2010 January 13 | Beneath My Heart

First of all, I want to say that if this post doesn’t make sense, it’s because I have a cold, and I just took some NyQuil! :)

Any-whooooo

I have a “to do” list a mile long. Wanna look-see?

*slipcover the couch in the guest house

*make a shower curtain for guest house bathroom

*make curtains for guest house bedroom windows

*put bunk beds in Adam’s room so Eli can move in

*turn Eli’s room in to my new craft room

*paint my office

*re-do my entire master bedroom, and on, and on, and on….

So what do I do this week?

I see a great idea of how to make No Sew Roman Shades on Monday, and all of a sudden it becomes a new project that jumps to the top of my “to do” list!

I’ve got issues. Serious issues.

I saw this post from Frugal Home Ideas on how to make a No Sew Roman Shade. I thought it would be great for my office.

The problem is that I have been shoving things into my office since the beginning of the holiday season. It looks like this now…

Yup. That’s it.

I was planning on cleaning it up, painting the walls my favorite color, (Khaki Shade by Sherwin Williams), and sprucing it up before I showed it to you.

Too late now.

We installed the faux wood blinds when we bought the house 5 years ago. However, I’ve been too lazy to shorten the blinds, and they were just a bit too long.

Wow, I’m just letting it all hang out here, aren’t I?

So, here’s what I did.

I took the blinds down and laid them on the floor.

I numbered the blinds so I could see which ones I wanted to keep. I was keeping every 5th blind.

Then I carefully cut the string below each of the blinds that I didn’t want to keep. You do NOT want to cut the pull strings!

Then I took the bottom piece off of the blinds.

And slid all of the blinds off.

At this point, I was questioning if I had any idea whatsoever what I was doing. But I persevered.

I put every 5th blind back on the strings, and when I hung them back up, they looked like this.

I used some off-white material and some black-out lining that I already had to make my shade.

I cut the black-out lining an inch and a half wider than the blinds, and about a foot longer than the window.

Then I laid the black out lining on top of my material and used it as a pattern.

Now the next step may have not been necessary, but I did it anyway.

I used a double-sided fusion lining to attach the material to the black-out lining. I followed the instructions on the fusion lining.

I laid the fusion lining on the material like this.

I used my iron to attach the fusion lining.

Then I pulled back the paper part of the fusion lining.

And then I ironed my material to the black-out lining causing the two pieces to stick together. (Like I said, I don’t know if this was necessary.)

Next, I laid the blind on top of the back of my curtain.

I used fabric glue to glue the material to the top bar of the blinds.

Make sure you do not glue the material to the outside two inches of the top bar or you won’t be able to put it back into the brackets in the window.

I flipped each blind over and applied my fabric glue. Then I flipped the blind back over and pressed it to the material.

Make sure you do not get glue on any of the strings or it won’t work properly.

Then I turned the sides of the material over about a half inch…

Put some hot glue on each blind…

Flipped the material over again on top of the hot glue.

I did this all the way down the side of the curtain creating a hem.

I pressed over the hem to make it more crisp.

Then I put the shade back into the brackets.

The extra material that I didn’t glue down laid perfectly over the bracket.

I then used my glue gun to create a hem on the bottom of the blind.

I tied a knot with all the strings on the bottom blind.

I used my hot gun to attach the fringe.

And I was finished!

I am pleased with how it turned out, but it definitely clashes with the yellow on my walls. Now I am going to have to add “painting the office” up to the top of my “to do” list.

Okay, that’s it.

I finished a project that I had no idea I was going to be doing this week. I’ve got to stop looking at other blogs…you guys inspire me too much and get me off track! :)

The NyQuil is kicking in really good now, and I am getting ready to crash.

Goodnight.

UPDATE (1-17-10): Now that I am feeling better, I am linking this project to all of my favorite parties….

Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts
Make your Monday at Twice Remembered
Get Your Craft On at Today’s Creative Blog

DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land
Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

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It Matters

(Part 2)

Last week I shared with you how much it matters when we do little things to bless others. If you didn’t get to read my post last week, please click HERE.

Today, I want to give you a word of encouragement that God can take those “little” things and make a “big” difference in His kingdom!

Sometimes I am a little worried about sharing too much about how wonderful I think my mom was. I would never want these posts to glorify her and not God. Each week when I write these posts, I can hear my mom saying, “Traci, honey, don’t focus on me…point them to Jesus.”

So I want you to know that as I share the wonderful things that my mom did here on earth, I want it to be very clear that it was Jesus Christ in my mom that accomplished those great things.

Mom’s visitation and funeral were two of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I knew my mom was loved by many, but to see the outpouring of love to my family during her visitation and funeral was overwhelming.

Mom’s visitation was on a Thursday night from 5 to 9:00 p.m. We were originally only going to allow 3 hours, but anticipating a big crowd, we decided on 4 hours.

The funeral home was packed as soon as the visitation began. There were faces as far as I could see. The line went out of the room, down the hallway, and out the door.

It was September, and the weather outside was wet and chilly. As the night progressed, and more and more people came through the line to express their condolences, I would ask some of them how long they had to wait to get to us. They shared that the wait was over an hour and a half! We found out later that the line to my mom’s visitation actually went all the way outside, wrapped around the building and continued down Main street. Those precious souls waited out in the cold and rain just to express their love for my mom and my family! It was after 10 o’clock before the last person left.

Why would they do that? Well, I believe it was because my mom touched their lives in some little way along the road, and it mattered.

I cannot tell you the number of people who were at her visitation that I have never seen or met before.

Here is what I heard over and over again,

“Hi, Traci. You don’t know me, but your Mom visited me while I was in the hospital several years ago and it meant the world to me.”

“Traci, I’m ___, you don’t know me, but when my wife was sick last summer, your Mom sent us a card almost every week to tell us she was praying for us.”

“Traci, we’ve never met, but your mom was our church secretary, and every time I saw her, she always had a warm smile for me and was full of words of encouragement. She will be greatly missed.”

“Traci, your Mom made the best apple pie! She made one for our family when our first child was born.”

It continued all night.

Sending a card, making a pie, or sharing a smile may not seem like a big deal, but to those people, it mattered.

My dear friend, Julie, waited in that very long line, and she told me about something that happened while she was waiting.

A man who was at the funeral home for a different visitation was looking curiously around the room at the long line that was for my mom’s visitation. He had a perplexed look on his face as he peered around the corner trying to see whose visitation it was. It was a look as if he had missed the “memo” or the evening news…. “Who was this lady?” he asked. Julie said she could tell he was waiting to hear a name he would recognize, maybe a local politician or well known citizen. Why else would there be a line of people wrapped around the building in the cold and rain?

But before Julie could respond, a lady in front of her said, “She wasn’t anybody special, just a beautiful woman of God.”

Now that lady wasn’t saying that my mom wasn’t special. She just meant she wasn’t someone special by the world’s standards. She wasn’t a politician, a news anchor, a famous singer or writer. She was just a mom, a wife, a sister, and a friend. Her position as a church secretary didn’t make her famous or wealthy. Yet hundreds and hundreds of people stood in line for hours to show how special she was in their lives!

That’s what the love of Christ can do in a life. He can take an ordinary person and do extraordinary things for His Kingdom. But we must let Him. We must give our lives to Him daily, and pray that He would fill us with His wisdom and strength to be the kind of people He wants us to be.

Sometimes I don’t feel very special. I’m just a stay-at-home mom. I’ll never be famous or wealthy in this world. Sometimes I feel like I’m not making much of a difference.

Do you ever feel that way?

Well, let me encourage you (and me). It is Christ in us that makes us special. If we give our lives to Christ each day, He will do big things in our lives. Things that may never get noticed by the world, but things that will make an eternal difference in the lives of others.

That’s the kind of life I want to live.

Thank you for letting me share the thoughts beneath my heart,