Blinds for the bathroom

Latest adventure...I was over at Big Lots and I found some bamboo placemats that were the colors I want to use in the bathroom and living area. The placemats were $1 each so I got some thinking that I might actually use them as placemats. After I got home I had the bright idea that maybe I could use them to make blinds for the bathroom instead. Here is the first finished blind. I made two for the bathroom window. One will go above the other, so if you want to open the window the bottom one can be opened alone, if you want light and privacy the top can be opened alone, or they can both be opened. I suppose technically each panel could be opened separately, but I'm not sure what the purpose or benefit would be to that. Anyway, total cost for both blinds...$9.  I think I'll get some more placemats and make blinds for the other windows too.  

First I cut the mats so they would be the correct width for the window.

I used dowels that I already had, which had been used as props for a dance piece in a previous life. I pre-drilled holes for the eye hooks. 

Eye hooks...$1.29 for 10.

Dowel with eye hooks.

Then I hot glued the placemats to the dowel.

Tied the string around the base of the eye hook and hot glued it in place.

Fed the string between the bamboo to the front of the blind using a very small crochet hook.

Pulled the string through.

Wrapped the string to the bottom of the blind and up the back to feed through the eye hook.

Then fed the string through the fourth eye hook at the end so that all the strings would be together.  Here the strings are loose and not all through the last eye hook.

Pulled all the strings tight.

Decided to put beads on the ends of the strings for easier pulling.

Hanging...not yet on the bungalow's bathroom window, but I wanted to take a pic, so you get to see my neighbor's garage though the window.