Upstairs Lounge at the Hollywood Theater

Self portrait. After Birdman.

The Hollywood did a renovation not long ago and they really did it right.  Look at this great lounge space for hanging out before or after the movie.  Really, the Hollywood should be my go-to movie theater. It's prices are great, it's on the #75 bus line and they do awesome things for the community.

DVSD Fundrasier with Jilt at the Doug Fir

Matt works for Domestic Violence Safe Dialogue and they put on a fundraiser.  So we went and had a great time.  The location?  The Doug Fir Lounge, which is a very fun concert space and restaurant attached to the Jupiter Hotel.

Fancy lighted cube with bowl full of chocolate.

The bar in the concert space.

Matt and the stage.

Self-portrait.

Jilt played and they were great.  They played covers of great 70's/80s rock bands like Journey, Toto, Foreigner, STYX, Kansas, Boston, etc.  Also some Michael Jackson and Maroon 5.

The sound booth features sunglasses left behind.

Jilt's keyboardist.

Jilt took a break and we heard from Carrie, founder of DVSD, and Crystal, one of the participants, about how victim-impact panels help both domestic violence offenders and the women who speak at them.

And then back to the show!  For a cover of Hendrix's "Let me stand next to your fire" the guitarist even played behind his head.

The stand for the iPad and water bottles amused me, but I guess when there are that many songs to sing, it's handy to have lyrics available.

The drummer also sang backing vocals.

This lonely lady just wanted to watch.

There was a ton of dancing.

And some chatting at the bar.

This rather inebriated couple was very excited about the music.  They didn't really understand the cause.

The official photographer taking a break.

Some excellent harmony

And a self-portrait while the keyboardist and singer are otherwise occupied.

Jilt's website says they bring their own sound equipment and light show.  There were lights!  And sound!

I didn't notice the poster until we were on our way out.

Overall, it was a great night and a good fundraiser.

And then there were none! Curtains: the finale

The shade was in a not-done state for many days because I needed to purchase the correct screws that actually wanted to go into the door, instead of weakly grasping at the edges of the hole.  Then, even after I obtained said screws, I put off doing this project.  But today is the day for finishing.  So the shade has been properly reinstalled.

Here you can see the newly installed shade cord, and the leather ties.  I used a button from an old, adored jacket as a stopper.

The shade in its raised position.

Oh yes, I installed a cleat too.  That also took no time at all.

Antares watched the whole operation carefully.

Sentinel just slept.

Before I could hang the curtains, I needed to patch the holes from where I installed the curtain rod incorrectly.  I purchased some cool stuff that sprays texture on your walls.  Here I test it on a different part of the wall where the texture rubbed away.  It was trickier than I thought it would be.  I needed the "fine" setting (not medium as I guessed from the picture) and it didn't really go on in the way I thought it would.  There were a couple of re-dos.

Here it is covering the holes.  I waited for it to dry and then painted over it.

And then I could finally install the curtains.

And they are a little short.  They don't quite cover the entire window when closed.  Which is why one should just make one's own curtains.  I'll probably get a roller shade.  I love roller shades.  But I will leave the curtains up.

Here they are in the open position.

I used this book a lot when eliminating all the blinds from the house.  It has a variety of window treatments you can utilize, the instructions are clear and I think I bought this for about $2.00.

Seven and a half years after we started, we can now consider the project of replacing all blinds complete.  Hooray!

Curtains: the middle part II

And after the ribbons were attached, there was the boredom of attaching 12 bird portraits & backing to the curtains.  It was tricky too, trying to maneuver all that material.  I did it, though.

Curtains: the middle

You know what's almost as boring as pressing?  Sewing 12 bird portraits to 12 backing squares. This has been a good reminder I'm not interested in the endless repetition that is quilting.

But I finished!  And then it was time to mark the curtains for the ribbon.  I used my trusty ruler and also Wonder Tape, you can see that white line along the top.  The Wonder Tape held the top of the ribbon in place so I could stitch it down with no trouble.  It was kind of awesome.

Curtains! The beginning

Having cut the curtains to size, I prepared them for their grommets. 

I was worried that the curtains wouldn't hold the weight of the grommets very well, so I put a strip of blackout shade material between the two layers.

Spacing took some time.  I had a sheet of instructions from Fabric Depot, but I ended up using that as a guide and roughly guessing.  The grommets came with a template, and you can see where I have traced my circles.

It was the kind of work that involved a lot of attention (wouldn't want to cut in the wrong spot) but it wasn't very difficult. 

Here, you can see one finished curtain.  After cutting the holes, I just had to match a top part to a bottom part, and snap them together.

That done, I moved on to adding some flair to the curtains.  Which was the part I was most interested in, anyway.

I had leftover material from the shade, so my plan was to cut out the leftover birds and add them to the curtain, so things would blend better.  

Two observations.  The birds on the outer realms of the fabric--the shade was cut from the middle--are not as bright as the ones in the middle.  Second observation.  When I last visited Ikea, their textile department had disappeared, which was disappointing.

I had paper cutouts which I arranged in different ways before settling on this one.  You can also see the ribbon I will be sewing to the top and bottom of each curtain.

So the cutting of the birds commenced.  This ruler, which I think is meant for quilting, was invaluable. In fact, I use this ruler and the other one almost every time I sew. 

Should you be curious as to what brand of grommets I used, I have taken a picture of the packaging.

And so we begin pressing.  Four sides, on twelve squares.  It was a lot of pressing.  I listened to podcasts.

When I finished the birds, I still had to cut and press the backing for the bird pictures.  Four more sides, times twelve more squares equals more podcasts listened to.

And that was end of the sewing time today.

Fixing the lined Swedish shade, plans for curtains.

When we last saw the lined Swedish shades, they were completed and I was happy with the jute twine.  Unfortunately, the jute twine wasn't up to the task of raising and lowering the shade.  It broke.

Resulting in the clothespin solution every morning.  So!  We need to replace the jute twine with something sturdier.

Since I had to take the whole thing apart anyway, I bought a scrap of leather (only one dollar at Oregon Leather Company!) to replace the very twisty fabric ties.  Here is one of the ties cut.

My trusty curtain/shade book told me to make a hole in the leather with an awl.  I had no awl, so I used my drill. It worked pretty well.  And that's as far I as I got with that project today.

I moved on to measuring the curtains.  These are purchased curtains, which I plan to modify to suit me.