Wooly work

A penny rug I have been working on.  Thought the square shapes were interesting to work with and  the stars just really made it folksy.  Now to decide how to finish it off, since its wool appliqued onto cotton its pretty flimsy feeling, maybe I need to find some nice stiff wool for a backing and add some buttons in the middle of the pennies.

I want to play with wool

I don't know if its the slight chill in the evening air or the schedule change at work that has allowed me to have my relaxing evenings back, but I was really needing some wool time. So I have been working on this penny rug and its finally finished!

I have learned a few things, which is always a good thing, and I realize now that I need to throw my wool back in a hot washer for another go around, its really not as felted as I thought with just one trip through. I need to continue practicing my buttonhole stitch to work to get a more even consistent stitch width and length. But all and all, I'm pretty pleased with the result.

The decision has been made!

I decided to try out machine applique on the wool leaves. I learned some lessons, first of all, I can make my machine 'blanket stitch' which is wonderful because I was stressing over doing it by hand. I also learned that I like working with wool, its thickness really beefs a project up. I wish I had tried to do something with the packet I have had lying around sooner. I also reinforced the fact that I was still too chicken to put binding on inside corners so I birthed it instead, maybe a future project will find me feeling a little more froggy. Now for the big question.....what happens when I wash this? Will that wool bleed all over everything? I guess time will tell.