March OMG Finish - Window 1

 Yes!  

My first window's valance is FINALLY finished and mounted! 

It's only been in the works for like two years. . .   ::sigh::

I *love* the fabrics. I worried that the turquoise embroidery would be a little weird in the cerulean blue room, but it's spot on with its cheeriness! And the texture of the lining fabric is perfect in the room. And then I also worried about the blush pink shantung silk tabs - was it too much of a pop for the room?

I intended their color to play with the pink-family tones in the floral oil painting I have by the sinks (and the floral arrangement between the sinks and the garden tub). I worried right up until it was finally hung and I stepped back and saw: Happiness.  :)   My ideas came together the way I'd pictured in my mind.

There's a lesson in that: Often as we're working, the components of what we're doing don't seem like they're playing the way we want them to. But in quilting (and décor) the sum of the whole is frequently more than the value of the parts alone, and if you persevere, the end result is terrific. It's hard to trust in that, though, when you also know that sometimes you just end up with a hot mess.

The problem with this project was - - - the upholstery grade fabrics are too much for my sewing machine to handle once you get multiple layers going. So all the header sewing has to be done by hand. It's not fun, even with the correct needle for the job. And we're talking a 64" header! It's hard to push through everything, and even with a thimble it does a number on my finger. So I found it extremely easy to continuously shunt the work aside and do bindings or hand applique, instead, each evening. It took an OMG assignment to get it done.

And now that the first one is finished and up, I have motivation to stitch the heading and tabs onto the second one without resorting to using a quilt's OMG spot to make myself do the work.  ;D

I love this room. It's a good thing I'm the one who pays the water bill each month, or I'd be lounging and reading in here every day. . . 

(Oh - if you're sharp-eyed and wondering about that painter's tape in the middle of my window frames, it's there to remind me that as soon as it's warm enough to open windows to work with smelly things that exacerbate my Lupus, I need to repaint the sashing that was marred when the middle broken window was replaced. Flying shrapnel from another project destroyed that glass - lucky it wasn't a person that it hit!)

Happily linking up to the Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - March Finish Link-up