Home Life

I was thumbing through one of my favorite country living books, Storey’s Basic Country Skills, and came across some great curtains for the country home.  These are great because they are #1 functional, #2 cute, and #3 Very easy to make.  I’m going to start on mine tomorrow I think - I need curtains on one of my windows and am just sick and tired of making simple straight curtains!  By the way, if you want really easy directions for making curtains I’ll include them here (how I did them, anyway).

To see tab curtains in action and how to make them, visit Here and Here.  If you shop at wal-mart, the one in Monroe has $1/yd fabric and I love their selection. 

To make basic, simple no-frills curtains you need to start off with your window measurements from the rod to the bottom of the window (or a few inches below it) and from side to middle (or a couple inches wider)

Cut your fabric according to those directions (you’ll need two peices), but be sure to add extra length and width for hemming.  If you plan to use these curtains from one room to another and mix them around a bit, make them long enough to fit your longest window, and just hem it up if you move it to a shorter window.  For a super wide window moving to a narrow window this idea may not work so well though, so keep width in mind.  Fold and press the edges, and fold and press again to hide the raw edge.  Sew the edges.  Then for the top you want to create your opening for the curtain rod by folding the top down a couple of inches and sewing again.  You can line the edges of your curtains with a color or pattern that compliments the main curtain color if you wish.  I did this by measuring my edges before folding the top down for the curtain rod, figuring out how wide I needed this strip of fabric including width to fold in the raw edge and press to keep it in place.  Then I lined the strip of fabric up with the edge of my curtain and sewed it on.

Homesteading & Self Sufficiency Group

May 19th in the Community Room at Bedford Library.  6-7pm (we can schedule longer meetings in the future).

Topic will be vegetable and herb gardening with the goal of self sustainability.  We will cover in ground gardens and container gardens.  I’ll provide some “how to” information on making your own gardening supplies, planning gardens, figuring how much you’ll need to plant and more!

Have knowledge on gardening?  Please contact me - you’re welcome to speak on the topic of your choice at this meeting!  If we have a lot of people offering advice, I’ll see about scheduling the meeting a bit longer.

What to bring: Your favorite gardening resources to share (internet or book), your favorite “from scratch” recipe preferably from the garden, and yourselves.  Children are more than welcome - I’ll have my three there (4 and under).