Waiting … and Experimenting

I hate it when projects get put on hold. It seems that when I put a project aside for any reason – even as good a reason as needing to get more and different felt so I can continue working – that the project just ends up as another one of those UFO’s. (You know the ones I mean, don’t you? And one of these days I am going to finish them ALL…)

And I don’t want this penny rug to become one of those UFO’s. For one thing, I really do need a table covering. For another, I am really starting to enjoy the whole idea of this penny rug. (I have come to appreciate this particular art form even with all of the time consuming steps.)

So, in an attempt to keep this project out of the UFO bin until I can get some more wool fabric, I thought that I would experiment a little with the blanket stitch surround for the penny motif. Would I like it better if the stitches were closer together? Farther apart? Would it really matter?

It didn’t take me long to realize that a little experimenting with this project is good; a lot is just plain time wasting.

I like the wider stitches. Mystery solved. Now I just have to get some more wool before this project ends before it begins…

When Wool Isn’t Wool

I used to think that you could count on a few things in this world: taxes, rainy days, annoying telemarketing phone calls right at supper. I can even count on the fact that just when I’ve gotten used to Facebook, it is going to change. But yesterday my world got just a little more topsy-turvy: I learned that when a fabric says it is 100% wool, it may not be.

Really.

I wondered why it wasn’t felting the way I am used to 100% wool felting (hasn’t everyone ‘accidentally’ put a piece of wool clothing in the washer and dryer?), but I didn’t give it a second thought. After all, wool is wool.

So, naively, I carried on with my project and once I had all 298 circles (yup – all 298 of the them) cut out, I started working on the stitching. And I must say here, that blanket stitching circles together is a lot more relaxing and therapeutic than I thought it would be.  (I thought that it would be just plain boring. ) That is, of course, until I realized that my wool fabric wasn’t felted like I had assumed it was. And every stitch brought me closer to tears than to relaxation.

How could 100% wool that was carelessly washed and dried in a home washing machine, (aka felted on purpose), still fray.

IT FRAYED.

It started out as a little fray, and I thought, in my naive optimism, that this wasn’t so bad, and I could fix any little areas that needed a little help.

Ha.

It just got worse. The fraying, I mean. The stitching and the circles look awesome (I say this because I used my worst-cut circles for a practice piece, and the motif still looks fairly good). And I am going to love this penny rug project by the time it is done.

But it is going to take me longer to get it done… arghhh… I have to go back to the drawing board and find more felt. And cut more circles.

This is where I remind myself that nothing in life comes easy, and that I will love it all the better for the challenges, right? Who knew that 100% wool could be so fickle?

That is A LOT of Circles!

After a whole lotta circle cutting, I really have only come to one conclusion: I am not that great at cutting circles. Some of my circles are not so round, I am convinced that all of my circles (albeit close) are not the same sizes, and none of them are even or at all close to being perfect.

The good news is that cutting circles is only a part of this particular project, and I am convinced that this little table penny rug of mine is going to look fabulous.

And yes, I decided to go with the green.

After much playing around with, and rearranging of, circles, I think that I have come up with a design that I am going to love. It isn’t entirely penny motifs like the more traditional penny rugs, and it doesn’t have a whole lot of green on it… and I suppose you could say that since I have used single and double circles (as opposed to sticking with the 3-circle motif) that I have departed from an original penny rug. And maybe I have. But I think that it is going to look great!

All that is left is to decide on the colour of string I will sew this little masterpiece together with. And then…. the sewing. Lots and lots of sewing. But I must admit that now that I see the project on my table, I can see the value in all the work there is to complete this penny rug.

This may not be a quick project, but I have a feeling that I will enjoy my penny rug for a long time to come (even if I grow tired of the green).

Too Much Time = Too Much Indecision

It has recently occurred to me that the longer a creative project takes, the more likely there is to be at least one period of indecision.

And this one is no exception.

I started out this penny rug/table linen project having picked three colours that I was really happy with. After my struggle with not having enough fabric, and then my misguided attempts at counting the exact number of ‘penny’ circles I was going to have to cut, I got down to work cutting out my circles. And then I realized that maybe I didn’t like those three colours after all.

And the longer it took to cut out my circles, the longer I had to reconsider my colour choices. After all, I had intended to use a fairly strong apple-y green colour… could it be too much for my humble kitchen? What if it was? Should I spend all this extra time cutting out the green felt only to find out that I wasted all that time and money on something that is, well, … green? Here is what  I mean…

Green. Very, very, very green. Oh – but don’t get me wrong, I LOVE this colour of green and have used it for a lot of the accent pillows and colours in my home. I am just having second thoughts about using something THIS green in a project that will -hopefully- become an heirloom. (Especially after I spend FOREVER cutting out hundreds of little circles.)

Originally, I really felt that this particular colour of green would work well. Remember my planning notes? They looked something like this:

But then, as I got some circles cut, and once again put all the colours side, by side, by side, I realized that I might have just been wrong.

The real question now is, do I follow my first instinct and go with the colours I had chosen right from the very start (you know what they say about first instincts), or do I listen to my inner voice as this project takes shape and pull the green ‘off the table’ (so to speak)?

All I can say is everytime I work on a project that takes a whole lot of prep time, I have the same sort of dilemma. You’d think I would be used to this by now…

I Never Said That I Could Count…

Ha! I guess that the joke is one me. I said in my blog yesterday that I would need 380 circles. Boy, was I wrong.

I will need 480 circles.

Yup… one hundred more circles than I originally thought. Maybe my miscalculation was more hopeful thinking than it was reality, but since I will need 160 circles time three, I will definitely need to cut out 480 circles if (and this is a big if) I decide to cover the entire penny rug in motifs.

In either case, I am off to cut some circles.

A Whole Lotta Circles

I really can’t tell you the exact measurement of my penny-rug-to-be. In the end, I placed my fabric on the table that I am making this linen to fit, and I trimmed it down to size – just big enough so that the finished penny rug will sit about an inch in from each side of the table.

But I can tell you that if I were to cover the whole space in penny rug circular motifs, I would need 380 circles.

Yup.

380 circles.

That is 160 big circles, 160 smaller circles, and 160 smallest circles. 380 circles.

Guess we know what I will be doing for the next few days…

Thank Goodness for ‘The Stash’

At this moment, I am thanking my lucky stars for a lonely piece of winter white 100% wool fabric that I had sitting in my stash pile leftover from the handbag challenge (purse project) posted on the blog way back in October of 2009. Needless to say that this particular piece of fabric has been in my stash for a while… and I had forgotten all about it.

Until now.

You see, not only had I been struggling with the layout for my penny rug  (because I didn’t like the geometricality of the traditional designs) but, if the truth were told, my real problem is that I just didn’t have enough wool felt. (Because a penny rug must be made from 100% wool.)

Not nearly enough.

And while I wanted to work on this project, I wasn’t sure I wanted to work on this project enough to buy another piece of wool or wool felt. So, I was very grateful when I realized that I had a piece already in my stash – just waiting to be used.

And it was exactly the right size for the base of my table runner/cloth thing, penny rug,  (or whatever we are calling this little project now).

And then, just when I was thinking that I might run out of fabric again (as it turns out, a penny rug can eat through A LOT of wool fabric), my dear husband came into the room with an old pair of 100% wool dress pants that had seen better days.

Now I have enough wool to complete the project. (I think.)

All I can say is – Thank Goodness for the Stash!!!! (And now I know why it is that I keep a stash of fabric around in the first place.) Now that I have my fabric, it is time to get to work