The Irene Rug Begins...

On December 5th, I began stitching a circular rug for the first time.  I had done an oval rug several years ago and now wish to make a circular rug.  I chose to stitch the Irene Rug for this.

Since I had never done a circular rug, I had to make a frame for it. I went to the Dollar Store to buy a sheet of foam core. Since we can only get 1/4" thick at the Dollar Store, I cut two frames out and glued them together so that the thumb tacks would not poke through and scratch me. The finished size of my rug will be 5" x 5", so I decided to cut the frame 8" square, then cut out a 6" circle from the middle. This left me with 1" around all of the sides so that I could stretch the gauze a bit and the frame would not bend.

Once glued, I attached the gauze and began to stitch. 

This picture shows 2 evenings worth of stitching. I found I have had to mark the top of the frame with something that stands out because it is so easy to turn the canvas 1/4 turn and stitch, accidentally making the slant of the stitches the wrong direction. I thought I would remember to turn my stitches, but quickly found that I did not and had to pull some out that I had stitched the wrong direction.

So far, I am enjoying the novelty of the pattern and look forward to stitching every evening when I sit down to relax!