Finished sock rag rug and embroidering on paper experiment...

My sock rag rug's finally finished !

Here's a few snaps of me doing the sewing. I am surprised that my stitching doesn't show. I aimed for the folds in the sock band and surprisingly it was quite a 'forgiving' material to work with.

I am happy with the way the rug looks although my colour planning was a bit lacking. I could have aimed for black stripes or intersperse the bright green a bit more rather than having chunks. I learnt a lot from the process and I am considering using the same technique, ie sock loom bands, to make soles for espadrille-style slippers.

Also, I was actually considering adding a few more centimetres to the rug to make it 'bigger' so I placed it momentarily on top of a seat. A few minutes later it had got someone else's approval :

Now I know I definitely need to add a few more centimetres to give it a bit of growing space 😆

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Now for something a bit different : more 'work in progress' :

Every time I've seen this type of packaging I've thought that the red colour section looks a bit like 'perforated canvas' and ought to be used rather than thrown away (recycled) :

On closer inspection it's made of 'quilted' paper so it is not washable unfortunately. Still I thought it would be interesting to try and check how strong it is, so I rescued that section of the packaging.

The photo below shows you the process I took to start cross stitching with it.

Photo one is the whole section, but I just cut a test section and made sure the holes followed a straight line (photo 2). In photo 3 I have shown you my first attempt; while in photo 4 I've already completed one row. The material is fine to produce an applique for a card which is what I am hoping to attempt.

Coincidentally, last Monday I found a post by @oceanmoon about a project called Love Across America. Have you seen it ?

I was curious so I visited the site and found a link to upload a graphic and make it into a chart/diagram which can be used for cross stitching / filet crochet / corner to corner crochet / even beading - so many possibilities.

As I am interested in an animated film called Isle of Dogs. I used a graphic which I manipulated (simplified).

From uploading the simple dog picture to the 'ready to go' chart the process took just seconds - it's marvellous ! Of course I had to reduce the quality and so on, but I am happy with the result for a small cross stitch 'homage' to one of the characters of the film.

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That's what I've been up to this week... not much but the weather's been great so I've been outside quite a a bit trying to clear some 'wild' brambles. Anyhow, I look forward to seeing your posts !