Little Blue Carpet, progress 5

My mini stitching vacation ends tomorrow and I must say, I am very happy with the amount of stitching I was able to accomplish. my red background has now been stitched around all of the motifs in the inner border and I will now be starting the next inner border.

The next inner border is the last one I need to stitch before I can finally begin the center. Luckily for me, the next border is a repeat of the outer one, so it will be easier for me to stitch.

I am enjoying stitching this rug, but I must say, it feels vastly different than stitching one of my own designs.  I keep seeing areas where I would like to change little details, especially in this last border that I stitched.  With my own designs, for the most part I try to make my borders even and the corners similar to each other. This rug

does not follow this idea and I kept wanting to change the border. However, I have been doing some research on older rugs and found that some rugs were made using parts of other, larger, older rugs when the rugs began to wear out, or when rooms began to be smaller. The larger, older rug would be cut to take advantage of a good piece, then a border from either the same rug or another rug would be stitched onto the outside. This inner border mimics this type of rug, so it is perfectly fitting to be designed in this manner. Also, many antique rugs I have seen online also appear to have uneven borders around them. Some of my earlier rug designs mimic this style as well, but I have found that as I continue to learn and design, I like making the borders of my rugs even and the corners match. It is all a personal preference and we all love different ideas. That is what helps make us all unique, isn't it?