Rug #3 Warped & Ready

This is the loom that Prince Charming made for me - warped it looks larger than in a post or 2 ago when it was nekkie. As I said before, I am going to do this one in Homspuns. It's warped in a plaid sheet - since the warp is not seen as much I opted for NON-homespun on those. Besides - this was a queen flat sheet that I took all the hems out of & I cut the strips 2" wide & it took ...Every.Single.Strip. But one!

Rug #2 Finished

This is rug #2 that I completed yesterday. Took me a little longer than the last one. I have lots of burners in the fire...and well ...you know...I get busy!

Yes, it's blue. Again. I bought 5 of the biggest blue sheets that I could get at Goodwill. I THOUGHT that 5 sheets would only make ONE rug. Guess what? I'm thinking they can make 3 ! Maybe 3 & a 1/2.....Add to that I bought 3 more dark blue flat sheets at a Thrift store in Clarksville yesterday. My freind Diane M gave me some fabric that is light blue & I think I can make a rug with just dark blue & light blue stips all the way through. Not worried about when it will get done as I have the big loom warped & ready to go! I am doing IT in homespuns. Word To The Want To Be Wiser....Homespuns are really VERY thready! I am tearing them 2 inshes wide & geesh...theres strings & strings & strings! I don't even know how many yards of homespuns that I have. Lots. Just lots. Figured it's time to stop hoarding them & DO SOMETHING with them! M

Little Rug Loom & Big Rug Loom

this is the rug loom that I used to make the rug in the previous post. It is a really nice size and it turned out great. I already have it with new warp strips on it for a rug for my youngest daughter.

This Rug Loom is one that Prince Charming made for me today. It should make a rug that is 3'X 5'. Yes, THREE feet by FIVE feet. As you can see - it's much larger then the other one. Nothing like jumping in feet first!

Prince Charming, being the Prince that he is, originally wanted to make the big loom from oak. We have about 1000 board feet of rough cut red & white oak. Already cured. We discussed that it's possible that the BIG rug MIGHT be a "one & done" job & I didn't think making it from oak would be a good idea - I'd feel guilty if I never made another one! So it's from pine. Hammering in all those finish nails was challenging. Or rather getting them spaced correctly was! We did it though! It's awesome. I am curious to know how many strips & many inches of those strips that it will take to warp this jobbie! I am not even going to TRY thinking about the number of strips it will take for the weft. But you know what? It's going to be gorgeous!! Sam

Finished Rug

Ta Da ! The finished product. I made my strips 1.5" so this is a fairly flat rug. I also used SHEETS. It came out really NICE. And I am going to make one for the Pincess too becasue #1 she asked for one & #2 I  have enough blue sheet strips to make another one!

Prince Charming has plans to make a loom for me that will make a 3'X5' rug. We will plane the oak maybe this afternoon or sometime this week. He had said we'd go to Lowe's & buy the oak. But honestly? I am not going to spend $85 on some lumber when we have over a 1000 board feet of rough cut oak just sitting in our garage. Seems pointless to BUY it!

I really liked making this rug & I see more of them in my future!

Sam

Twining Close Up

This is sort of a close up - the pencil rod on the end is basically a "stay" you treat the rod & the last warp srtip as ONE & both of the weft strips have to go around it so that the rug does not come undone. The twining is done with that strip in my left hand going up over the strip on the right & then BEHIND the next warp strip. Over & over & over again until you get to the other side. Then you work right to left..and so on. All the instructions that I have found have you work halfway down on one end, flip the frame & work top to middle again. Meeting in the middle. It hought it would be a little difficult getting the middle done, but I used a crochet hook & squished the rows together enough to get my fingers thru the warp strips, then when I thought it was "enough", I used the same crochet hook to push the rows back down. Again, the directions have you finishing/completing the rug ends while it's still on the loom. I found this awkward & removed the rug from the loom & then finished off the ends by knotting them & then weaving them in for a few inches.

Sam

Rug Update

Friday night I got THIS far.

Rug Twining

5 years ago. Yes, I said FIVE. My friend Kat & I went to the Paducah Quilt show & while we were there - I bought a paperback book by Country Threads for rag rugs. Simple enough procedure I suppose. I ordered a 2 loom set from OUR OLD COUNTRY STORE. They ar such awesome people to work with. I emailed them over th holiday's & then on January 2 I got an email saying they're available for shipment. So I placed my order & 2 business days later I had my looms! Yay! One loom makes like a bathmat/welcome mat size & placemat size too if you move the stretcher up. The larger of the 2 is ..well I don't know the demensions - let me look on thier website - it makes a rug 25"X37". I got them just Monday - didn't think I would because it's sort of really bad weather here in middle TN right now. (it was actually MINUS 2 degrees yesterday!) Anyway...soon as I got it I opened the box & assembled the looms. I quickly started to warp the large one (which is the attached picture). It took more strips than I anticipated and I warped it with strips from fabric left over from quilt backs & borders. Origianlly I thought to myself that THIS type of fabric was too expensive to be using for a RUG !!! But you know what? I'm not a very good scrap user - so why not??? I had been anticipating getting a loom so I went to Goodwill & bought 5 sheets in varying blues. I washed them TWICE in hot water & then commenced to tearing them into 1.5" strips. Doing the stripping is way more slow than actually twining the rug! Seriously. I had emailed this picture to Dru @ Our Old Country Store & she pointed out that I had the whole thing put together wrong becasue the pencil rods on the sides were bowed. She was right. While I had all the letters matched up, I still had them backwards. Don't ask me how I did that, I just DID. So I took the warping off & put it all together again. And the rods were perfectly straight. Much easier to insert when everything is lined up properly. I will try to get another picture tonight when I get a few more rows twined....but you know, my sewing room is upstairs & there is no natrual light after like 2 PM & I'm not home until after 5. SOOOooooo...you're seeing the picture BEFORE I re-assembled the loom & then did some of the weft. If you have ever french braided hair? It's nearly the same thing. Very rythmic. And fast. I think if I could sit still long enough to actually DO something - I could get a whole lot done on this jobbie!

More Of The Everlasting Wreath

If you read my blog - you may as well resign yourself to seeing a LOT of this quilt. It's huge. It's got LOTS of blocks. It's time consuming. And I LOVE it. I have quilts on all my beds & as it turns out, all the beds were made when I took these pictures this morning. So I laid this part out on the floor. In my original paper mock up - I only had it 6 rings wide. that's not wide enough for my queen sized bed - or rather - 6 rings does not come down far enough on the sides of the bed - I don't think 7 is going to be PERFECT, but 8 would be way too many. the tentative plan (right now ) is to make it 7 rigs wide by 8 rings long. We'll see how that progresses.

Please excuse my less than clean carpets. As you can see? I have a long haired house dog. And he's NOT lap dog sized. Well it's winter. Winter follows fall - we have nearly 2 acres. Lot's of trees. Lots. Been too wet to get all the leaves up - Bourbon, bless his heart - drags several in the house in his hair every time he goes out. Every. Time. and right now? It's not bothering me enough to drag the vacuum out & get them all up. Trust me, they will STILL BE THERE when I choose to do it. Anyway - that's my update. I am going to sew another row on today. It's a slow go. You don't just slap another block on there & go. I have to pin each side & every single seam is a "Y" seam. I should have this technique perfected by the time I'm finished with the quilt! I know one thing is for sure...my fingers are so sore. I seem incapable of NOT pricking myself. The paper has got my DNA on it. Oh Well, at least it's on the paper! Sam

Upholstery Class - 01/13/2014

These spools are for an upcoming on-line upholstery class. It's a BEGINNER course & we will be concentrating on ottomans. I am supposed to get a spool - pretty sure I need the SMALLER one - but hey, they were both free - so I'm keeping them. If it turns out that I won't use the larger of the 2, it's going to be an end table for our basement living room
So we'll see! I am SO excited about the upcoming class - especially since I have ...um...11 chairs? Yah 11. And I'm getting 2 more soon. French Wingbacks to boot! Sam