August Piece

I am running behind but also finished my October piece before I had finished my August piece , which I did start in time but because it is hand stitched it  kind of lagged behind. Earlier this year I had made a whole lot of Mirrabelle kits for Quilts en Beaujolais ,and well they did not sell  quite as hoped. In fact I completely lost enthusiasm for the project.  July and August are our winter months and I am not a very good winter person at the best of times, so I thought it would be lovely to have something to hand stitch, but this winter was  so long I lost enthusiasm for that too. I was also  devoid of ideas so I thought I might stitch up  the lady and knight panel as an applique as they do fit my theme of faces from the past. The knight has been designed by my daughter Celeste Galtry.


So I stitched the panels onto some  hand woven khadi cloth, but as I started to embroider the panels the background fabric was singing rather loudly.so then how to subdue it? I decided that I would  cross stitch the entire background  in an ecru colour, which made the whole  piece take even longer. But finally I  finished it yesterday!I think the cross  stitching did the job of  making the background more subtle but still leaving the feel of the hand made.

The applique panels were inspired by the  medieval figures I have encountered at Chartres and Bayeaux cathedral and I tried to imagine the colour of the clothing.Anyway they are just a bit of fun!