Prims By the Water

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Re-purposed Old Clothes

Good morning sweet blogging buds!
Well Mother Nature blessed us 
with yet another 6  1/2 inches of snow yesterday.
I thought February would be different...
guess I was wrong.
It has been a very long Winter for us.
Plus now the ground hog saw his shadow.
I'n not one for hurting animals...
but someone should have kidnapped that groundhog
until Spring arrived.

Looking at my rugs the other day
 brought back a sweet memory of my gramma B.
Each season she would go through her closet and clothes that 
no longer fit or were past their prime
were recycled.



Once she picked which clothes were no longer fit to wear.
She would put them in a pile on the floor in the living room
of her farmhouse.


Grabbing her trusty scissors she would cut one inch slits across each piece
and my job was to rip them into strips.


We had fun cutting and ripping 
with piles of colors everywhere on the floor.



Once we were done with making fabric strips,
next came making fabric balls out of each of the colors.


It took many seasons to have enough fabric balls
needed to make a rug.
(This white multi colored one was from my grammas collection)


Once gramma had enough rag balls,
she would let me pick out the color combinations.
We would put them in paper bags and I would tag along
with gramma to take the rag balls to a lady who made the rugs.
Two weeks later we drove back and picked up
some wonderful homemade rag rugs.
I was so proud of myself!
The white multi rag rug is one I chose the colors for.
These rag rugs were not for decorating.
They were placed at both the front and back doors
of her farmhouse.
Placed near beds and bigger ones in front of the sofa and chairs.
I was so glad gramma saved this little white multi one for me.
I will treasure it forever.

Rag Rug Blessings To All!
Janice 

11 comments:

  1. What a sweet story with such good memories. I love the rugs. You had great color choices. Stay warm!

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  2. Precious memories. Thank you for sharing the pictures with us.

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  3. My sweet MIL has made many of those rugs and I have several. They wash up nice and last forever!!!!
    I went out this morning after our 7 extra inches of snow and the air smelled so good....like Spring is just around the corner. I swear you can smell it.
    Hope that makes you feel better.
    Happy Day!!!
    earlene

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  4. You made some wonderful memories, and that is what it is all about!

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  5. Hi Janice, such sweet memories of you with your Grandma. I have many braided and rag rugs around the house that I really love even though no memories attached.....thanks for sharing your wonderful story with us, Blessings Francine.

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  6. Janice,
    I really enjoyed this post. What a wonderfully sweet memory you have of helping your gran. How wonderful she saved your special rug for you. Hugs, Lori

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  7. Hi Janice, Seems like winter won't let up this year. Stay warm. I love the story of your grandma and love our rug. When I was a little girl, we had a wonderful old neighbor lady who owned a big weaving loom and would make rugs for people. She would cut up old clothes like you said and make them into rag balls. She even had an old building called the rag house. She would then weave these beautiful rugs, she would let my sisters and I weave a few rows and it was so much fun. She was like a grandma to me and I miss her so much. She was poor and I rem. she only got a few dollars for her rugs, and those rugs would last forever. hugs, Lecia

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  8. These rugs are treasures ! Loved hearing the story of your Grandma.
    Grandma's have very important roles and usually have a big impact on future generations ;)
    Rose

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  9. Brings back memories, my grandma used to make these rugs. I'm so glad I have some that she made.

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  10. great story, that one is a treasure, love the other ones too!

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  11. Such great memories! Love them all but the one she saved for you is a treasure.Hugs,Jen

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