My New Penny Rug

I love working with wool and just don't do it often enough. So...with that in mind...this month for my Early Work Mercantile offering, I decided to make a penny rug! I had so much fun creating this rug (or table mat) that I have to wonder why I don't make more of them.

The horses I used were adapted from a Becky Menges pattern but the design of the piece is entirely my own creation. With spring just around the corner, I decided to make my rug show a mama and her new little one since baby animals are one of my favorite pleasures of springtime. I hope you like it :) 

Wishing you all a wonderful month of March,
Sandy

Penny Rug

I love wool applique and especially love to make penny rugs. I haven't been able to find out too much about the history of early penny rugs except that they probably originated in New England sometime in the 1800s. They may have descended from early bed ruggs (bed coverings) that eventually developed into smaller table coverings. Most antique penny rugs were made from recycled clothing or fabric scraps of wool or cotton. The height of their popularity seemed to be around 1870.

My penny rug is made from a pattern by Karyn Lord of Wool & Whimseys. I was lucky enough to take one of Karyn's classes a while back and was really inspired by her obvious love of the art of making penny rugs. It really was a fun class and I learned a whole lot (especially about the blanket stitch!)

I hope everyone is having a good summer so far. I have been catching up on gardening and housekeeping tasks so haven't had as much time as I'd like for stitching but still try to complete a few letters on my current sampler project everyday. Hopefully, I will have it finished soon :)

Sandy