Sunday, December 8, 2013

Curtain Valances

 It seems it's been awhile since I have posted an entry into my blog. The year just seems to get busier and busier as it ends.

Well I have been busy! I feel very accomplished for this year. 

Projects I have finished:

The pink baby quilt for my neighbors grand daughter;
The cross stitch xmas stocking for my grand daughter;
The string scrappy basket weave quilt top;
and last but not least the following project . . . 

 When we were going to the flea market in Las Vegas, New Mexico, I found 2 matching curtain valances. They had a beautiful floral pattern that was partly hand embroidered with the leaves painted on. It also had a curved edging with tatting all around.  It was a real bargain because besides the beautiful handwork, the fabric was very sturdy and thick. The only decoration was the floral embroidery.



 
 I decided to sew them together on the ends that usually would go on the curtain rods.  I removed the sewing that made the casing at the top of each and sewed together at that side.

Now there was embroidery work on each side of the valance.  I wanted to make a table topper with it for my circular table.  It looked pretty good.  The only problem is that the seam in the middle was very bare and you could see the 4 seams where the casing used to be.  I washed them but the sewing marks did not come out.  So I decided to embroider a grid down the middle.  The grid would hide the seam and the sewing lines from the casing.


Here is a close up of the grid work that I put in.

 
 This is how the whole thing looks now.  Even though I couldn't get the whole thing into the picture, you can get a pretty good idea from this picture.
What do you think? Does it look like a trellis between the florals?