projects for Ash + my new favorite toy

Ashley bought her first house about a month ago, and she asked me to help her with a few house-hold craft projects. Of course, I was thrilled to! I love a good project.

1. Hemmed bed skirt.

When she asked if I could hem her bed skirt I basically laughed at how easy of a project it would be. Boy was I wrong! I forgot how many box pleats her (custom made) bed skirt had, oh, and how completely incapable I am of complicated sewing projects. I made it work, but Ash... it's pretty bobo.

2. Coasters.

Now these are cute. We found some coasters that my mom had (lovingly) stamped some seasonal images on that they were willing to retire. I just cut out scrapbook paper and decoupaged it on top of the ceramic tiles!

3. Curtains

I LOVE how these turned out! Ashley sent me several curtain panels that she had in her old house (the cute patterned ones from the front room) but wasn't going to use as full-panels in the new house. She just needed valances for 2 windows in the kitchen, and she told me to do whatever I wanted. This was the perfect opportunity to try out my favorite Christmas present, a ruffler foot for my sewing machine! Side story: I has asked my mother-in-law for this for Christmas (she drew my name in our family swap), and I put the one I wanted on my Amazon wishlist. She bought it for me right away (before Thanksgiving!), but I thought it didn't fit my machine. SO, I returned it, she sent me a check, I bought a new one... two months later, I get the exact same ruffler foot in the mail. I was so bummed! I surrendered to the fact that it was probably a user-error to begin with, and after many frustrated calls to my mom and many consultations to my manual, I figured out why it didn't work and fixed it. Long story short, I still don't know what I'm doing with a sewing machine. Resume curtain story: I successfully used my ruffler foot and made Ash some cute curtains.

Still in the works:

Cushion for her rocking chair

Placemats