Raising A Needle At Last
Having at last settled on a design for Aethelflaed, there was a certain amount of jockeying around to get the size right and everything in order to start stitching.
As you can see, I’ve got William prepared to be mounted, but he’s still unmounted, which makes him easy to compare. The direction of the designs are contrary, there will be more red and brown in Aethelflaed, and I think the white horse will be rather necessary to help lift it.
You will see that I’ve already added the guidelines for the planned basketweave underside couching. I found adding them later really nerve-wracking, so this time I put that in first, and then the important bits of design went over the top, in a different colour and more precise line..
I was able to gather some of the threads from among those I used for William, which has helped. Partly because it’s always good not to have to buy more than you need, but also because it will help the series “talk” to one another if the palette of colours has some continuity. And then some of the others were passed on to me by Sue from TortoiseLoft (thank you, Sue!).
It has occurred to me (very recently) that if I keep the same blue background in the border, that will also keep the conversation going among the designs. I’m also considering winding the roses around the barrels and skeps, again to keep the conversation going.
But finally – FINALLY!! – I’ve managed to get started!
I’ve used three different browns in the outlines of the stones of the wall, and a very dark blue-grey for the horse.
There’s much more to do, but my goodness, I’m glad to have begun. I know Aethflaed must have been feisty but her embroidered representation has been living up to every bit of it.
Now, what would she have called her horse?
Hopefully after all the different initial designs and iterations, the stitching will be more straightforward given what you’ve learned from stitching William. As for the horse – possibly Horsa…?!
All projects need some form of planning and decision making, even ‘spontanious’ ones. Then comes the actual stitching, of course. Getting started is so rewarding.
I think you have made good plans and decisions, so the stitching should go well, too.
The best of luck!
It looks good. I think you have got the ‘story’ of the pair working now, so future decisions will have much less arbitrary options to choose from. That’s what was missing before.
I second Horsa for the horses name.
Good to have those first stitches in place.
Nice to have the stitching under way after all the preparation. Good idea to have continuity with the colour palette too. Happy stitching!
Good progress.
As I have said before, I am a horse person, so here are some suggestions for it’s name.
Tithuor. (silver courage from the Elvish.)
Gwyn (Welsh for grey.)
Sleipnir ( slipper. Loki brought the gods a grey horse with this name.)
I always enjoy your process, from inception and all the twists and turns along the way. I enjoy that about my work too so can well understand the feeling of joy (and sometimes relief!) at finally picking up a needle and beginning. Looking forward to this one very much Rachel.