Penny Rugs

I love penny rugs and have made just a few through the years. I prefer the traditional ones made of stacked coins - they make a wonderful project to work on while traveling on vacation because the pieces are small and easily transported. And they are a great place to use some of my wool that is too heavy for hooked rugs. This is the first one I ever made, and I believe it is the largest one I've made. The colors are rich and scrumptious.

A close up so you can see the stitching......

This one has all my favorite colors in it - I usually display it with bowls of spheres on top - croquet balls, pool balls, and other ball shaped items to carry out the theme.

This one I left open in the middle so that when I place a basket or box on top as part of the vignette it doesn't hide any of my stitching.

This one is quite small - about 8" across. I stitched it up as a sample when I taught a group of women how to make penny rugs - thought it was a good size for learning on.

Instead of using embroidery floss to stitch these, I prefer to use perle cotton, and sometimes I'll use crochet thread too - I like the way it makes the stitches a bit beefier and more visible.