Katie Made Me Do It...

Friday Katie commented that she couldn't believe that I was starting another rug and that maybe someday I would finish some of them.....I took that as a challenge to gather up a bunch of my finished rugs and write about them.

I found 18 finished rugs of various shapes and sizes. The "Come in" one doesn't really count or I could say 19. I am sure that I missed a couple somewhere. Some are my own designs and some are from books. Some of them, I have done more than once. The duplicates are ones that I did for close friends and family.

The four at the right side of the photo are some that I have done more than once. The blue and brown Chinese rug at the top of the triangle is from an old Dover book(still published) and I have done that one three times in different colorways. The two at the bottom left were from a Family Circle or some other ladies magazine and I have it in two different scales. The larger one is done on #22 hardanger in cross stitch and the smaller version is on #40 silk gauze. The yellow Chinese on the very end is my own design adapted from a book on real antique Chinese rugs that I found in the U of A library. I have done that one twice. Once for my daughter and then again for myself.

The interesting thing about that one is it was two of the same square in the original rug. I didn't feel that I needed a rug with two central designs and two separate borders, so I just used one. A few years later Sharon Garmize came out with a kit for the two square rug that was very similar to mine. She evidently found the same book a while after I did.

Anyway, this is proof that I do finish rugs. We won't mention the quilts and bedspreads in cross stitch and the curtains.

I am a firm believer in the idea that a rug or carpet adds interest, color and warmth to a room. Let me show you what I mean.

I did this Regency room box back in 1982. This is pretty much what it looked like, except for the leopardskin chairs, when I took it to the NAME national in Anaheim that year. It's OK, but kind of boring. I was pretty proud of the hand cut parquet floor and the hand carved, one of a kind daybed at the time, so I was happy with it.

Later I found a rug in an antique German newspaper from the 19th century. I adapted it and chose colors that I liked because the original was in black and white. It took me a couple of months to stitch that one because it is the size of a sheet of notebook paper and on # 22 canvas. It is the largest one that I have had the patience to do so far.

When you add that to the room, I think that it gives the room more warmth and the whole scene is more inviting.

See what happens? Even Tessie and Spike want to be there. She said that the scene was boring with just the rug and she wanted to liven it up even more. She is still running around showing everyone her mad skills at yo-yo-ing.

My theory is that every room should have signs of life too. All of the scenes that I put together have, at least a pet and/or usually some sort of food. Some have people. Some don't. The people aren't as important as the indication that someone lives there or has been there recently. They can have just stepped out of sight for a moment in some.That is my theory and I am sticking with it.

Now I am out of here. I will leave you with a couple of cookies and a cat in the computer room as "signs of life".

See you tomorrow.