New curtains and other mending

I'm the sort of person who accumulates a mountain of things that need to be mended before pulling out the sewing machine and just getting it done. This time around I only finished part of my pile because I had a larger project to finish.

We bought some curtains on the cheap from a family who was moving out of town to cover the Arcadia door in our bedroom. They are nice, heavy off-white cotton curtains, but they weren't thick enough to keep Sitka's summer sun from pouring into our bedroom, so the plan was to add a layer to the backside of each of the curtains. First, though, I had to patch a couple of holes.

Next, I took an old greenish flat sheet I had bought secondhand for the purpose of rug-making and split it in half. I attached each half to the back of each curtain with a strong seam and voilà! New curtains! Even better is that the colored fabric on the back now lets a soft green glow into the room where, otherwise, there is nothing but a white wall.

The curtains took me several hours over two evenings to finish, but I do like the finished product.

After that, I fixed the strap that had come loose on one of Seren's purses and I made a cover for the pan in Nika's crate, using an old beach towel that she had chewed the corner off of when she was a puppy and since has been bunched up in a pile of fur in the back of her crate. This was a ridiculously easy project, since all I did was fold the towel in half length-wise (right-side together) and sew two seams up the middle to fit the width of the pan. I then turned the towel right-side out and slid the pan into place. The excess on each side of the seams was maneuvered on top of the pan for "padding." This makes an attractive and comfy place for her to sleep, and I don't have to hear her nails clacking on the plastic pan every time she gets in or out of her crate.

Easy as this was, it should have only taken me 15 minutes to do. Instead, it took me about 45 minutes because I had to deal with some frustration which included a bent needle, several stabs with a straight pin, the wrong size bobbin, several tangled wads of thread that had to be cut out of my machine, and lots of swearing. Stephen, of course, helped by sitting across the table, watching the scene and providing colorful commentary.