absolutely enamored...

So I've been sitting here for about 2 weeks now ripping, tearing, cutting, and knotting together strips of old sheets, dressing gowns from my place of employment (they're free...have pretty designs...and did I mention free!?) and a few odds and ends pieces of fabric.

For what you ask!? Have I gone insane and am making a rope ladder in which to escape down the side of my tower with? No! I'm toothbrush rugging!

I'm going to drag my bestie into this kicking and screaming....yes Mioshee....you're going to make one of these....

So the story is that my mother and I earlier this year had went to a small local quilt show and walked around looking at all the goodies (this is pre-machine for me so was not quite into the whole quilting scene/ sewing scene yet). Unfortunately we weren't allowed to bring in cameras so no pictures of any of them...believe me when I say too pretty! (Wish alot of them could have snuck into my bag and could have come home with me!)
But as we were walking through the vendor section we stopped at a small table where a woman was giving a demonstration. It looked as though she was crocheting a small rug but when we got closer saw she was using a needle similar to this one.

It was made out of a toothbrush that the head was snapped off and was filed down to point. The bottom half had a hole drilled into it for the fabric to go through. I've never seen anything like it! My mom told me my grandmother and great grandmother used to sit on the porch and make these! Unfortunately gram doesn't have any of the needles left ...boo...hiss...
The woman showed us very carefully how to make each stitch and said if we wanted to swing by in a few hours she would be starting another "class" piece so we could watch how these rugs get started. Unfortunately, we didn't stay too much longer after that because of fuzzle needing her fix of Dinosaur train and a catastrophic diaper change. I would have loved to pick her brain more about this technique! There's quite a bit of fiddling to get started. I had to do alot of intense research gleaning the techniques from each video but I feel I'm having a decent row with it!?

Now...to get this rug big enough for my kitchen floor...small space with ugly linoleum...it's just crying out "cover me up!"
href="http://www.toothbrushrug.com/">http://www.toothbrushrug.com/

Oh and the link up there? That's to the website I started trolling through to find information about the rugs. You're welcome...