Getting out of the box

I don't know about anyone else, but as a workroom, I find myself in a box. Sometimes I don't even realize it, but oh, I am there!

Last weekend, I went to a mini-family reunion of sorts where quite a few family members got together to make Christmas table runners for everyone in the family who was interested. This is my mom's side of the family, and it is filled with very artistic people!

Every once in a while, when meeting with this side of the family, I use it as a good time to get rid of old scraps of fabric that have been laying around for years. When I see these fabrics in my workroom, all I can think of are window treatments, pillows, etc - the things that I work with on a daily basis. Well, last weekend, I looked outside of the box! A couple of cousins brought projects for "show and tell". They had taken some of the scraps that I had given them quite some time ago and added other things and came up with some really cool tote bags! I was so shocked to see what they had done. Why didn't I think of that???

Wow - I don't know why it's so hard for me to get out of this box, but when I do, it really gets the juices flowing. This weekend, the plan is to see if I can pull together some of what I have laying around and see if I can work the magic that they did - good thing I took pictures to help me remember how they did it.

If it works, I'll post pictures of what I come up with.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cool new tool!

This is the latest of 4 cornices that I just finished for a designer. I was excited to work on this project, because I had a new tool laying here that I was dying to try out!



It's called a Point to Point and it helped me to lay out the spacing for the nailheads. It made this the easiest nailhead job I've ever done. I heard about this tool on the Helser Brother's blog and am so glad that I did.



You can read the post on their blog here: http://www.whyhelser.com/?p=3828



They are an awesome company to work with and a lot of fun. Thanks guys!

Arched PVC rod

It was exciting to recently get my copy of Drapery & Design Professional Magazine in the mail.

In it was an article that I had written about bending PVC to create a drapery rod for an arched window.

A year or so ago, we were asked to create a window treatment that was similar to one that a client had seen in a magazine. It was a beautiful treatment of swags and cascades hung on an arched window. The only thing that stumped us was the arched rod. The article mentioned that it was PVC. From there, we were lost. We actually knew the person who had done that treatment in the magazine, and after speaking with her and doing some added research, we figured out how this can be done. If a client wants iron hardware, then companies can normally bend the iron to fit a template as requested. If wooden hardware is requested, that's not so easy to do. Using PVC for the actual rod, then matching it to chosen finials is the perfect solution. And, as well as anything else, if you know the tricks, it's not that difficult to do!

Here is a picture of the rod that we had bent for the picture in the article.

I found a mascot!

I was with a good friend of mine at our local quilter's guild meeting last month. At the end of each meeting, there is time for "show and tell". Anyone who has finished a project is invited to bring it and show it to the group. Linda and I sat there and about died when a lady got up and showed her version of the above quilt.

We both thought the same thing - this would look PERFECT hanging in our workrooms! We are both quilters at heart and have many projects going at the same time. Since I am also a drapery workroom, I was thinking about even making two of these as wall hangings - one to be a Quilt Diva and the other to be a Workroom Diva. Although the pictures may end up looking quite a bit the same, there could definitely be some differences.

I think she deserves a name and a place of honor as my workroom mascot. First of all, though, I guess I should order the pattern. It will take some time to pick out just the right elements for each detail, but that's half the fun. As I get this going, I'll keep you posted!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Quilting project

Just a short post for this week. This is a picture of my latest quilting project. It is a miniature table runner that has been framed. The entire quilted portion is just 5" x 21". It's always fun to do a project that can be completed in a very short time. It makes the time consuming projects much easier to handle.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!