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

Back From The L/A

I finished putting this quilt together oh.........2 years maybe? ago? Probably that long. I sent it to Three Sisters Fabric in New Paris IN to be quilted. First off - they were great to work with. They did what they said they'd do when they'd do it for the price they quoted. Second - this quilt looks exactly like I wanted it to. I had wanted to quilt it myself - but I just never achieved the skill required nor gave the time to the practice to get as good as I wanted to be. (Was that why I sold my machine? No.)Third - I am HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY and totally over the moon over how this turned out. These pictures don't really do it justice - you have to SEE it to appreciate it. I love it!

Ihave one more they did too - my spools quilt - it came out equally beautiful - it's an E2E and since the piecing is SO BUSY it was perfect. I am very VERY satisfied with what Allison & Tammy did for me - here's a funny ya'll. I have been home sick, in the bed, with the flu. The quilts were delivered on Monday & in my excitement, I called & left a message on thier phone - um......word to the wise........don't call ANYONE when you're loopy with the flu - you're going to be un-intelligible! At least for me? I was! Allsion, bless her - emailled me & let meknow she THOUGHT I was happy with the quilts. Happy? No OVERJOYED. But I won't make phone calls when I'm 3 sheets to the flu anymore either. Ha Ha I can be such a nut job. Sam

Newly Bound #2

#2 Newly Bound! this is that Barn Loft Quilt Pattern - this quilt is HUGE - incredibly long. Definately a KING size quilt. Or a good size Queen with a pillow tuck! I put this one on the bed to stay. At least for alittle while

Newly Bound #1

this is ONe of TWo quilts that I got back from the L/A - please - don't give me any grief - I got this back before THANKSGIVING! Putting the binding on is one of my most dreaded part of quilt making. this quilt has a story - pretty sure I wrote it out before - but here goes again. I made the BLOCKS for this quilt oh...6 or 7 years ago? Got disgusted with them becasue I didn't make them come out all the right size - I gifted them to a quilt guild buddy this year - Diane Miller - becasue she makes a lot (I mean A LOT) of charity quilts, figured she'd turn it into a charity quilt, well she made the quilt up & GAVE IT BACK TO ME! I love it - I don't remember what batting I had in it but it's a WARM one for sure!

Piddle Crafting

The weather this past weekend has been stupid crazy. I spent Saturday with my DD#2 & Grandson#1 - but they had to leave earlier than expected on Sunday morning because the weather was getting nasty. And.......I did not want her driving on ice after dark. Anyway........I was a little bored & made this!

Partial Construction

Last week, while slcing potatoes for a "work" dinner, I cut my thumb open & while it's a very small cut, it bleeds with any type of pressure on it. I had intended on spending my weekend sewing the bindings onto 2 quilts. I got them machine sewn on one side, but I couldn't sew for very long without aggravating that stinking cut! So, I tried paper peicing some more blocks for my Everlasting Wreath. Yet again, i got my thumb bleeding every time that I would apply pressure on it. Like ANYWHERE on my thumb would get it bleeding. If you SAW this little cut you'd think I was bluffing, that there's no way it can bleed so much???? Trust me, it bleeds. A. Lot. So...what to do, what to do..??? I figured I'd try putting some blocks together on the Wreath Quilt. I can count, on one hand, how many times that I have made anything with set-in seams & knew it was going to be challenging. And truthfully? If I had not been sewing on LINES, I may not have been so eager to try it. I have a bunch of blocks done, but not near enough! Add to that, I thought I could stop at 188? Turns out I'm probably going to increase the number of blocks by like 80 becasue the little portion that you see in these pictures is not quite half way accross the top of the bed. ( from side to side)

The pattern does not give instructions to do what I am doing, but if you'll notice, I am making the "wreaths" complete. Or rather, not making partial "wreaths". So I have to make partial blocks - not including the half blocks that i'll make for the top & bottom (once I GET that far!) I have not decided if I will make some sort of wedge block for the sides. Maybe when I get that far I'll have made a decision by then. Thanks for looking! Have a great day! It's supposed to start sleeting here this afternoon....Yay! (not!) Sam

Never Ending Wreath

Oh yah, it's the EVER-lasting Wreath..........I keep forgetting. I have not worked on my quilt blocks in over a month. My last "count" on my log is 09/03/2013. As of today, of 188 blocks, I have 27 more blocks to complete that are 50/50 (half light & half dark) I need 47 all dark blocks, I need 10 half blocks ~ not sure whether or not these have lights in them or not...and 30 "wedges". So? I still have a WAYS to go! the last 10 blocks that I completed only took me 2 days, and I was sick one of them & took a four hour nap. All in all it's coming along beautifully - if it were not for the fact that I like BIG quilts & also that I want the "wreaths" to be complete & not just run off on the edges....I could probably be more than half done by now, but ??? That's just not ME right??? And, the most dreaded part of quiltmaking for me is putting the BINDING on & guess what??? I have 3 that need bindings right now. Yuck. I machine sewed one on 100%. And it's already in the mail to my brother in CA. The other 2 are MINE. I have them serged, but I need to machine sew the binding to the back & then hand sew them down on to the front. It's late & no natural light, so no pictures tonight y'all. Sam PS - the picture is to show you how serious I am at getting my blocks done! I set up this ole drying rack with all my strips on it. They are WAY easier to see & pick this way!

Pumpkin Hairbows

Made these to co-ordinate with some pumpkin shirts that I made for my niece & her neighbor. I don't have a model for these!

sam

These Instead of Those

I decided that the previous Pumpkin Sac's were overly ambitious, so I changed the game plan & did what I did last year only in a different color!

Sam

Pumpkin Sacs (not bags!)

This is a design that I bought from SMARTNEEDLE dot com. It's a very cute design. I had orginally intended to make these for my grandson's daycare class (can't bring food...) but I am changng my mind. I have to make something lots more simple. These Pumpkin Sac jobbies have 22000 stitches & take roughly 40 minutes each. Way more time & effort than I want to expend on a pack of 4 year olds. I make several more for a select few of the children in my life ESPECAILLY my grandson - but I'm not cranking out 16 of these jobbies!

Sam

Little Red Bag

The little girl down the road on the street we live on was having a birthday party & while we didn't have a formal invitation, I didn't want Eian to go empty handed. So I whipped up this little bag. It turned out REALLY cute!

ON another note....leaving tomorrow morning , on the road to Austin TX. Truck is all packed. I'll holler when I'm back! M

Long Time No Post!

Goodness! I feel like I have been neglecting my blog. Well you know...when life gets you busy, bogs get pushed to the back burner. I HAVE been incredibly busy! All family oriented too. Y'all know I have 2 beautiful daughters right? Well, it seems both are flying the figuative coop nearly simultaneously. My youngest graduated GRAD school in May & secured a job in a county north of us. She moved the weekend of the 14th. It took 2 trips and thankfully less than half went UP-stairs. I felt like the Beverly Hillbillies! Prince Charming, aptly named I might add...., was a Prince & we did it in our F250 pickup truck & a 14' long trailer. Oh, yah & lots of straps. I'm one of those people that overdoes the straps. In my (pea brain) little mind, the more straps the better. No sense in letting something fall off! the Princess had it all packed up, so no complaints there! My oldest daughter has secured a position in TX, and her first day will be 10/14. So .... I am going to take a week's vacation & she & I will be renting a U-Haul, a car dolly & probably a furniture dolly...and we will be taking a ROAD TRIP to move her to Austin, TX the week before her first day. Did I tell you she's got 3 dogs? The grand-dogs. Yah, 3. Chihuahuas. (I made a similar trip to this one from HOUSTON in 2008 but there were only TWO then!) I am not complaining as it will be a great huge block of time for us to be spending together. And...other than some large boxes, bookshelves & maybe a chest...there is not the furniture to move. We'll have to rent a regular dolly because I will be flying back. So? That's my life lately in a nutshell. I have done precious little sewing. I have not even plugged back up my sewing machine from where I went to my quilt guild meeting on the 9th of this month! Sad isn't it? I have poked around & cut out a FEW blocks for my grandson's I Spy Quilt. I had originally wanted to have it done for him for Christmas & while it's still floating around inthe bback of my mind for Christmas, I dont want to push it. Just in case you need a reminder of just how gorgeous my daughters are??? Here's a reminder!

That's the Super Star on the left & the Princess on the right. One day I'll explain WHY we call them that. It's not like you think though, I'll guarantee it! TTYL! Sam

Two Chairs Today. Projects for in the FUTURE

I went to Books A Million today & spent a good 2 hours just browsing. Ended up getting 2 magazines and 3 books. All cooking. Well one was Sausage Making for Dummies (yah really....) and one was for Preserving food. The last one has some interesting recipes! Anyway.....I was on the side of Nashville that I work on & there is a junk shop/consignment/thrift shop I have checked out twice so far. Today being the 3rd. I have YET to leave there empty handed. Nice people. Not sure if the young men there are their sons or not, but they are incredibly polite and will load whatever I buy. I think I made points by listening the young man talk about his dog, petting hte dog & just interacting with him & his dog. Well I how can I not? I'm a DOG person. Though it was way too hot to bring my K9 companion out with me today. Anyway...........I was not hunting anything in particular. Just "looking". Well , like I said. I have not ever left this place empty handed. And I didn't today. I have a LONG TERM project in mind. To lighten up my living room. Our "formal" living room . It's not really FORMAL but it's mostly unused and I'd like a little change. Lighter. Don't really know where I'm going with it, but I know when I am done there will be LESS brown. Prince Charming built an oak entertainment unit that I LOVE & that's staying. I have a buffet that I use as a sofa table behind the couch & THAT is staying. I have black (yah really black...) washable velvet curtains/drapes. They are GOING. I have it in my head that I want drapes on drape cranes. You know what I mean by drape cranes? Swivel Curtain rods...is another name...The curtain rods are like on a rod that only comes halfway to the center of the window & the rod is on a hinge ? and can be opened closed by the rod, not by moving the fabric. And blue & white. Maybe blue & white...I actually want to STAY with the wall color. Only instead of flat, I want eggshell. At anyrate...back to my shopping excursion. I bought 2 chairs today. (no we are NOT going to discuss how many I have waiting to reupholster, so don't even ask) the chairs are in pretty good condition. Except for the fabric. Actually the fabric is in GOOD condition, but there's NO WAY I can live with the color. Just not happening. So here they are. I put them in my storage unit until the urge hits me or I find the perfect fabric. Whichever comes first. But I will not drag them into the house to live with the color that they are. Well IF my favorite color was ORANGE then maybe. But ornage is not my favorite color. Red is. But they won't be red either.

I can't figure it out. If I attach TWOpictues, blogger only attaches ONE. This is getting annoying. If I do THREE it does 2. Ack! Making me mad. Tlak to y'all later! Sam