Strawberry & Birdies Wool Penny Rug

Hello friends! Today I'm sharing a fresh little project I made using Riley Blake wool. I knew I wanted to make a penny rug but I also knew I wanted to make a bright one in my favorite colors.

I love using wool for dolls and stuffed creations. I've used Riley Blake wool for the last dolly I made my youngest girl. That was a few years ago. I wanted to make something a little different this time. I've always admired penny rugs and primitive / folk art crafts. I wanted to try making one a little brighter and one that felt right at home in my sewing area.

I decided to applique strawberries on the tongues of the rug instead of the usual circles. I then added French knots for the seeds. I cut 1/2 inch strips of the brown wool and did an actual weaving for the basket, then sewed it down around the edges to the background wool.

I just used coordinating DMC embroidery floss to sew the pieces down.

I sewed this beautiful mint colored woven gingham from Riley Blake ( using a blanket stitch ) for a backing and to cover my embroidery stitches.

I love the way it turned out! I have a couple more projects lined up using the rest of my wool and I will share those with you soon. It's such a treat to work with wool on these projects. It's fun stitching and adding fabric to make such cute things.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Sewing!
xo Erin

Nautical Quilt

Today I'm sharing a quilt I made using the fabric line Nautical by Caskata ™ Artisanal Home for Riley Blake Designs.

The crisp red, white and blue fabric are a collection of all things nautical.

There's a mariner's compass print in the collection that was really my starting point for ideas when I started making the wall hanging. As you can see in the pictures I made a Mariner's Compass block for the center of the quilt.
I fussy cut mariner's compasses from the red print and added them to each patchwork border point. The patchwork border is a mix of the lobster, crab, and coastal chart print.

The print that has the ships on it is my favorite in all the colorways. It reminds me of the old ships you could tour at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Which, for me, was always interesting as a kid.

I added some Riley Blake Linen as a background for the blocks to mimic sand. We've spent a lot of time at different beaches and my favorite will always be Assateague Island. There's nothing like crawling out of your tent in the morning and seeing wild horses a few feet away.

For the quilting I did a free-motion long stipple to mimic seaweed.

The crabs are a neat print, too. I'm a Maryland girl born and bred for the first part of my life and crabs always remind me of growing up having a crab feast every year ( with LOTS of Old Bay!!! ) so I decided to bind the quilt with the blue crabs print.

I'm really happy with the way this turned out. Now I have a red, white and blue quilt and, also, one that reminds me of fun times we've had through the years. A little sentimental but I just can't help it sometimes :)

Have a lovely week, friends!

Happy Sewing!

xo Erin