Milk Crate Bench Seat

Last week after all the rush to finish my Christmas gifts, I finally sewed the pillow for Skylar's crate bench seat.  Remember back over Labor Day when I spent all that time priming those crates?  I attached them together right away and they have been functional as storage bins for Sky's room since then.  I've had everything all ready to go for the pillow for ages but I'm procrastinator petey with things from time to time, obviously.  Anywho, here's my final result:

 

Here is the bench seat below Skylar's window.  I'm thinking I eventually would like to get (or make) new bookshelves for her room that would actually sit below the window and move the bench opposite the bed where her current bookshelves (which I hate) are located.  This seems like a good plan because the wall that the shelves are on now is the most open wall and would be perfect for a little play area for her.  I could even put a magnetic/dry erase board on the wall behind the bench seat.  

At any rate, I love how her room is getting cuter with every project I do for it.  The current tally of made-by-me items in Sky's room?...let's see:

Curtains with valance

Name wall art

Newborn Shadowbox

Positively Expecting Shadowbox

Family Portrait

Button mirror (which actually is hanging at Sky height in the bathroom right now, but was made for her room.

Bed pillows

And various scrapbooks including:

Baby Shower Card Scrapbook

Baby Belly Book

Completed Window Treatment

I finished Skylar's bedroom curtains the other day and assembled them with the valance on the wall.  I'm very pleased with how they turned out:

 

Some progress shots:

Center curtain panels and completed valance

The purple panels are made from a set of old full size jersey bed sheets.  The jersey was a bit warped in places which required repinning and sewing to get rectangular panels.  I decided to line the center panel with the accent green tulle.  With the remaining tulle I lined the top of the 3 original panels.

The valance is made from 3 layers of foamboard taped together, wrapped in pink gingham and pinned in place.  It is a lightweight decorative accent to hide my curtain casings and the curtain rod.

With additional outer panels (later added 2 more purple panels)

 I had a scrap of the pink gingham left which made perfect side panels.  However, they still didn't have the total window coverage I'm looking for.  So I made 2 more jersey panels to fill them out a bit.

Close-up of valance corner: pearl head pins are decorative and functional!

My sewing isn't amazing but I think my curtains are great but I absolutely love my sweet awesome valance!  It was actually pretty easy to make and beautifully hides the sewing flaws in my curtains :D

Window treatments

Another boring day at work left me craving some craft time when I got home.  So after a hasty late supper of leftover egg bake I decided (since Sky's at her dad's) to work on her curtains.  I had thought I was done but upon seeing them up on the window I decided they needed some more work.  The basic construction I have so far is 3 purple panels that are adequate in length but don't have sufficient coverage.  I initially added 2 slightly longer, narrower panels in the pink gingham that I used to cover the valance.  I didn't have enough of the gingham to make any more additional panels from it.  So this evening was spent measuring, cutting, and pinning 2 new purple panels to fill them in a little.  I embellished the center panel with a folded layer of green tulle down both sides and used the rest of the unfolded tulle to embellish the casing at the top of all 3 original purple panels.  Now I'm wondering if, once these 2 new panels are sewn, will I need to get more tulle to go along the casing?  Or would it look stupid if I put the 2 new panels on either side of the center panel therefore staggering the tulle embellishment at the top?  The question I should be asking is why I'm staying up so late when I have to work so early...at least I can fall asleep brainstorming a solution to my crafty conundrum.

And yes, there will be pictures of the curtains...I've taken a few so far but I'd rather save the big reveal until they're completed and hung with the valance (which btw is awesome!).