The fabric is a Waverly print that I purchased from Fabric.com.  I love the way it looks and it was really nice to work with.  The grommets are by Dritz and also from Fabric.com as is the liner.

The curtains were easy to make, but very tedious and time consuming to measure, pin, and press all the seams.   The end result is worth it, though.  I got custom curtains that are exactly what I wanted for around $90.

I’m just posting a sneak peak at the curtains at the moment because I haven’t painted the room yet and they don’t look great against the horrid pinky-beige the previous owner painted the room.  Once I repaint, they are going to look really sharp.

Sneak Peak

Sneak Preview

A few months ago we decided that dedicating an entire room to guests when we rarely have people stay over is a waste of our smallish house. Our house isn’t small square-footage wise, but the space is mostly in a ridiculously large master bedroom.  Someday the sitting room in the master suite will be useful, when the boys are watching TV in the living room and we want some peace and quiet, but currently it serves as piano and laundry storage.

But I digress!  The house has four bedrooms, one of which is the mostly unused guest suite.  We have two boys and their Stuff is all over the living room since this house doesn’t have a gameroom.  We also happen to have an amazing, super comfortable sofa with a chaise that doesn’t really work in the living room.  Hmm…. We took some measurements and decided to give it a shot. First step: Ship the queen bed in the room to my mom (Yia Yia), who is sleeping on a 30 year old mattress.  (No comment!).  The bed shipped out in December so we moved the sofa to the Room Formerly Known as Yia-Yia’s.  The couch is large, but it fits.  And the playroom is born. Woohoo!

Here is the rest of the plan (and not necessarily in the order we choose to complete it, because who doesn’t want to paint a room after it’s finished being decorated):

1. Ship bed.
2. Move couch.
3. Clear out the junk. Still working on this one. Knowing us, I always will be.  
4. Design plan: Remmis is very visual, so I had to draw out the room before I started decorating.
5. Pick a color scheme.
6. Fabrics. This was my favorite part.
7. Shopping. On second thought, maybe this was my favorite part. 
8. Curtains.
9. Sewing closet. We have five cats so my sewing stuff needs to be somewhere I can lock them out of. It’s almost done – I keep getting distracted from finishing it by using it. 
10. Paint. So far I’ve only painted the closet and put samples up, but we’ve at least picked the color. 
11. Finishing touches.  This is the part of decorating I have trouble with, but I’m going to give it a shot. It’s the art and accessories that complete the room. 

This machine is MUCH fancier than my Kenmore, so much so that I had to read the manual to even get started.  It has some features I snorted about until I used them – a drop in bobbin and needle threading – and less than two months later I’m hooked to those features.  Sure, I can thread a needle if I lick the thread and squint a bunch, but now I don’t have to.

I’ve been collecting patterns for years whenever I find them on sale.  I have everything from historic clothing to costumes to home decor to purses.  I can’t wait to finally bust out the pattern stash and get to stitching. First things first, however.  We have 5 cats, so sewing on the dining table isn’t an option.  I need a place to sew, and we have a guest room we don’t use.  Hello, sewing room!

Auction House AddOns

• Auctionator: Super-easy interface for buying/selling.
• Auctioneer: Great for tracking prices.

Castbars/UI

• Bartender4: This is my gotta-have it AddOn.  Post-patch when it hasn’t been updated I can barely function at all.  With it, everything is exactly where I want it. Want a giant button for Stealth/Boomkin Form/Shadowform?  Done.
• Bazooka: Provides a nice small bar across the top (customizeable) with AddOn shortcuts.
• BindPad: Let’s me easily make my own keybindings.
• Clique: I couldn’t heal without this.  I bind it to Grid and do all of my healing with mouse clicks.

Questing/Achievements

• _NPCScan: Alerts you whenever you’re near an elite; helpful for hunters looking for rare pets and anyone trying for the Rare achievements like Frostbitten.
• Carbonite: Great for tracking quests, finding quest givers, tracking nodes, and maps.  I can work without it (in fact I prefer the default quest tracker), but questing goes way faster with it.

Raiding

• Deadly Boss Mods: Tells you when fire is coming so you can move before you stand in it.  And warns of pretty much everything that happens in boss fights.  Essential for raiding.
• Grid: I can’t heal without this.  It’s small, it’s easily customizable, it tracks HoTs and poisons/magic/disease, and with Clique it makes healing fast and fun.  I use it on my rogue for casting Tricks of the Trade.  It’s also just a nice way to replace the ugly raid frames.  Be sure to look for the Grid AddOns for the type of tracking you want, and GridSideIndicators gives you extra tracking places.
• MikScrollingBattleText: I didn’t realize how much I relied on this until it broke after the last patch.  It can do a lot of things, but mostly I use it to show incoming/outgoing heals, incoming/outgoing damage, and to alert me when skills proc.  I replace all of the standard warnings with it.
• NeedtoKnow: Sort of like Power Auras, but WAY easier to configure.  It’ll show buffs and debuffs on yourself or your current target, whichever you prefer.  I use it to track DoTs on my DPS toons.
• Omen Threat Meter: Does what it says, tracks threat and shows a nice graph of the threat leaders.  I find a few of my toons need this more than others – my lord Warlocks are aggro whores!
• OmniCC: Shows counters on icons indicating their cooldowns.  This is one of those AddOns that I don’t think about because it seems like it should be built in.  I sure notice when it doesn’t work, though!
• Raven: Replaces Power Auras, Elkano’s Buff Bars and Need to Know.  It shows buffs/debuffs/missing spells on you or your target and can display them with bars or icons.  It’s easier than Power Auras to set up but I’m still tweaking to get it just right.

PVP

• Healers Have to Die: This puts a big plus sign over people who cast healing spells.  I find it also useful in instances where there’s a large group and it’s hard to tell which enemy is healing.
• LoseControl: Shows an icon in the center of the screen of whatever movement-impairing effect is currently on you, along with a timer.

Professions

• Ackis Recipe List: Database of who sells recipes for professions; tells you which you are missing.

Makes Life Easier

• EasyDestroy: As a pack rat, I’m constantly deleting junk from my bags.  And thus constantly accidentally trading it to other people standing around me.  This allows me to delete items in my bag with a keybinding.
• EquipSee: Shows the item level of gear your character is wearing when you click on the Equipment Manager; displays equipment set names on items in your bag, and shows what will be swapped when you click on a set in the Equipment manager.  I find this a great way to make sure I’m wearing the highest iLevel gear I have, especially since some of my toons have 4 sets of gear.
• Opie: This shows a big ring of spells or whatever else you like that you can keybind.  I have one for mounts and one for professions.  I simply hit Number Pad 7 and a ring shows up with a selection of each profession that particular toon has.  Way easier than trying to bind keys for all my professions or opening the awful professions window.
• Overachiever: Assists with completing achievements.  If you mouseover a critter that’s part of a love or kill achievement, it tells you if you need to love it or kill it.
• tBag: Dear God, why hasn’t Blizzard addressed the horrid bags yet?  This organizes yours bags and bank so you can actually find things.  I can’t function without it.

Three years of blood, sweat, and tears. Mostly tears… The amount of crying that a hardened soldier does when it comes down to all-out war is amazing!

“They’re jumping into our tower with their horses!” “Why is their base so well defended?” “They’re taking our relief hut, I’m going A.W.O.L.!”

Wimps…

I took the first train out of “cry-town” the minute the Dark Portal opened. Now I’m a top gun for the Dragonmaw. If you want to be top orc, you’ll have to defeat me.

We go when you are ready.

Three years I spent in that hell hole. Three years a prisoner of war to the damnable Frostwolf Clan.  Made to sit in their tower and listen to them endlessly whine about the bridge to Dun Baldar. About how it’s “unfair” that blah, blah, blah, blah… War isn’t fair! To hell with ‘em all!

The minute I was freed I left that place forever and came here to start a new life. Now Mulv and I are vying for the top orc spot. If you want it, you’re gonna have to go through me, scrub.

We go when you’re ready.

Calocarpa on her Purple Netherwing Drake

You must have learned Flight to grind Netherwing reputation. First things first, pick up any reputation buffs you can get, like the Spirit of Sharing and then turn on your Low Level Quest tracker in your minimap. For my rep totals below

Head to the Netherwing fields in Shadowmoon Valley and find Mordenai who will kick off the quest chain for Netherwing. Mordenai can be hard to spot because he frequently engages in combat and when fighting his exclamation point disappears.  He should be just east of Sanctum of the Stars – look for the well dressed Blood Elf (he’s labeled as Dragonkin) with neat weapons.

Here is the quest chain, which will award a huge amount of Netherwing rep when completed.

1. Kindness – Feed Netherwing drakes with flayer carcasses you collect in the Netherwing Fields.
2. Seek Out Neltharaku – You’ll need Flight for this quest.  Go vertical and find the dragon pathing about the Netherwing Fields. He looks like one of the northrend drakes and is blueish-green, transparent, and huge.  He’ll be about even with the peaks of the surrounding mountains. He can be hard to find, so crank up that View Distance setting as high as your computer can take it.
3. Neltharaku’s Tale – Click on him to read his story.
4. Infiltrating Dragonmaw Fortress – Kill 15 orcs in the fortress. If you aggro the drakes, just kill them – you will not lose any Netherwing rep for it.
5. To Netherwing Ledge! – Head south to Netherwing Ledge to collect crystals (they look like vines and are found at the base of the crystals).  If you’re a miner, they’ll show up in your minimap. This island is where you’ll go later to do your dailies.
6. The Force of Neltharaku – Free enslaved drakes in Dragonmaw Fortress.
7. Karynaku – Find her on a balcony at Dragonmaw Fortress.
8. Zuluhed the Whacked – Kill Zuluhed and free Karynaku with his key. If you’re level 80 or lower, I recommend dragging him into a building to avod the archers that open fire when you engage him.
9. Ally of the Netherwing (48300 rep) – Find Mordenai.

From that chain I received 48,300 rep.  I had two rep buffs – the Spirit of Sharing (10% increase) and Mr. Popularity (5% increase). That got me just over halfway through Friendly.

Mordenai will give you two more quests:

1. Blood Oath of the Netherwing (just turn it in to him)
2. In Service of the Illidari (287 rep) – This will disguise you as an Orc any time you enter Netherwing Ledge, enabling you to pick up the dailies there.  It will also disguise your mount as a Netherwing, helping you remember why you’re doing this in the first place.

Grab these whenever you see them. Cause mayhem amongst other players if necessary.

Netherwing Base Camp Quests

Your mileage may vary with the reputation gains. I’m doing this with a 5% guild rep buff and a couple other seasonal items.

1. Enter the Taskmaster (no rep, but leads to more quests and dailies)
2. Rise, Overseer! (288 rep)
3. The Netherwing Mines (86 rep, leads to dailies)
4. Your Friend On The Inside (no rep, leads to dailies)
5. The Great Netherwing Egg Hunt (402 rep)
6. Overseeing and You: Making the Right Choices
7. Crazed and Confused (402 rep)
8. Stand Tall, Captain! (575 rep, requires Honored)
9. The Soul Cannon of Reth’hedron (525 rep)
10. Subdue the Subduer (525 rep, follows Soul Cannon)
11. The Great Murkblood Revolt (368 rep, looted from Black Blood of Draenor)
12. Seeker of Truth (525 rep)
13. Kill Them All! (262 rep, requires Revered)
14. Commander Hobb (leads to The Deadliest Trap Ever Laid daily, and by the way I really want his bow)

The Dailies

1. Nethercite Ore (Miners only, 287 rep) There is an herbing quest and a skinning quest, too.
2. Netherwing Crystals (287 rep)
3. A Slow Death (287 rep)
4. The Not-So-Friendly Skies (288 rep)
5. Picking Up the Pieces (402 rep)
6. Dragons Are the Least of Our Problems (403 rep)
7. Accepting All Eggs (287 rep – repeatable multiple times daily)
8. Disrupting the Twilight Portal (Honored, 525 rep)
9. The Booterang: A Cure for the Common Worthless Peon ()
10. The Deadliest Trap Ever Laid (525 rep, opens at Revered)

The Races (Open up at Honored)

1. Earning Your Wings…
2. Dragonmaw Race: The Ballad of Oldie McOld (403 rep)
3. Dragonmaw Race: Trope the Filth-Belcher (403 rep)
4. Dragonmaw Race: Corlok the Vet (575 rep)
5. Dragonmaw Race: Wing Commander Ichman (575 rep) Recognize him from Alterac Valley?
6. Dragonmaw Race: Wing Commander Mulverick (575 rep) Also from Alterac Valley.
7. Dragonmaw Race: Captain Skyshatter (1150 rep) Awards the achievement “Skyshattered.”

Racing tips: Fast flight is a huge help (I have 280% on the toon I’m currently doing this on).  I try to stay above the flyer – almost on top of him – and then I use the spacebar to dodge whatever they’re throwing at me.

Exalted

Drake Dealer Hurlunk, your source for your gorgeous new Netherwing Drakes

Once you achieve exalted, you’ll pick up “Bow to the Highlord” from Taskmaster Varkule Dragonbreath in the Base Camp. Turn that in to Overlord Mor’ghor and pick up “Lord Illidan Stormrage.” Some roleplaying ensues and you’ll be flown to Shattrath where you can turn in that quest and pick up a quest from the Netherwing Drake of your choosing.

The drake will inform you that you can only choose one drake, but in reality you can purchase all of them from Drake Dealer Hurlunk back in the Base Camp. They cost 200g each, as of Patch 4.3. That first quest-rewarded one is free.

Celebrating Halloween, Warcraft-Style