Extreme Makeover: Yard Sale Edition

As is customary, when the weather turns colder (frigid, these days) my fingers are allowed the priviledge of doing some needlework, most often with the rest of myself snuggled deep into a blanket. This year is no different...which brings me to my blessed curse.

I blame it on the yard-saling. I see so much TREASURE that others think of as junk. When I see two mismatched valances, other (more rational) people smartly say to themselves: "I need valances for THREE windows, not two. Forget these!" Where as the dim-witted girl I call myself thinks (who by the way has NO need for ANY valances): "OOOHHHHH. THESE are pretty! I could trim pillowcases with THESE!"

~OR~

A normal person would see one flannel fitted sheet and say-"Sheesh. Why would someone by a striped fitted flannel sheet if it doesn't have a matching flat sheet and pillowcase?" But no, inside the recessed of MY brain, I am mentally calculating how many flannel PJ's I could make for the kiddos with that fabric. Same with curtains. And tablecloths. But have you ever PRICED fabric in the stores?!?!?

So, when I see junk~my rose colored glasses see the possibility for TREASURE and I snatch it up. Even if I don't know what I am going to DO with it! So is the case with the above project.

I was looking through my patterns to start a new clothing project, when I realized none of my fabric had been pre-shrunk. My fingers were itching to stitch. What should I do? That is when I saw a pile of some valances and this pretty rose fabric.

"Hmmm. I don't remember ever buying fabric like that!" (Problem one:if you can't remember buying it-it has been TOO long since you were SUPPOSED to do something with it.) It turns out, when I turned it over, that it was a pillow sham. "Oh, yes. I remember now."

My mind started to do that awful (good!), awful (good!), wandering again and I thought. HEY! That would be a pretty little tablecloth! So, snip snip, stitch stitch and here we go!