A lovely new scrap fabric rug!

It's been a few years since I've thought to make a scrap fabric rug but I've been moving to a new apartment recently and I was more than a little surprised at just how much fabric I own. Rather than throw away any useful material, I decided to try my hand at crochet rug making again.

The method I used for my previous rugs, cutting strips of fabric and tying them together, looked somewhat sloppy and the knots were uncomfortable to step or sit on. For this rug I used this tutorial to make the yarn since it had no knots and seemed fairly strong:

http://mypoppet.com.au/2014/04/scrapbusting-handmade-scrap-fabric-twine.html

I didn't use a set pattern for the rug, I started with a chain of six and crochetted in the round, increasing as necessary.

I think in the future ill be more careful about choosing fabrics of roughly the same weight. Thick fabrics didn't twist well with thin fabrics and were bulky to crochet with.

This rug took one garbage bag full of scrap fabric and about 12 hours of work/watching tv to create. Its about 1 1/2 ft in diameter.

Made it myself counter top water filter with Berkley filters

I've been slightly concerned with our water quality lately and with all the studies being done recently that have shown the potential harm of fluoride, I've felt like i should be doing more to ensure that my son has a good and clean source of water.
After a bit of research i decided that the Berkley Water Filtration System was what i wanted since it wasn't hooked up to the house. We're renting our current house so i didn't want anything that i would have to install and then uninstall later. Also, a counter top filter could be used to filter rainwater if I ever get a collection system up and running here.
The only problem was that a filter system that was the size and had all the accessories i wanted would have cost just under $500, which is a lot of money for a sew-at-home mom like myself.
I stumbled upon someone who had made one themselves using Berkley water filters and 5 gallon buckets. It takes a little extra work but it's way more in my price range!
I ordered all my supplies from http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/
The Berkley filters, with fluoride attachments, buckets, lids, spout, and extra washers cost just under $200. Shipping was free and it was processed and shipped in less than a week! Yay!
Initially i had drilled two 1" holes in the bottom of my top bucket but those turned out to be to big and water went all over my kitchen. Yay!

So that bucket is now being used as flower pot and I found and scrubbed out another bucket from our garage.

I drilled 1/2" holes in the second bucket and those worked a lot better. The carbon filters an first washer were put in the top bucket, then came the lid for the second bucket, with 1" holes, then the second set of washers and the flouride filters. The spout was installed in a hole drilled into the bottom bucket. 

All in all, i think this sysyem works great, the water is cleaner and the cost was reasonable. The carbon filters can last up to 6000 gallons but the fluoride filters need to be replaced every 1000 gallons.