Time Warp

It was July and now it's September. It seems like I've been in a time warp and now it's fall.

I had some crafting plans for the summer. A watermelon quilt, some red, white and blue projects for the Fourth of July, and maybe a shell ornament or two made out of felted wool. Oh well, they'll wait until next year.

Now it's time for pumpkins, colored leaves, and Halloween candy.....Hello, Fall!

This is a penny rug I finished yesterday. I can't help but think of Butterfinger candy bars, chocolate drops, and caramel corn when I see these colors together. I'm not sure why all the candy comes to mind, unless it's an automatic association between fall and Halloween candy for me.

I'm really pleased with the way this rug turned out. I should have it listed in my Etsy shop tomorrow if I can get the photos uploaded today. I've been using Flickr for my photo editing and I've been pleased with it so far, but they've just changed some of the features and it's taken me a little while to get used to them. I could use a photo editing package that Steve bought me for Christmas the other year, but 1) I've gotten used to Flickr and 2) we haven't worked out a good system for my laptop to access the external drive we use to store all our photos (a Mac vs PC issue). And then sometimes it just takes me awhile to get a good picture of my items. This last photo with the pumpkin is a good example. You would think that a log frame house would be the perfect backdrop for any rustic, folk art, or primitive themed object, right? 

Somehow it's not. Either the lighting is too harsh or the shadows are too dark or the decking just looks plain weird. And I usually forget to check what might be in the background of my photo, so often there's a big electrical pole in the distance or an unsightly black spot of washed out dirt where I just moved a flower pot out of the way on the left there. (Ahem. In my defense, at least it's not the spot where the bats have been pooping.)

I've been looking at pictures on Etsy and I like the ones where the item is placed in front of a simple wooden shutter or the quilt is simply draped over a wooden rail fence. While our back deck railing is made of wood logs, it's in dire need of being revarnished and will leave icky yellow flakes of old varnish on anything I put over it. Our neighbor's fencing is electrified barbed wire, and that's just not going to give the same atmosphere, will it? 

I don't want to invest much into photo props for the items I want to sell, but good pictures really do make a difference when you're selling online. When I first set up my Etsy store, I knew that the photos would be important to any prospective buyer since they can't actually pick up the item and handle it in person. Still, I didn't realize how much time it can take to photograph an item to it's best advantage and then edit the photo for uploading to Etsy. So much to learn.

Something New

I finished my first penny rug today. Penny rugs are an American folk art that originated during the 1880s, when cloth was often scarce and home makers reused old wool clothes to make decorative items. Typically a penny rug features graduated circles stacked on each other and sewn together using a blanket stitch. Coins were used as the templates for the smaller circles, thus the name penny rug. Geometric patterns were a common motive, along with hearts, flowers, stars, and animals. Despite the name, penny rugs weren't used on the floor. They were used to cover chair seats, decorate table tops, or hung on the wall.

I think traditionally the circles were sewn on a larger foundation piece and backed with something like burlap or a feed sack. Modern penny rugs are often made out of individual circles that are sewn along the edges to form the piece, as I've done here. I used a simple stab stitch to attach the hearts and circles to the foundation circles, and a blanket stitch to attach the tops to the bottom circles.



I've signed this piece "TAD 2011," although the embroidery is a little hard to see in this photo.

I used a plaid tweed with light blue, gray, and caramel stripes, along with a solid light blue and a nubbier gray. The light blue came from a felted sweater that featured a solid weave and sections of ribbing, both of which I've used in this piece. The plaid was probably from a wool skirt or jacket.

Each circle is sewn to a backing circle of cream felt that I cut from an old wool blanket.

Many people use penny rugs as a candle mat, but I think I'd be more likely to use this as a decorative trivet on the table. The thick layers of wool are perfect for protecting the table surface from heat and steam.



I've always like penny rugs with their combinations of colors and patterns and it's a perfect project for using up those little scraps of leftover wool felt, so it was only a matter of time that I tried sewing one myself. I enjoyed the simple applique embroidery and the circles came together quicker than I expected. This rug will be added to my shop soon and I've already started several others. I plan to make a few in a patriotic theme for the summer and then do some pumpkin motifs for the fall.