It’s super extremely mega plus cold here right now. I know that is true for lots of people. Maybe it’s even COLDER where you are than where I am. Although I don’t quite see how that’s possible.
Anyway, so I celebrated the arrival of winter/record setting cold temperatures by finally hemming the curtains in our library. I love everything about Ikea’s curtains except for how the only length they come in is “ridiculously long.” I still have a hundred or so ridiculously long curtain panels to deal with in the sunroom at some point, but for now I’m just going to be excited that I’ve knocked out the ones in the library before the arrival of Thanksgiving guests.
I used some Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold
Anyway, Heat n Bond is ridiculously easy to use. You just measure where you want the hem to be, fold up the bottom of the curtains, iron the fold to make a crease, then iron on a strip of the hem tape:
And just like that you have hemmed curtains (and they’re, umm, almost the same length. oops):
At any rate, they’re no longer dragging on the ground collecting dog fur, so it’s an improvement.
Thing number 2: I’m planning on having Abe’s second birthday party be a spider party, because he’s a big fan of “The Very Busy Spider” (or, as he calls it, “Pi Pi!!!” So I ordered him this shirt off of Etsy, and I want to give a totally unsolicited shout out to the shop I bought it from, because I’m super impressed both with its adorableness and with its quality:
The shop is called The Little Rooster, and I would like to buy ALL THE THINGS there for Abe.
Thing number 3: We keep going to the zoo lately! Well, not really that much, but we went twice in two weeks, because first we had a Groupon, and then the kids were signed up for a homeschool class there. Anyway, here are some zoo pictures. I love the zoo. I wish it were closer; I’d go every day.
This is from Abe’s second train ride, on our second zoo trip. It was hard to get a good picture of him on the train. He liked the train a lot, but it also made him quite nervous. He found that big leaf on the ground and held onto it for a long time.
Those gray baby flamingos in the back were having their very first day out in the flamingo enclosure! Exciting!
Gus was really fond of this goat.
Abe wasn’t sure what to think of petting goats, either. The zoo is a strange place.
It is much, much easier to get a good view of the pandas at the Atlanta zoo on a weekday in November than it is at the National Zoo in the summer.
Itching to pin something from this post? Here, I made this for you:
1. You don’t even know cold. I won’t be warm again until June.
2. THAT SPIDER SHIRT. I think I want a kid just to dress it in adorable spider clothing.
Yeah, I’m just in it for the clothes myself.
So you have a slight chill in the air?
Love that shirt. I can’t wait to hear all about that spider part. I will totally wait for Abe to actually turn two. But not a moment longer.
Love those flamingos 🙂
I bet it’s not colder where YOU are! if things go the way they did last year, you’ll have to wait until WEEKS after Abe turns 2 before we get around to partying. But we’ll try to be better this time!
I love the print of those curtains. I feel like it goes well with the squirrel wall. I too love IKEA curtains, but you are so right that the only length is 100 feet forever. And I can’t believe we are talking about Abe’s 2nd birthday! WASNT HE JUST BORN?! MAKE IT STOP! (on that note, I’m planning Evelyn’s first birthday and it’s making me sick haha)
Stop growing, babies!! At least you’ll have more 1st birthday parties in your future. This is my very last one…sniff, sniff (and also knock on wood ;))
I’m pretty sure those baby flamingos are making the same face as Abe on the train…And your problem with Ikea curtains is the same reason I only buy Ikea curtains, with 7 foot windows and 11 foot ceilings hemming isn’t a skill I need!
Ha, yes….trains are to Abe what being gawked at in the zoo is to baby flamingos :). I’d definitely appreciate Ikea curtains more were I in your situation!
i am always a fan of no sew projects! love the curtains! and i think the spider idea is SO fun for a party! and maybe you can find lots of great clearance items after halloween, too!
Alas, I’m afraid I came up with the theme just a little too late for Halloween clearance steals 🙁
Oh, we loved The Very Busy Spider! We had the board book, with raised, texturey illustrations that had to be touched (and touched and touched). I’d have bought that spider shirt, too!
As for curtains and hemming, I think it kinda sucks no matter how you do it. Boring and hard is not my favorite combo! 🙂
Like Very Busy Spider, do you? I’d be happy to recite it for you from memory 😉
oh girl- you used to live in Massachusetts. you know it’s colder. lol 🙂 I love the zoo pics, I can’t wait to take my nephew this summer!!
ha–my mom used to try to compare GA weather to MA when we lived there….I was always like, “yes, it’s cold there tonight….but tomorrow it will be 60 again!” Of course, the reverse happens in summer….
Now sewing is always great and they look awesome.
Love that Panda FYI
Nothing better than a fluffy panda butt!
Atlanta can get cold! I was there for the ‘Snow of the Century’ I feel for you what ever outside your comfort zone is. Somehow I missed this post, and yet, here it is right after I wrote an etsy post. You beat me to the punch again. I swear I’m not just copying everything you blog about!
lol–I’m pretty sure I didn’t discover Etsy myself; I think it’s fair territory for all blogs 😉
I hear you on those Ikea curtains! I was just wrestling with the ones in my son’s room! And how cute is Abe holding on to that leaf! How fun to be able to hit up the zoo right now! It is ridiculously cold here as well! Love the spider theme by the way! Happy almost weekend lady! Nicole xo
That shop is adorable! We are getting ready to hang a sunroom full of IKEA curtains… so I’ve probably easily got an afternoon’s worth of heat-n-bond hemming coming up soon too. Or… maybe I’ll just let them “pool”
Well I guess if you can attribute the cold to being productive and hemming curtains, it is worth it after all. I mean otherwise you’d be at the zoo all the days right? 🙂
ooh, I wish the zoo were down the street. Then I could go every day AND hear the lions roar at night.
haha. I have those curtains too. WAAAAAY too long! Lol. I am afraid to cut and mess mine up.
Right?! I wish they’d make them in a couple of different lengths!
Didn’t finish on the curtains! Where is the rest of your blog?
??? not sure what you mean…..all the posts should be here! you can search by topic on the sidebar, or go through the archives, or just looks through in order….