Once Upon a Bookshelf

One of my Christmas gifts from my parents this year was a lovely new duvet for my bed. (Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized image.) As it was coverless, I spent this past weekend making my very first duvet cover for it!

I have to say that I’m very happy with how it turned out - only thing I don’t like about it was the fact that you can totally see the zipper because Walmart didn’t have any darker brown ones, and the neutral was the closest to what I was looking for. It was also my first time doing anything with zippers, and I totally broke a couple of needles on my sewing machine. Whoops!

I’m excited about it, really. In the next couple of months when I have some free time, I’m going to make myself a matching bed skirt, and possibly an accent pillow in the yellowish material. Then I’m thinking about getting something from blik for the walls when all of the sewing is all finished. How fun! My room is starting to look “grown up!” (Shock!)

It was the window in my bedroom that made me fall in love with my apartment the first moment I saw it. I have always wanted a window just like it, that one could curl up in a warm blanket and read a good book (or if one is lucky, watch a good thunderstorm!), and it thrilled me that I finally found my window.

For my birthday, my parents bought me Amy Butler’s book, In Stitches. I had mentioned to them how I was going to sew a few cushions for that window, but had never gotten around to it (such is the story of my life). Partially because I was extremely daunted. I made the curtains in my kitchen, and realized that I don’t know how to sew in a straight line . . . Very discouraging, let me tell you.

Anyway, this book got me motivated to actually go out and buy materials and give it a another go. So, I spent the majority of my May Two-Four weekend holed up in my apartment in front of Lord of the Rings while attempting cushions for my window. And look! I am happy to say that I now have the most comfortable window in the world. Or at least the most comfortable window that I’ve ever had. (You can click on the thumbnail to see the picture bigger.)

The best thing of it all, though, was that this book made the project so easy - the most stressful part was threading the bobbin (the instructions in my sewing machine manual are HORRID, and I had forgotten how to do it… alas). Good for beginners like me, which is awesome because I needed a hobby, and there were a couple other projects in here that looked like they’d be fun.

(Side note: I leafed through this book, and it was lust at first sight. Seriously. The design of the book - sleek, sassy, rather sexy - all book designs should be this drool worthy. End of Graphic Designer shpeal.)