Rag Rug Roundup

     Even though I am back at work and no longer snowed in progress on the rag rug continues. Initially I had intended to use only stashed fabrics, but I ran out of large pieces much sooner than I thought I would, so I gave in and bought some cotton fabric at Hobby Lobby. It was on sale though, at 30% off, so all in all it wasn't too bad. I probably could have done without buying fabric, but I realllly wanted some red and black in it, so there. I have confessed! In its current state the rug measures 35 1/2 x 43 inches. I am hoping to get it to about 4 x 6 feet without having to purchase more fabric; I have been hitting the thrift stores with my eyes peeled. As I was ripping the fabric, there were some peices that were not as wide as they needed to be. I saved all of these narrower strips and am in the process of making potholders with them. The peice on the left is made from strips of the blue fabric leftover from the center of the rug. I edged it with some bits of a red floral print from my stash.

     My Appalachian Arts & Crafts students wanted to try their had at rug making, so I found some sheets at the thrift store...a whole box full for $3 (special price for the school). They thoroughly enjoyed tearing the fabric! I started a smaller lighter weight rug (on the right in the photo) to demonstrate how to begin the rug, and continued working on it while they were busy with their own pieces. In general, they made potholders, although one boy had trouble keeping his flat and decided to just make a bowl instead. I didn't manage to get any photos before they took them home to their mothers.

What do you do when you get snowed in?

A lot of the people I know don't like to get snowed in.

Mainly I think because they don't know what to do with themselves.

They get bored.

Not me.

I can always find something to keep my hands and mind busy.

 Yesterday was a pretty productive day.

In addition to laundry and cleaning the kitchen and dining room floors I

hemmed 3 pairs of new jeans that have been waiting since summer

made 16 napkins from prewashed muslin in my fabric stash

(one day I will get around to making some of these,

but for now plain muslin beats paper)

mended my husband's favorite camo shirt

and worked on Jonathan's vest

 The shirt had several small holes in it.

I mended them with the darning stich on the machine.

This is the worst one, at the base of the chest pocket, barely visible now

 Unless you look closely.

 This is the inspiration for Jonathan's vest, in the latest issue of knitsimple magazine.

He chose the yarn colors from knitpicks.com and

asked for no buttons, so

I am modifying the pattern to pullover style.

The stripes will begin this evening or tomorrow.

 Today I am working on this, a rag rug,

while looking at blogs and doing more laundry.

 Last Monday at crafts night one of the ladies was making a toothbrush rug.

I watched and thought I could figure this out on my own.

I'm not sure if I am doing it the same way she did, but it is working.

A bit wonky, but a good first effort.

She was using a beautiful wooden needle,

which I think my wonderful s-i-l can make, but

since this plastic tapestry needle is what I had on hand it is what I used.

The technique is basically a buttonhole stitch.

I worked around a core of an additional strip of fabric

(donated by a friend a couple of years ago,

 indigo with white broken stripes and anchors,

I like the way the pattern gets broken up in the stitching process).

The rug looks similar to one I crocheted a few years ago.

But this technique is easier on my hands and shoulder.

This first one will be a small rug I think

because I don't have a lot of this fabric.

But then maybe I can find something that will work with it.

A good reason to hit the thrift stores.

So, what do you do when you get snowed in?