Rugs...they are EXPENSIVE!

Well, lately I have been researching rugs...I want one so bad for my living room...one of the big piles on the curb last summer...had a rug...an old, nasty, orange...yucky, filthy...stiff...I don't think there are enough icky words to describe this rug I found on the curb....my friend that was with me? she looked at me like I had two heads when I grabbed it...."YOU REALLY DON'T WANT THAT, DO YOU?" The longest UUUUUUGGGGHHHH came out of her...and she is a little lady...the UUUUUGGGHHH was way bigger than her whole body! And...it made me put the rug back in shame....think twice...well...I thought about that icky rug all day....something said GO...GET...THE...RUG....so I waited til dusk, slunk back there... and snatched it....really fast...so no one would see me....I took it home...holding it with two fingers...stood there holding it with two fingers so it wouldn't touch anything...filled up the washing machine with bleach, soap...more bleach...and stuffed it in there...that rug...was a 1950's Mamie Pink Bathroom Rug...and it matches my bathroom...to perfection! The little lady with the gigantic UGH? has since asked me where I got it...my face turned as pink as that rug when I told her...she laughed at me...but I am so glad I went back and at least tried to salvage it...it looks darker in the picture than it is...but it is in great shape!

But a living room rug? It has to be large....and it has to have the right colors....and to me? it has to be round....and they are between 600 and 1800 dollars for a real braided rug...I can't bring myself to buy a plastic one from the chain stores...and I can't bring myself to work outside my house long enough to save for a rug...a 700 dollar mattress? yes...rug...no....priorities...

So what does one retired...back to the land...semi granola tight wad do to get a rug?  She gets on computer and researches a way to MAKE ONE! YAAAY hand made!  and she searches thru her treasures and multiple boxes of saved "I will never use this"... stuff.....

Now...last year I delved into little rugs...rag ones... and I found out how to make a toothbrush rug out of scraps... and I made the tool required... out of a hanger and duct tape.....I made it out of old sheets I found in this house...there was only one problem...I have never crocheted or knitted much..my stitches are uneven and I still have no idea how to "increase" at the corners so the rug lays flat...somehow, somewhere...you have to put extra stitches in to make the rug lay flat....well...my cute toothbrush rug made an awesome....sombrero...with plenty of air circulation holes...

This is what they should look like....

and they will with lot's of practice...and knowledge...about increasing...I am still going to redo my sombrero into a rag rug...some day...

So...after more research...I turned to a different technique...one that was more my style...one that did not require a whole lot of....patience...or learning new concepts...my brain just cannot...at this point...accept the information on increasing...but I know how to braid...I have a little (well...big now..) girl! With hair...that always looked like she had rolled around on the forest floor for weeks at a time...so braiding was a way to deal with her and her hair!

Hmmmm...what to make a sturdy braid rug out of that is, of course...inexpensive...(I am trying to delete the word cheap from my vocabulary...it just sounds, well, cheap...haha)

I actually didn't have to think long...lot's of material...it's going to take lot's! Ummm...sturdy...absorbent...soft...neutral....thick...and of course...inexpensive.....Painters DROP CLOTHS!
I went to the hardware store and picked one out...9x12...it was different than my curtains as it was ivory colored but it had a grid in it...the grid being the same color as my curtains! and one table cloth that I have been keeping forever cuz it's purdy....and it has the prettiest red in it!

 I worked on the table cloth first...I ended up with a few jagged strips before my Honey went and got me a pair of pinking shears....and a pair of real scissors! I now have REAL scissors! I promise not to cut wire or straw bale twine with them...I promise not to use them to pry open pain cans...and so on and so forth...

Pinking shears are a wonder...they make it so that your material does not fray when you cut it! but I found that I liked the fray...it gave the braids a lot of texture..and it looked antique! I folded all the strips over to make 1" strips and ironed them, then sewed them closed...besides not liking having to make sure my toothbrush rug strips were all right side up...the little strings drove me crazy!   I ended up with strips that had a nice neat fringe...all right sides showing... to braid together...This was the center medallion for my red accented living room rug...

These are basically what I am after...they are both hand made....and I love the way they look!

I wanted to use the table cloth because...remember all the comments on my living room post? My want to use that red lady picture as inspiration and also the English cottage look I was after?  Using the browns and golds and warm colors with all the white was suggested! this cloth has all those things! but they are muted and it looks so vintage!
I tried sewing it together at first...my fingers were raw and bleeding by the end and remember the Barbie clothes we made in first grade? The back side of my rug looked like those Barbie clothes...the Amish would have seriously kicked me out of the colony if they saw the way this was put together!  So more research...you can get a blunt end needle to "lace" them together...I used my toothbrush tool and upholstery thread.

Just to make sure I had no "sombrero" effect? I ironed the crap outta the braids...they are all flat and they lay FLAT! So to date...I work on it a little at a time...here is my first attempt at braided rugdom...

I am going to make this rug approximately 8ft round....and I am also going to add different material to the braids...more than likely? My curtains are going to be a rug because I really, really want Toile or a pattern material for the curtains....but I might just keep them and add some accent material to them...whatever is left over? I am adding to this rug...it won't be BLAM in your face matchy matchy? but it will have tidbits that match!

Sorry the picture is so dark!

So that is what I am up to at the moment...Whadya think?