Ella's cushion -- Dresden plate pattern done in wool.

This is Ella's cushion.  Ella is my 22-month-old Field Spaniel that thinks she's a lap dog.  She certainly believes she fits perfectly on this cushion and that well, frankly, she owns it.  Adults can perch their feet on a small corner but should, by no means, feel the cushion is theirs.

The cushion cover was made by me using various leftover wools.  The red panel is a wool and possum blend that didn't felt as tightly as I wanted and, as you can see, was weak, leading to a hole.  The center section is a sturdy wool tweed, knit in a wide rib and then smocked using the red yarn to tie the panels together.  The variegated panel was a yarn I hand-dyed myself that just happened to match the other two.  I knit and felted the three panels, sewed them together, and made a cushion for this lazy Susan ottoman we have.

Obviously, once the holes appeared, I started thinking of how to replace the cushion and what I wanted.  The original cushion was thicker and was a boring tapestry thing that came with the ottoman.  I didn't even wait for that to wear out before making the paneled cushion.

The new cushion would use a Dresden Plate quilting pattern.  I've posted about my love of American quilts before.  I never get tired of the play of pattern.  Naturally, I gravitated for the color wheel classic of red/blue/yellow.  I even found a 12-panel Dresden Plate pattern to use, planning for 4 repeats of the colors.  But, that green kept sneaking in to the pile.  The couch opposite this ottoman is dark green leather.  So, green always feels right.

 Here's the layout of the panels.  I had 2 fabrics in each color.  Every panel has texture of some kind -- plaid or stripe or whatever.  Most are hand-dyed by me or someone like me.

Now to the stitching.  Given that Ella was going to lay on this thing, it needed to be strong.  So, I machine-stitched the panels together along their long sides.  Then I blanket stitched the entire motif to the background wool.  This was tricky because it is big.  The motif measures 20 inches across.

After doing the outside, I very carefully pinned and started going over each long side with another type of blanket stitch.  This stitching was reinforcement and I did it to make sure everything stayed put with a 35-pound dog jumping up onto it.

Finally, I made a penny rug center to cover the big hole.  That was the hardest part to sew on because the rough cut hole kept shifting.  I probably should have basted everything on first but it was too late for that.  I just made do.

Below are shots of the finished cushion made using some foam from the craft store.  I love the final product, especially since the only supply I actually had to buy was the foam for the cushion!  What that tells me is that I have WAY too much wool in storage in my cedar closet.  I better come up with some more projects QUICK!!

As you can see, Ella approves.  Good dog.

The Quilt Rugs

I love American Craft.  Folk art, tramp art, fiber art, whatever.  I think American quilts are the most amazing things.  The art quilt movement is quite strong and those quilts are truly inspiring.  But, I still prefer an old-fashioned American quilt.

My grandma learned to quilt in her 80's (she lived to 103) and she loved the fabric piecing.  I haven't tried piecing, but sewing is really not my thing.  It's a means to an end for me.  Sewing allows me to line purses and make pillows and create scarves.  Quilting is too much sewing, I think.  But I want the look of quilting.  So, back when I first started rug hooking (2005-6) I thought it would be cool to take a single quilt block pattern, blow it up, and make a rug out of it.  These four rugs are my first attempts at this.  The designs came from a wonderful book called 849 Traditional Patchwork Patterns by Susan Winter Mills.  Wow.  849 different patterns.  I think I might be making these rugs for a long, long time.

This rug was the first one I did.  The darkest color is a great plaid that came from a thrift shop skirt.  I learned quite a bit on this rug.  First, curves are hard for a beginner.  The pinwheel in the center and the corners were really difficult.  Especially since my frame at that time was a stationary frame that didn't rotate easily.  The other thing I learned was that running out of wool can actualy improve your rug.  I ran out of my initial yellow.  So, I took the closest thing I could find to finish up.  To blend the two, I pulled out single strands in the finished triangles and worked in the new yellow.  The result was more movement and more interesting color.  Lesson learned.  Now I never do an entire large area with a single, solid color.  I always blend at least two similar shades.

This rug was my second one.  Again, the inspiration wool was a plaid with mustard, red, and blue in it.  I also had this wonderful charcoal grey and the best red ever.  I think this rug is my favorite of the four that I've done.  Lots of red, touches of blue, etc.  The oatmeal wool was a batch I'd bought on Ebay.  I learned never to buy pre-cut wool unless I can see it.  The ivory was a pretty loose weave and wasn't cut on the straight of the grain with any consistency.  So, lots of fraying and splitting.  I ended up tea-staining the wool to get a little less brightness.  It worked out fine, but lots of waste.

This Tumbling Blocks quilt was the 3rd one.  Tumbling Blocks is one of my favorite quilt blocks.  I love the optical illusion.  Many years ago I attended a Kaffe Fassett knitting workshop (yes, it was fabulous!) and we spent the week working the tumbling blocks pattern in about 50 shades of tapestry wool yarn.  I felted my swatch and turned it into a pillow.  Another picture for another day.  Anyway, I love Tumbling Blocks.  I decided to have a blue/yellow theme mainly because I had lots of those colors in my stash.  You may remember my stair riser in the same colorway.  Both used the same series of wools.  This was a fun rug to work on.  I didn't plan out the whole rug ahead of time but just had set combinations of colors and then put them in appropriate places as I went along.  There were some combinations I had very limited stock so those were placed and worked first to make sure I could maximize their impact.  This was a good rug for using up small bits.  It didn't take a lot of wool to work a single little diamond.

And, here's the final one in the series to date.  I worked this rug when I had my ankle surgery.  I had all the wool cut and organized and set up next to this one chair.  I would crutch-walk over, plop myself down, and hook.  I could even work this rug with my ankle elevated on the couch!  Within a few weeks, I had this one done.  A great project to take my  mind off my confinement.  The blue in this rug is a favorite.  I'm planning to use this blue in our new addition.  The combination with the orange is terrific, I think.  And, naturally, I had a plaid that matched.

On all these rugs, I took the pattern and Kinko's blew it up for me.  They can do any size you want.  I aimed for about 17X17 square.  But, some are slightly larger or smaller.  I don't think it really matters.  Once I had the blown-up print, I would tape it to one of my windowed doors and then tape the linen over the top.  Then, it was simply a matter of tracing the lines with the Sharpie.  It's important to follow the lines of the linen so your borders are nice and straight.  But, with patience, it works out.

Rug hooking camp is next week!  I'm almost done with the fruit basket rug.  Only background and border left to go.  That rug is HEAVY!!!  My frame is protesting every time I put the rug on.  I'm amazed at how much I've accomplished in the last few weeks.