Saturday, February 7, 2009

Toothbrush rugs: And now for something completely different

Yes, I'm still making my rugs... but like most things in my life right now, I've been too busy doing life to talk about it.

I'm almost done with this beautiful pastel rug which while artistically luscious couldn't be more contrary to our aesthetic. So I'm going to give it to some dear friends from our former life who have been supporting us in many ways. I don't think they read my blogs, so it'll come as a surprise to them. The pattern had been three rows of the pink pattern to one of the teal, but as of the current row, I'm not sure that I have enough teal to finish a row, so I'm doing three strips pink pattern to one strip teal. That way, the mathematical pattern is maintained.
If I run out of teal to intersperse, I'll use up the pink. A "problem" or challenge all rug makers face is "what do you do with the scraps." Sometimes I make hot pads out of them, sometimes I start a new "sister" rug, but I've another rug in the work which involves pinks and pastels which is destined to be a gift, and once its done, I think I'll be off pastels and definitely pinks for a decade, or until someone pays me enough to overcome how much I dislike the color.
Yes, I know... people keep encouraging me to sell my rugs. And when people have seen them and offered me something reasonable, I'm game, but I HATE bargaining, and I'm as bad at it as they come (think Bryan in the market in Python's The Life Of...) so...

Next I'll be doing something REALLY radical, I'll be fixing this rug. Its one my mother made of my wife's uniforms when she was a professional of a certain sort. However, my mother does not stitch as tightly as I do, and some of the mat'l was rather flimsy, so a huge section of it has disintegrated. So... just because I love taking this craft to places its not been before, I'm going to cut off the bad part and stitch two or three rows on as an anchoring boarder. I'll be shooting video of several steps of the process.

Here's a slideshow of my rugs, for those who are new around here, where ever 'here' is

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey... my trivits are on here. I forgot that. How are you guys doing? I read about your big move.WOW. How are things back in indiana? -Michelle

mlcarr@ameritech.net

Listig said...

That's right, they are... I've made so many rugs, trivets, etc., I forget sometimes to whom I gave them.

I'll email you more about the hoosier homecoming... have a rug almost finished of which I'll shoot a video of me finishing it off as soon as its sunny enough here to get good colour saturation (lighting conditions here at my childhood home are much more favourable than they were in our dark closet of an apartment in Chicago!)

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