Little House in the RedWoods- Braided Rugs

Making a Braided Rug.  I cannot recall how the idea came to me.  But something led me down the path of looking up how to make braided rugs on the internet.  They are so beautiful.  Primitive.  Resourceful.  And though time consuming,  are not very difficult to make.  

Trial run of making a braided rug out of my
box of fabric remnants

I wanted to make a rug for my dining room, to go under our table. And we have a trap door down to the basement that could use a rug as well.  I decided I would test out the braided rug process with fabric remnants that I already had, in order to decide if this was a project I really wanted to do.  I hate abandoning projects and leaving them unfinished.  I enjoyed the process of making this first rug, however it turned out quite small.  It fits nicely at my kitchen sink.

After making this rug, I discovered a few quirks.  The edges curl and there are areas that bubble up.  Hand sewing this rug just about killed the nerves in my fingertips as well.  So I decided to problem solve and see if there were solutions to the problems I found with my first rug.  

I found a woman with a series of wonderful YouTube videos, who details the correct process of making a braided rug out of t-shirts. You can find her at Prairie Adventures Braided Rug tutorials.  I wish I would have found her videos before I made my first rug. From her videos I learned how to make a turning braid, to avoid the bubbling spots.  I also learned a better way to sewing the rug together- lacing rather than sewing through the fabric. With these few improvements, I decided I was going to investigate the cost of used sheets at our local Salvation Army.  The first time I went in, I discovered they sold individual sheets (any size) for $1.99.  I felt like I had hit a jackpot!  Amazing- so much fabric for such a low price.  I found 5 sheets to buy that day.  And that began my weekly visits to find more sheets.  Based on the sheets I found, my color scheme ranges from navy blue, to grey, light sage greens, white, golden yellow, and 2 fabrics with prints.  

Each evening, over the course of a week, I cut 2 inch strips down the length of each sheet.  First I cut off the seems.  I wrapped them around my hand into little rolls.  Once that was completed, I decided on the order I wanted the colors to be in the braids.  And then I got to start braiding.  

This felt like a lot of fabric while the sheets were still whole.
Now it doesn't look like a lot.

I found somewhere that in order to determine your center braid length, you should figure out the dimensions of the final rug.  You subtract the width from the length, and that is the length you should make your inner braid.  So I started with a 2 1/2' center braid.  Once I had 30" of braid, I worked a turning braid in.  (Prairie Adventures lady demonstrates how to do a turning braid, but you can learn by searching internet as well.) Then braided back to the beginning.  Once I got to the other end, I worked another turning braid.  From there, I decided to start lacing my braids together.  This helped to keep from having an enormous length of braid constantly following me around and making a mess.  It also removed the temptation for my kids to use their imaginations and make a giant knot of my braid- with all the games they came up with the first time around.   And it also helped me to see if I needed to add more turning braids at the corners.  

Here's the current status of my newest braided rug

So far it seems as though the turning braids have greatly diminished the amount of bubbling- though there are still areas that bubble up a tiny bit.  And lacing the braids to the rugs as I go is working better than making the entire length of braid, before lacing it together.  Another difference this time around is that I am sewing the new fabric strips together as I braid.  The first rug I used a method of cutting slits into the ends of the fabric strips and then tying the pieces in.  It was an ok way of doing things, but I decided I wanted it to be a nicer rug- so I am taking the extra time to sew and have essentially a continuous length of fabric for my braid.  

I am quite excited about this new rug and it is turning out great so far.  I have decided that I probably won't use it under my dining room table, but will instead put it in front of our window seat.  It will be better appreciated out in the center of the room, rather than covered by a table and chairs.  Not to mention, this location will save it from getting ruined by spills that happen at a dining room table and wear and tear from the chairs.  But then again, it will be some time before the rug is complete, and I could change my mind once again.  Another location would be in the Laird's "Jungle Corner" of our dining room, where he has all his/ our cool travel souvenirs and decorations, and our "library" of books.  I have been searching for a wingback chair on craigslist for his corner and am off to check one out today.  I think the rug will coordinate with this chair quite nicely- so I am excited to see if we've found our wingback!

Other crafty happenings was inspired and prompted by finding this amazing sheet at Salvation Army when I was buying sheets up in armfuls for my rug.  This was such a sweet find, and it was a king sized sheet, with a darling ruffle already attached.  For $2.99! What a steal.  I am telling you- old sheets are becoming my new favorite fabric for making things. What do you think this sheet is becoming?  There's enough fabric that I have been working on a couple things with it....  Until next week to find out what and how this sheet has been transformed!  


Fun Fact:  You can spot Caroline "Ma" Ingalls working on her braided rug in various episodes of season 1 & 2 (we've just started Season 2).  I started making my first rug, as we had begun watching Little House Season 1, and lady Genevieve was the one who spotted what Ma was doing.  She recognized that Ma was making a rug, because she'd been watching me work on my braids of fabric.
  

For the Love of LEARNING

I love learning.  And I especially love learning with my children.  I love when life is our learning ground.  And so far 2018 has been filled with a handful of learning opportunities that I hope to write about along the way.

I cannot remember how or why the idea popped into my head.  But at some point in early January I mentioned to the Laird that I thought it would be cool to do some Maple Sugaring.  We have a Norway Maple right near the front of our house and a Silver Maple out back where lady Genevieve's swing is hung.  Neither are ideal for sugaring, but you can tap them for sap and boil it down.  The only thing is that the sugar content is far less than an actual Sugar Maple tree.  So we started our internet learning about Sugaring and decided we would give it a try.  It is a fairly low investment to try out.  We had to purchase some spiles (the taps), 5/16" tubing, and buckets to collect our sap.

During one of our trips to the library for story time, I asked Miss Laura to get us books about Maple Sugaring.  She brought me the few books that they had.  She then asked me if we were planning to read "The Little House In The Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Not having ever read "The Little House" books or watched Little House on the Prairie, I responded.... "Umm should we?  Would they be at lady Genevieve's interest level?"  She then introduced me to the "Little House" picture books about Maple Sugaring.  And so begins another love and another world of learning.

We enjoyed the "Little House" picture books.  And randomly on a trip to the library the following week, "The Little House In The Big Woods" just happened to be on the display near the circulation desk.  I grabbed it.  And we started reading it a few weeks ago.

Lady Genevieve and I absolutely LOVE the "Little House In The Big Woods".  So we decided to visit another local library to pick up Little House on The Prairie Season 1 on dvd.  We are 2 weeks in, and it has become our daily afternoon activity to watch "an episode".  We love it.  Lady Genevieve pretends to be Laura.  We've been exploring different activities that they do in the book like making butter... I have been making bread 3+ times a week (even for sandwiches)....  somehow I decided to make a braided rug (which we have now seen Ma Ingall's making in a couple episodes)...  tin can lanterns...

MAPLE SUGARING-  With our couple maple trees, we decided to explore our little woods and see if we had any other Maple trees.  We found a couple sugar maples right in our woods, and explored a little further and found a couple more.  It was really cool to get outside and learn to identify maple bark, branch patterns, and look for some leaves.  I got pretty good at spotting maple trees.  Winter is not exactly the best time for tree identification- however when you decide to Sugar in the middle of winter, you have no choice. This past weekend we put in 10 taps, tubes and buckets (and 1 gallon water jugs).  And with slightly warmer temperatures during the day, the sap is starting to run!  The Laird is super excited to be sugaring and had been anxious to Do something besides wait for temperatures to rise.  And now we're waiting to see how much sap we will have come the weekend.  Last weekend we also built a simple evaporator/ fire box out of cinder blocks.  We purchased 2 large 4" pans to boil the sap in.  Since we moved to Redwoodshire, we've had 4 pine trees come down.  So this activity seemed like the perfect way to get rid of the huge pile of pine tree remnants.

BRAIDED RUG-  This idea preceded our reading of the Little House books, however we have now seen Ma Ingall's working on a braided rug in a few episodes.  Lady Genevieve noticed it before I did and she said, "hey she's making a braid like you!".  I watched a few YouTube videos and was amazed at how simple the rug seemed, and how I could use my fabric remnants to make it.  I started cutting my remnants into 2 inch stripes and then braided them.  The hardest part was sewing the rug together.  Last weekend I finished my rug.  It was quite small, so it works well in front of my kitchen sink.  That rug was my test to see if I really wanted to make a large rug for my dining room.  I loved making it and how it turned out, so went on a hunt for old bed sheets.  My favorite 2nd hand store (Savers) recently closed near me, so I decided to stop into the Salvation Army store.  And to my surprise and excitement, bed sheets were only $1.99!!!!  I picked up 5 that day.  Because I am planning to make a very large rug, I decided I probably needed a couple more sheets, so I got 2 more the next week.  And then another one this evening.   At this point, these sheets are becoming a bit addicting.  I can't believe how much fabric you get in a bed sheet, for $1.99!!  This beats Joann Fabrics prices by like 100%.  And for the purpose of a rug, you really can't beat that.  This week I have been cutting all the sheets into 1.5" strips and rolling them up.  I have most all of the sheets cut into strips and am about ready to start braiding.  My first rug is cute and turned out pretty nice, however it has a few quirks to it.  After a little investigation, I found an amazing series of braided rug you tube videos, to which I learned how to make the braided rug better and hopefully it will turn out amazing this time.  We will just say that I did things the hard way, a few times over.  My color scheme is navy, white, grey, light greens & teal, and golden yellow.  The fun is about to begin.

LITTLE HOUSE IN THE REDWOODS-  This is what I think our story would be called. I just love Ma Ingalls (Caroline).  My daughter loves Laura.  I am pretty smitten with all things primitive and learning to keep life simple, as we see in the show and read in the books.  Every episode is amazing and full of a wonderful life lessons.  I love discussing what we learn from each episode.  I love making bread, and am getting quite good at it.  Making butter is just the coolest thing ever.  And we made goat cheese this past week, and it turned out amazing as well.  Better yet, we were able to use the whey in our bread and other home made foods.  It's an amazing journey of discovery.  Caroline Ingalls- where have you been my whole life?!  I learn so much from her every day.

So that's where this year has brought us so far.  I will post more details about each of these adventures, with photos and outcomes.  Loving to learn is a love of life.  That is one of my greatest desires for my children as we continue on our homeschooling journey.  In the end, it's not important that they be the smartest or the best at anything.  I simply hope that they love to learn.