Garden Gate Penny Rug

Hello! I purchased the Garden Gate Make-it-Market kit, designed by Betsy Veldman for Papertrey Ink, a month or so ago, and the gate die in the kit was screaming to me to cut it out of felt. I thought about it for a while, and decided to make a penny rug using the gate and some of the flowers in the kit. This was a project that developed as I went, not a whole lot of pre-planning here.

I started by cutting out the gate from Papertrey's Vintage Cream felt. It cut beautifully!! I laid the gate on a piece of felted wool in my stash (and yes, I have a HUGE stash of wool!). I decided to cut out an 8" circle of wool for the center of the penny rug. I attached the gate with small dots of glue (Roxanne Baste it), and then blanket stitched the edges with Ecru floss (2 strands). The inside lattice was stitched with a whipstitch.

Next came the wisteria. I used the wisteria die cuts from the kit as my inspiration, and stitched the vine to the top of the gate using a stem stitch for the vine, french knots for the flowers, and striaght stitches for the leaves. I used varigated Weeks Dye Works floss to achieve the variety in color.

I then proceeded to figure out how to replicate the hollyhocks. I ended up using two of the smallest dies in the Mini Blooms die set to cut the blooms and leaves out of Papertrey Hibiscus Burst, Autumn Rose, Lemon Tart, and Spring Moss felt. I attached them with french knots, embellished the leaves and flower centers with small straight stitches. I filled in around the blossoms with green french knots to represent the greenery.

The final element I wanted to incorporate into the rug was the bleeding hearts. I LOVE bleeding hearts (the flowers, not the people!). The gate scene was already pretty full - I didn't want to cover up the gate too much, so I decided to put "bleeding" hearts on the pennies surrounding the rug. I used a heart from the Heart-to-Heart series for the larger light pink heart (Sweet Blush felt), and a smaller heart from Flipping Out (Autumn Rose felt). These were attached to 10 pennies with a whip stitch.  Then I added the stamens with straight stitches and french knots in a light yellow floss (DMC).

Then I assembled the penny rug by first backing the center with another piece of 8" round felted wool with a blanket stitch. This hides all the ugly stitching on the back.
Next, I backed each penny with another penny with a blanket stitch. This hides the stitching (of the bleeding hearts ones), and adds some weight to match the weight of the center.
Next step was to attach the pennies to the center circle. This was a bit tricky, even though I have made several penny rugs before. I basted each penny to the center with white thread on the front of the rug. Then, I flipped the rug over and whipstitched the pennys to the center, and to each other with black pearl cotton floss. The reason the stitch from the back, is to hide the whipsitching.

The front was complete! One thing that is important to me in quilting is to label the back of each quilt I make with details about the inspiration, what was going on at the time, my name and the date the quilt was made, etc. 100 years from now, when I am gone, my grandkids will hopefully be able to read those labels and learn a little more about why and when that quilt was made.
Saying all that, I decided to label the back of this little penny rug. I wanted to give Betsy Veldman and Papertrey credit for their designs, and have a scripture verse to represent my faith. I chose to use Psalm 100:4-5, since it referred to gates, and it spoke of the goodness of God.

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. " Psalm 100:4-5 

 I used a feather stitch to attach the label to the back of the rug.

 I actually stamped the wisteria on the label using stamps in the kit.

 Credit to Betsy and Papertrey.

Now it is complete! Hope you enjoyed this explanation of how it was made! I think it is one of my favorite things I have ever made! Thanks for sticking with me through this long post!

A Needlebook Obsession

Hello! A confession here - I think I might have an obsession with needlebooks... I have a ton of them. Some I have made, some have been made by friends. One was made by my dad - my favorite of all. Let me show you some of them - then you decide - do I really  need a kit to make more????

Wool needlecases with stamped die cuts on top two. Bottom left is simple wool applique. Bottom right was given to me by a friend - just a few pieces of wool sewn together - functional. Second picture is these cases opened up.

Made by a friend - silk embroidery.

Another silk embroidery case by my friend.

A beautiful fan shaped needle case with tons of silk ribbon flowers on the front. Beautiful inside and out. Made by my friend.

Cute wool beehive case - made by me.

Wool felt case made by a friend.

Simple 30s fabric case - made by me.

More silk ribbon cases from my friend. She passed away a couple years ago, and I bought these at her estate sale.

A simple roll case - made by me.

A felt and wool felt case - made by me.

This one is my favorite. My dad made it during WWII. He was a marine and fought in several larger battles. I imagine this was his field sewing kit. He left it to me in his will.

This was made from wool by me - just a simple case.

This crazy needle case was made by a friend of mine. It is made entirely from French knots - over 100 per inch!

Stamping on Felt

Hello! I wanted to share a technique that is new to me. I've done alot of work with wool and wool felt. I love Papertrey's 100% wool felt, although they only have a limited amount of colors. Sometimes I have to go to other sources to get the colors I want, and sometimes the percentage of wool is not as high as Papertrey's.
I am getting ready to do a demonstration on wool applique at a quilt show in April, and was trying to come up with a design I could make up into kits to have for sale at the show. I was thinking it would be nice to have pre-cut die shapes in the kit, so I started thinking about all the Papertrey dies I have, and which ones would work well with a simple design.
What I came up with was a simple needle case with a Rosey Posey flower on the front. I cut the flower out of two different pink felts I purchased from Village Mercantile (a booth at a quilt show I attend). The die cuts seemed kind of like a blob - no real definition of the flower. So I thought maybe I would try to stamp the Rosey Posey flower on the felt die cut. I wasn't too sure how well the ink would dry - whether it would smear when I was working with it. So I stamped the image and let it dry overnight. When I rubbed my fingers across it in the morning, it seemed to be dry. I hit it a bit with my heat gun just to make sure the ink was set.

 The first flower was stamped with Berry Sorbet onto the slightly darker pink felt. It really had good contrast, so I decided to leave it as is and just attach it to my felt base with whip stitches. The leaves were cut from a green felt, also from Village Mercantile, and stamped with a slightly darker green. This green ink did not have much contrast, and really did not show up much in the finished product.

 The second flower was stamped with Hibiscus Burst and only made a light impression. I decided to use the faint outlines as a guide to stitch the interior of the flower.

Both sets of leaves were blanket stitched. Which flower do you prefer? I kind of like them both! I think I am going to try out some other Papertrey stamps on felt die cuts - I love the added dimension the stamping gives!

A Penny for Your Thoughts...

Hello! No, this isn't a blog post about some philosophical idea, or politics. It's all about Penny Rugs! I love to work with wool. I've gotten involved with WAY to many different wool crafts in the past few years. My first love with wool came from making penny rugs. I was lucky enough to find a woolen shop that was going out of business and was able to purchase LOTS of wool at 60-80% off years ago. That wool forms the basis of many of my penny rugs. I went around the house and picked up all the penny rugs I could find to photograph. I know there are many more I've done - some given away as gifts, some hidden away in drawers, some in seasonal decorating totes, but this is a sampling of what I've done.
First, a little history on penny rugs from Wikipedia:
"In the 1800s, starting around the time of the Civil War, thrifty homemakers would use scraps of wool or felted wool from old clothing, blankets and hats to create designs for mats or rugs. Using coins as templates, they created circles and each piece was then stitched in blanket stitch fashion. (Thus, the name "penny" rug). Sometimes, the mats or rugs were backed with old burlap bags or feed sacks. Sometimes a penny was stitched inside the mat to make it lie flat.
Penny rugs are not actual rugs for the floor, but decorative coverings for beds, tables and dressers and mantles. Sometimes they are used as wall hangings or pillows. Most designs include circles and some include images from everyday life such as cats, flowers, birds and shapes such as stars and hearts.
Penny rugs are made by selecting good quality 100% wool. It must not be too thick. It may be hand-dyed or overdyed to give the piece dimension. The wool is felted then circles are cut from the wool in varying sizes and then stitched together concentrically using complementary colors. The circles are stitched to a wool backing in a pleasing design. When finished the entire piece should have a backing to cover the stitches and to protect it. The backing may be wool, linen or burlap."

Penny rugs have become very popular in these last few years and the way we make them and their uses have expanded. Still, they are mostly decorative, although we use them as couch arm covers, drink mats, or table mats - which is purposeful I guess. Anyway, they are FUN to make! No seams to turn under - which is awesome!


Just a little explanation of my wool before I start - I use either felted wool or wool felt on my projects. Now you ask - what is the difference? Felted wool is 100% real wool that is washed in hot water, then dried in a hot dryer, then rinsed in cold water. Have you ever washed a wool sweater and had it come out in a child's size? That's felting wool! The nice thing about felted wool is that the edges do not fray, so you do not need to turn them under. Yeah!

Wool felt is wool or a mixture of wool and rayon, that is commercially made and pressed. You can get it on the bolt, or individual sheets like 8" x 11" or 5" x 5" or other sizes. It is much cheaper than real wool - like $8 yard versus $20 and up for real wool.When using wool felt, I prefer 100% wool felt - like Papertrey Ink's felt, but when I can't find a color I want, or I need a piece wider than 5", I will buy from other sources. I attend a quilt conference in Hampton VA each year, and there are several wool vendors at the show. The amount of wool products is increasing each year at the show. I have bought wool felt packets and projects from The Village Mercantile at the shows. Their felt is 80% wool, 20% rayon, and comes in TONS of colors.


Here are some of the penny rugs and wool applique projects I have made:

This is one of my earlier penny rugs. It is just 7 1/4" long by 3 3/4" wide. I found the pattern for this in a quilt magazine. This is made from felted wool.

These are two little neck purses, each done in a different colorway. They measure 6 3/4" tall by 5" wide. I taught a class at my quilt guild on how to make these and provided kits for everyone in the class. They are meant to hold a few sewing supplies, but would be darling as an over the shoulder purse for your cell phone or credit cards. These are made from felted wool.

Another of my favorite things to make with wool and wool felt is pincushions. I use pins alot in quilting, although I have been known to buy pins just to fill up my pincushions! Here is a sampling of some of the wool pincushions I have made or have been given to me by friends.The black and aqua pincushion in the lower left corner is made using Papertrey wool felt. I taught this one as a class at my quilt guild also.

I made this purse using a combination of a couple different patterns. I used a purse pattern for the basic shape of the purse, but made the purse in wool (lined in a coordinating cotton print), and sewed pennys on the front. The black is felted wool, the flowers and leaves are wool felt.

These are two sweet little rabbit penny rugs I put out in the spring. They measure about 12" wide. The yellow rug is made from wool felt, and the bottom one is made from felted wool.They can be used for a hot mat, for a candle mat, on an armchair, or just on the back of a chair. I pin them to the backs of my sewing chairs during the rest of the year using little stick pins.

A basket penny rug - I think from a company called Little Bits. I have several of their patterns to stitch up. This one is about the size of the two rabbit ones above. It is made from felted wool.

This snowman penny rug measures about 16" by 13 1/2". It is made from felted wool. The background blue wool felted up sooo soft. Each piece of wool seems to felt up differently.

This sheep penny rug is a work in progress. I am stitching on it in the evenings while we watch TV. It is made from wool felt from a Bareroots pattern/kit. I love, love, love all her patterns - both wool and stitching patterns. Check them out.

The top flag rug measures 21" x 12 1/2" and is made from felted wool. It is sewn together similar to sewing a quilt. The bottom rug is made from a kit of wool felt and measures 22" x 14".

This bird rug is made from a mixture of felted wool and wool felt (yes, you can mix the two). The backing, pennys around the edge, red berries and bird's wings are felted wool, and the bird body and leaves are wool felt. I usually set this one out at Christmas. I have an awesome pattern for a Christmas candy penny rug I'd like to stitch - just need to find the time!

 

This is one of my fall penny rugs. Sorry that the picture is just horrible (very blown out for some reason). It is made from felted wool and measures 26 1/2" x 16". I usually put this one on my dining room table as a center mat in the fall.

Probably my ultimate penny rug (or at least wool project - is my album quilt. It was a block of the month quilt. The background of each square, the sashing around each block, and the border background are all Moda flannel.  Other than that, the rest of the appliqued decorations are felted wool. It hangs above my computer where I can see it every day, and know that Nothing is impossible! :)

Hope I didn't bore you with all these pictures and explanations. I just wanted to put up a blog post with all my wool projects in one place. Don't even get me started on needle felting (another wool craft I swore I would never get involved with) - but that's for another post! Thanks for putting up with this long post!