Our colorful HUGE homemade rag rug

So here is the infamous rug! I got the idea to make a rug last summer (July or August or something). In my quest to de-bachelorize the house, I convinced Mr. Wonderful that we should take up the...less than ideal calico carpet in our living room. If only I had a before picture. Underneath the carpet was some wood floors. They were a big improvement, and I liked them for us, but they are kind of rough and I didn't like the thought of Ava's knees getting scraped up on them. Refinishing is not in the plans for now. So I wanted to get an area rug for the room. It is about 10x10, so a big one would probably cover almost the whole floor.

Looking online at rugs was a little discouraging. Being a one-income family, we are on a tight budget, and even ikea was over it! I stumbled upon a blog tutorial about how to make rugs. It was such a revelation to me that you don't have to buy everything! So...many more tutorials, online videos, blogs, books from the library, practice, ripping out, trial, trial trial, error, error, error and here it is! I won't try to do a tutorial, because there re some good ones out there already, but this is simply strips of fabric crocheted in a circle pattern. I used a half=double crochet stitch and a huge needle. I used cotton sheets from thrift stores (22, plus a few pillowcases, table cloths and random fabric). I picked a few colors, stayed away from too much white, and I liked the vintage-y looking prints. It took about 4 months. I wish I could say that it was about the process and enjoying the relaxing art of crochet (which I hadn't done since my grandma taught me a chain stitch when i was about 10), but no, pretty much it was about saving money and getting it done before Ava started crawling. But I do like the end result!
In the end, I estimate I spent about $60-$70 on the fabric. It ended up being 7 feet diameter. Here is Ava playing on it!
Isn't she having fun??? Here I've captured a bad mom moment. That is her with her legs caught in the straps of the Baby Bjorn. Mental note....