I had an idea yesterday to make a Rainbow Rug and it turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself!

Rainbow Rug

Another custom order to show off! A woman from Texas wanted a rug that was in shades of blue and white to match her bluebonnet flower kitchen. And she wanted it big! This rug measures 3'x4'. I have to admit, this rug was difficult for me to make. I have been making round rugs for so long, I feel like I really understand how they work: how much fabric they need, how far a piece of fabric will go in one, how the bands or streaks of color will work in them. Rectangles are a whole other beast, but I dove in and did my best.

Here's the ingredients for this rug:
The dark navy blue was mill ends.
The first band of white with blue flowers was an entire twin sized sheet.
The solid lighter blue band was two twin sized sheets.
The second band of white and blue was mill ends.

Short version of ingredients: lots and lots of fabric.

I hope we'll get to see this rug in its new home in Texas!

A couple of weeks ago, Jessica of aorta e-mailed me to ask if I'd like the fabric she was purging from her stash. As if she even needed to ask! Of course I do! It arrived and as I dug through it, I was pleased with all the great stuff she sent me, but I was particularly intrigued by this piece of polyester that had a print of photographs on it. It was like one of those collages of lots photographs, some cut around the edges, some left rectangular. Most of the pictures were of flowers and nature. I don't know who printed this fabric, or who or what they thought it would be flattering on or as, but to be honest, I thought it was hideous as it was! Take a look for yourself...

I knew it would make great rug fabric though because it was colorful and polyester wears really well (in that it doesn't seem to wear at all!) and keeps its color well over time. Look how pretty it is now as the center stripe in this new rectangle rug I made. I was really at a loss as to what to call this rug, so I ended up with Seventies Confetti Rug because of the predominance of orange, yellow, and avocado green tones.

Today's collection of new rugs were all made with fabric from t-shirts! I combined scraps I received from Krista (have you checked our her etsy store yet? She's got a great way to actually ENJOY all those t-shirts you have collected, but don't wear anymore, but also can't seem to part with). Yeah, I combined scraps from Krista with t-shirts I have been collecting from thrift stores from here.

Brick Red Rug - Yup, a rectangle! They are more fun to make than I thought. But I'd like to be able to get them straighter and less wobbly looking. I think it will just take time.

Earthy Tones Rug - I love that mossy green center.

Red Skull Rug - It has 4 teeth! One of the things about not having any patterns written down is that things turn out a little bit different each time. I'm not sure if one ever had 4 teeth before, they usually have 3.

So, I'm feeling thankful for the friends who help me out with fabric hunting and collecting. Krista, as you can see, has been super awesome giving me her t-shirt scraps. I have another awesome friend too. Lisa, who you may know as PoorLulu of Stabby Critters has recently opened up a vintage store on etsy called Lulu's Shabby Frippary. Since she has a new hobby of shopping for her shop at her local thrift stores (sadly far far away from me), I asked her if she'd see if they had any brown fabric for me since I have a never ending need for brown fabric. She found tons and is mailing it to me RIGHT NOW! I'm so lucky to have such great friends.

I've had quite a few inquiries about making a custom made larger Sunburst Rug and so I have been collecting and setting fabric aside for one. I finally got my chance to make one and I had been waiting so long, it just popped right out! I measured the color bands of the original so I could try and make this new 3 foot version look as similar as possible, even though all the fabric would be different. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out! And I'm hoping someone else orders one, because I'd like to make another!

And another super bright rug, this Happy Narwhal Rug is my latest collaboration with aorta. She totally rocks, doesn't she? I just love this super bright narwhal she created!

I've been getting a lot of custom requests that say something along the lines of "I really like your rugs, but do you make them as rectangles/ovals/squares?" Come on EKRA, give the people what they want! Alright alright, I'm working on it. Here's the first effort, a square rug:

Navy and Tweed Crochet Rug

I crocheted this rug with mill end fabric, so it is a little bit scratchy, but I think it will soften up over time with wear and washing. One of the interesting things of crocheting with mill end fabric is that I'm always figuring out the exact width I need for different textures of fabrics. This navy blue was too thin on its own, and too thick as two strands, so I had to cut one in half and use one and a half strands. Just so happens that I just made a rug with that lighter blue that needed about the same amount cut off and I had that ball of sitting nearby so I abandoned my original plan to use a completely different fabric for the center and substituted the light blue for the half of navy blue strand I was using for the solid parts. I like the tweed like effect.

So, corners! I'm working on more, rectangles and such. Also, narwhals. I need more narwhals.

I just ordered 20 pounds of yellow mill ends from my dealer - I call her that because I seriously jones for new fabric. Hi, my name is Emily and I'm addicted to fabric. Anyways, see that Sunburst Rug over there on the side? I got a request for a 5 foot version of that and so I ordered more mill ends with which to make it. I haven't started yet, as the deal hasn't been solidified, but hopefully it will because I'm excited to see what it will look like. In the meantime, I have 20 pounds of yellow. What's a recycling artist to do? You know I have to start cutting it up! And then crochet with it! So, I dusted off this old citrus slice design and made a lemon.

Lemon Slice Rug

It hardly made a dent in the amount of yellow that I have, and also I was able to use up some of the growing pile of white t-shirt scraps I have from Krista.

Right now I have two rugs that need their decorations put on, a 3 foot rug needs an aorta narwhal applique, and a 2 foot rug needs a jellyfish. Maybe this afternoon. I started a rectangle rug this morning and I want to see how far the fabric I chose will go for that.