The Rag Rug - still a work in progress!

 

So, I finally finished sewing together the rag rug from my giant ball of cord made from scrap material and scrap batting.  I have made a few other smaller rugs, but this one just kept going, and finished up as a 6 foot by 5 foot oval.  

Unfortunately, the edges are tight, and the rug cups up significantly.   I tried weighting down the edges to see if I could flatten it out, and I corraled my trusty quilt holder husband into helping me pull it to try to do the same, but it still is pretty off. 

Even Judy can tell that something is amiss! 

I started out with that huge ball, and took my sewing machine to the dining room table, knowing I'd need more space to hold the weight of the piece. 

It started out looking good! 

It soon got too large for my sewing surface, so I piled up books and boxes to enlarge the space.  

I had a bag of older threads that I don't usually use for quilting, and decided to use those for this project, which uses an unbelievable amount of thread! 

As the piece got bigger, I added more supports, and checked it occasionally on the floor to make sure it was more or less flat.  I wasn't too concerned about the few errant little bumps.

I think the problems happened near the end, when I was rushing a bit to clear the table for our little ZOOM Thanksgiving.   I probably needed to really slow down and support it more.  

Even near the end, it didn't appear to be too off.  

Here are the empty spools from this project!  

What to do?  I am thinking that I might take off the final 5 or so rounds to see if I can redo them.  A friend had suggested sticking it under my wool run to flatten it, but I think the edge cupping is too much.  I thought about cutting it, and then sticking in a wedge, but that would look crappy!  I like this rug, and want to do it right, but I am also trying to finish a college class, and get ready for Christmas, and get to work on the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.  I may roll up the rug, and tuck away until after the New Year.

Anyone have any other suggestions on how to make this work, or what I could have done differently?  I'd appreciate any feedback or thoughts.

Take care,

Gretchen 

Too muchI

            I have several quilting projects on deck - a table runner for an overdue gift, a few mixed media pieces that I have had in my head for over a year, and this years Bonnie K. Hunter mystery quilt.  The info about that mystery quilt is here.

            Before I start any of these projects, I needed to clear out some of my scraps.  I feel a need to get my quilting stuff organized before I embark on a project.  Anyone else feeling that way?  I started with making a few more masks for my family, since it appears that masks are here to stay (and the damn cats have eaten! the elastic on several of my masks!) 

            I have lots of scraps.  I have been putting them in collapsible bins, and now find I have too many!   I pulled out one packed bin, and started cutting 2 1/2 inch strips.  

     Some of the bins are on shelves in the basement.  When my son visited this summer with his dog, I found the cats hiding in the scrap bins!   It turns out that some of those were scraps which I intended to use, so I cleaned those up, and am substituting little scraps of batting and fabric that I would otherwise throw away!  

I started cutting, and filled this huge basket with strips.  

Before it was all filled up! 

          I was operating without a plan.  I tried sewing some strips together and then cutting them, but wasn't really feeling it.  I think the strips are too big for me for this type of design.  

            Once I rejected all those ideas, I ended up deciding to also use up the two bins I had of batting that I had cut to 2 1/2 inch strips when I made a few small jelly roll rugs.  I just started folding and sewing and then clipping the batting into the fabric.  Luckily, I have found some good audiobooks to listen to while working on this project!  

 

What a mess this room is! 

Of course, I had help! 

Betty inspecting my work

                   

Judy making sure I was going to use up all of the strips! 

        

            I did use up all of the strips and the batting I had cut.  Now I have an enormous ball of fabric cord, ready to sew into little rugs, or maybe even one big rug!  I didn't measure, or figure out how much I needed.   I just kept sewing until all the cut strips were used.  

            We'll see how this turns out.  I have plans for some of the other scraps (lots more around) and will keep you posted! 

Thank you for stopping by and reading. 

Take care and stay safe,

Gretchen  
 

Cora's Quilt

 

    I realized that I never had blogged about this little disappearing 9 patch quilt I made for Cora, the grandchild of one of my cousins.  I had finished this quilt in January, and got it mailed out, but never got to blogging. 

    This was the second quilt made with some 5 inch squares I cut from material from the Sugar Sack collection by Whistler Studios.  

On the design wall

     In 2018, I had been asked to make a version of a table runner from these fabrics for Easy Quilt magazine.   My blog post about that piece is here.

   I had enough fabric remaining to cut lots of squares, and did the disappearing 9 patch for Cora, and also made a shadowed quilt for little baby Louise.  My blog post about Louise's quilt (Lil Nancy Drew) is here.

      I finished the quilt with a nice loopy overall design.

     Betty found the quilt quite comfy!  (I always wash them before I send them off!)

     I've been trying to wrangle the mess of fabric scraps before starting any new quilts.  I'll post about my progress next time!  

Take care,

Gretchen