

On one of my trips to Michaels this month I purchased black ribbon.   

Now I had the ribbon and the shade.  

No more excuses.  

Today I gathered together the balloon shade and the black ribbon.    

I decided to keep it simple and elegant - just one band of black ribbon at the top of the shade and one at the bottom.  

I didn't bother to pin the ribbon down I just used the embroidery marks to position my ribbon for sewing.

 It took very little time to sew the ribbon onto the shade.

Tomorrow I will string the cords through the shade and ask beg Hubby to hang the new pewter curtain rod in the bathroom. 

I can't wait to show you the final results.

Heck...I can't wait to see them myself. 

Just curious... am I the only woman who puts off doing home projects? 

Please join me for:

Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday

                                Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday
                                          Wendy at The Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday

Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

Cielo at The House in the Roses for Show Off Your Cottage Monday 

How Do You Like My Candy Cane?

I'm in love with RED and WHITE!

OK...it's not a real Candy Cane that you can eat!

For over a year I have been anxious ~ OK obsessing ~ to try a red and white ripple throw. 

I thought I would keep using Lucy at Attic24's "Easy Ripple" pattern but then I bought a new book on ripple stitches...Jan Easton's "Ripple Stitch Patterns".   

I love this book.  

All the patterns on the left page sides of the book are for knitting and the ones on the right page sides are for crocheting.  I don't knit, at this time, but I wouldn't minded trying some of the knit patterns some day.  The only thing the book doesn't have are stitch diagrams which I like to have in addition to the stitch pattern description written out.   I like the photo sample of each stitch and there is even an alternate look for each stitch.    

This stitch pattern is called "Storm Clouds" and I agree with Jan that it seems as if it is inspired by the groups of double crochet stitches that make up a traditional granny square.  

This ripple stitch is called "Storm Clouds".

I'm having fun working out the color pattern as I stitch.  

Probably most crocheters plan out their color arrangement in advance but I don't.  

I just wing it as I go along.  

That's the fun of it...seeing it come to life.  

It's amazing to see the strikingly different color patterns one can achieve by alternating the red and white yarn.

My color pattern of red and white...so far.

This pattern stitch, Storm Clouds, is very easy to do.   

I had it memorized immediately. 

The only problem I had was at the edges of the rows.  I noticed after crocheting the first two bands of red and white that my edges weren't straight.  But I kept on crocheting thinking praying they would work out in the end.  

Finally I realized, no, duh, they wouldn't work out and I wouldn't be happy with uneven edges...particularly after all that work.  

So I cut one end and tried to fix it.  

That didn't work so I had to frog two rows back where I cut the yarn.  

After staring at the edges for a while I figured out how to frog them back to where they all lined up and were straight.  It took a little work but it was worth it in the end.

If I had paid attention to my edges at the beginning I probably wouldn't have had this problem at all.

I highly recommend Jan Eaton's book!

It's a Work In Progress!

I love the "Granny Square" look to this stitch pattern.   

I'm already thinking about the next Christmas ripple throw in red, white and lime green.  There's another stitch pattern in Jan's book called "Granny Chevons" that I'm drooling over.  Actually there are so many of her patterns I'm crazy about it's hard to choose just one.  

Do you like my "Candy Cane"?

This is a good post for this week's REDnesday.

And there are more REDs to enjoy with our host, Sue, at 

It's A Very Cherry World

(here) 

for REDnesday!

Many thanks to all my readers for taking the time to visit me...I'm still amazed that anyone wants to read my little blog.  

Have a Happy Monday!

Mosaic Monday - Winter White

Courtesy of Flickr

1. Virkad snöstjärna/flinga!, 2. Virkad snöstjärna/flinga!, 3. Virkad snöflingestjärna!, 4. Virkad snöflinga!, 5. Winter Church Vintage Greeting Card, 6. Virkad snöflinga!, 7. Snöflinga!, 8. Winter Tree Vintage Christmas Card, 9. Snowman in Okaimeden


Please join Mary at The Little Red House (here) for more Mosaic Monday!

Textured White!

A Granny Tissue Box Cover in WHITE!

For our BLACK and WHITE Guest Bathroom!

I used some white yarn I had on hand to make this tissue box cover for our Guest Bathroom.  It's Lily's Sugar n' Cream 100% cotton yarn.

Again I used Michelle's The Royal Sisters pattern (click here to get pattern).

It's a heavier yarn than the Caron Simply Soft yarn I used on the previous tissue boxes and it gives a more textured look which I like...this is a close up of the shell edging.

I blogged about our Guest Bathroom (here) and (here).    It's still a work in progress.  I bought some lovely black leaf iron hooks for our hand towels that need to be installed.  And I still haven't decided on the window treatment...should I make something or buy something????  I have a huge roll of white muslin that I could sew either a valance or a roman shade or curtains.  Oh, decisions...decision...

I'm slow when it comes to decorating.  So many options run through my head that I can't make up my mind.

Sandy at Teacup Lane