Roman blinds in Argentina

Hubby and I are building a house in Argentina. He has family there, and we both love it, so it seemed like a sensible thing to do. Every month we send over a bit of money, and a bit more gets added to the house. It has been growing steadily for a few years now, and we get over there to see it as often as we can - which is not as often as we would like!

I know this is a getting a bit ahead of myself, but as soon as the windows were put in I grabbed a sewing machine and started making curtains! As you can see from the photo, there's still so much work to be done on the house itself. We need light-fittings, cupboards, furniture, stairs! But I couldn't resist.

I bought one of those tiny sewing machines that only does straight-stitch, and took it over in my suitcase. They are only really designed to make the odd hem repair, but so far I have managed three blinds, and I haven't destroyed it yet! I bought the fabric in the local town, and the support slats are made from bamboo that grows wild in the garden. That kept hubby busy for a while - he cut and stripped the canes before drying them. Bamboo canes are incredibly difficult to keep straight as they are drying. He then cut them to the correct lengths for me.

For the cords I used a string that is sold locally for tying sausages! It's not ideal, but it will do until I can find something better. The whole thing has a slight feeling of "make do and mend", but I won't worry about it being perfect until the rest of the house is a bit more complete.

H.x