Adrian had Rufus the plush monster. Then Rufus mysteriously disappeared, and Dinah arrived to replace him. But Dinah was never quite the same and Adrian still missed Rufus. So now we made Rufus Junior together. Ingrid embroidered the face, I did the assembly, and Adrian cut and stuffed.

I used some of my too-many overtime hours to stay at home today, and spent much of the day sewing. The bed curtains are nearly done except for decorations, and I also made good progress on a turquoise tulle skirt that Ingrid asked for.

Ingrid has been working on a plush monster for Adrian’s birthday. Today she finished it.

During winter, when there isn’t much to be done in the garden, I spend more time on crafts. Last winter season I made an advent calendar in felt and started knitting a cardigan. The cardigan is still not done, because during this winter season I focused more on interior decorating. Time to finally make some curtains for this house!

We have nine sets of windows that “need” curtains. (I don’t think the storage closet needs any, and the glass wall in the living room is not going to get curtains either.) The bathroom window already had one, which leaves eight. I managed to sew curtains for four of them, so I’m halfway there. Perhaps next winter I will get the rest done.

The “office” was first in line because I wanted to be able to get rid of the glare on our computer screens. Thick, lined, but otherwise un-fancy curtains in a fabric that matches the art nouveau and early-1900s inspiration I’ve generally been following in this house: Sandberg’s Lily of the Valley.

The curtains for our bedroom are similar in style and construction. If your memory is really sharp, you may recognize the fabric: this is the curtain I made for the balcony door back in 2008. Back then I expected it to hang there for the next 15 or 20 years. The door itself only survived for less than three more years, but the curtain got a second life. I removed the tabs at the top, made a twin for it, and now it hangs in our bedroom. I am hesitant to make another prediction about its expected life, but I hope it will be long. The fabric: Sandberg’s Louise.

Actually, the twin is not quite a twin. Or maybe it’s a fraternal twin. The new fabric I ordered did not quite match the old one: one is more beige and the other is more gray. Maybe the old one changed colour in the sun? Maybe in a couple of years they will be indistinguishable. But during the day the curtains are apart, and at night nobody looks at them, so the mismatch doesn’t bother me at all.

The curtains in Ingrid’s bedroom are of a very different style… We looked at photos of curtains online and Ingrid had a very clear idea about what hers should look like. Patterned, but with a small pattern, “like maybe hearts or rings”. Ideally violet or lilac or something like that, or maybe blue. And tied back with nice bows, and with a valance. It took a while to find the fabric because this is not exactly in line with current decorating trends, but Ingrid was very happy with the result. She likes to untie the bows for the night.

And finally, some cushions. We had a set of three old cushions in dark green linen that I sewed in 1997 when I moved in with Eric, and they were really at the end of their life. There were actual holes in the fabric. These new ones are in dark brown wool felt, decorated with fabric in traditional Estonian patterns. My working name for the set is “Rebel yellow”. One of them I made after Ingrid’s wishes – can you guess which one?

PS: If you can’t make the numbers add up – office + bedroom + Ingrid’s room equals three, not four, right? – it’s because the office has two large windows which I count as two, not one.

Today I finished sewing a curtain which I’ve been working on, off and on, for over a week. Finally at least one of the windows in this house has a curtain! It was getting sort of urgent because (1) the window in question is that of the veranda door and was noticeably cold, and (2) the window sits right opposite the bathroom door, so anyone looking in that direction from outside has a view straight into the bathroom.

The hardest part was finding a suitable fabric. It was very easy to find Christmas themed fabrics, and to find traditional furniture fabrics. (You know the kind – they’re heavy, tend to have scrollwork or fleurs de lys or similar designs, and often very rich colours like brown, red, cream and gold. Not at all suitable for a relatively narrow hallway in an early 1900s wooden house.) I ended up ordering 2.5 metres of a fabric that was expensive relative to what I saw in most shops, but considering that I intend to have this curtain hanging there (and have to look at it daily) for the next 15–20 winters, it was well worth it.

Besides, it turned out that fabric ordered directly from the manufacturer is delivered on a roll, which means no creases at all, which means no ironing!

On day one I measured twice and cut once. No, actually I measured four times and cut twice, once for the main fabric and once for the lining. Then I pinned the lower hems.

On day two I sewed the lower hems and measured and cut the eight little loops.

On day three I zigzagged and then hemmed the edges of the eight fiddly little loops. 32 darn seams, meaning 64 knots to tie, and by the end of it I had knots swimming in front of my eyes even when I looked away.

On day four I pinned the loops in place between the curtain and the lining, pinned and sewed the top edge, and pinned the two sides.

On day five I sewed the two sides and reinforced the bases of the loops. Then I got overconfident and topstitched the top edge without pinning it (I had the main seam there to keep things in place, after all!) but the lining was slippery and the two layers ended up slipping so it didn’t hang straight.

On day six I did penance for my hubris by unpicking the entire topstitching seam.

On day seven I pinned the top edge and topstitched it again and hung up the curtain and was quite pleased.

PS: The fabric is from Sandberg and I bought it at Var Dags Rum.