MaryLou Steptoe

Log Cabin for Friends

Stream: Re-envisioning

These rugs were made with 100% cotton warp I had on hand from Webs yarn store, and the weft is a combination of other items from my stash. The bright green is from a scarf that was a birthday gift from a friend but had begun to unravel (content unknown), roving given me by Bev Thoms from her sheep raised in Montgomery County Maryland’s Agricultural Reserve, one of my boyfriend’s cotton corduroy shirts well beyond repair, multi-colored yarn (content unknown) purchased at a local but now defunct yarn store, and my Mom’s linen napkins.

They were intended to be used in my main bathroom, but they turned out a little too light to be rugs in a higher traffic area, so are being reconsidered as a garment – perhaps a poncho or coat.

The name comes from the “log cabin” design and the items from family and friends. I also like the notion of creating a new “structure” from well loved and remembered things, stacked one on the other as a tangible and functional memory keeper.

Ellen Letourneau

Fiber enthusiast and newbie sewer, quilter, weaver, and garment mender and maker living in the Agricultural Reserve on a 20 acre farm with my boyfriend and dog Rae.