Thursday, January 15, 2009

A little snowman pillow and my attempt at a Penny Rug Mat

♥♥♥♥♥

Shown here with a little book that is filled with all sorts of heart shaped objects, the book is simply called Hearts!I added a wool fabric strip so I can hang it here next to the antique dresser in the front hall where I have my snowmen and soon some of my prim Valentine hearts will be out in a wooden bowl.

Remember when I went out on a "hunt" for wool to make the quilt square for the block of the month being hosted by Bunny Hill Design (see the widget on the left of my blog)? I said I am not a quilter, I am in awe of the ladies who make quilts, I wish I had the patience, but I do not. I have chosen to make my block into a little winter pillow and I have displayed it with my winter snowmen. I will keep out until after Valentine's Day. My block is not exactly like the original, I made hearts instead of stars and left the stick arms off the snowman and gave him a scarf! For some reason I have a difficult time following patterns, I usually end up making things "my-way", not always a good idea, but for crafting it works for me.

Since my hunt for wool came up short I was determined not to waste any of it, every little bit I am using for making a Penny Rug Mat. I have never made one of these before and it was something I have always wanted to do. I did not have a pattern so I based the main shape of one I saw in a book. . .this was harder than I thought since I did not want to waste a thread of fabric. I had to make sure I had enough tabs to go around the edge, so with paper and trial and error I finally did it. Since I only had a bit of wool to work with I decided to make mine into a topsy-turvy mat! One side is for Valentine's Day and the other for anytime. I still have to blanket stitch the pennies and the edges of the tabs and blanket stitch the edge of the basket side and finish up the stitching of the leaves/flower and the LOVE banner on the heart side. I find this very enjoyable, the time flies by and my mind can carry me any place I wish to go! I am pleased with my first attempt at this and I also love my little snowman pillow! I am so happy I came across Anne's Bunny Tales Blog! Thank you Anne, you inspired me to try something new!

This side will be displayed for Valentine's Day. . .
This side will be for whenever!

May your day be stitched with love! ♥ ♥ ♥


6 comments:

Eileen said...

The penny rug is so cute. Don't tell me that is your first one!

Linda - Behind My Red Door said...

Love it all Martha. The pillow is great and I love it hanging there.

What a great idea making the mat reversible! I keep saying I should do that with my pillows.

I love the sentiment you ended the post with. The very same to you as well!

Carla said...

It's very cute! I adore your dolls. I would love to see this one better. I looked on your flickr but didn't see it.

Carla said...

I wanted to return your email but there was no address. I am talking about the little black one that is in the last 2 photos here.

Simply Shelley said...

What a wonderful little penny rug. You did a great job on it...I picked up a wool vest and skirt from the charity shop today. I plan to do something crafty with them...

Blessings,Shelley

Anonymous said...

Very good idea