Hoping for some more sleep

     Summer time has grown to mean sleep deprivation for me these past couple of years.  The twins wake up at the first glimmering light of dawn, which in June and July is around 4:45.  Dave, however works until 11:45 pm, and usually we don't go to bed until after 12, which means 5 am rolls around way too soon.  
      Yesterday, being July 4th, we took the kids to see fire works.  It was about a half mile walk to get there, then the kids danced for at least a hour to the band that was playing.  After walking another half mile back to our car, and getting home at 11:00, (when their usual bed time is 7:30) you would think that they just might sleep in a bit.  But no; not our little sunshines.  It's pre-dawn and Samuel is standing next to my bed just like every morning, asking for breakfast.  I can't see at 4:30.  My body just doesn't want to function at that hour in the morning.  Something had to be done.   So today I made quilted shades.  (Thank you Elisha, for your idea!) 

These are button shades, so they can be down like this, ...

... or up like this.  
     You could put another row of buttons in the middle for another shade height, but this window is so small, I didn't see the point.   I mounted it by screwing a 1"x1" board to the ceiling above the window, then put adhesive Velcro to the blind and the board.  Couldn't have been easier.

      For the button loops, I just strung a bit of yarn through the bias tape and tied it in a loop.  This was the best thing I could think of with what I had on hand, but I might change it at some point.  Or not.
     I've never done any quilting before, so this was a learning project.  Not being a quilter, I didn't have any batting on hand, so I used an old fleece throw.  I doubled up the layers so it would block out all the light, and boy, does it! It looks like night in their room when it's down.  The fleece, being stretchy, probably isn't the ideal batting material, but I had fun with it.  I can't wait to find something else to quilt.  I also can't wait to see if this works for it's main purpose.  Getting the kids to sleep in past dawn.