Stitches

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This was a plastic shopping bag for sale at the supermarket, and I took a photo of it because I thought - quilt pattern! Maybe I think too much about quilts? I would not make it in orange, however. 

We took a little train trip down to the Borders last week to have another look at the Great Tapestry of Scotland. 

We've seen it before, but there's always something new to look at. It's in Galashiels and this (above) is Gala Water. 

There are 160 panels in the Tapestry and it's the longest such thing in Europe.  The last time we went, we only looked at the first half before we ran out of brain, so this time we started half-way through. 

I could so easily get into embroidery; and it would be much more portable than a quilt. (However, I don't need another hobby to add to my two choirs, my editorship of the church magazine, my quilting, gardening and walking.) The Tapestry (only it isn't; it's embroidery) is about the history of Scotland. Here's a chap walking behind a newly modified kind of plough. 

Here's a panel about the East India Company, and Scotland's (doubtless scurrilous) involvement. 

A jolly lion. 

A lady curling - a Scottish sport on the ice. I do like all the different stitches used. 

There's a whole panel, Margaret G-F, about your famous relative, the poet Hugh McDiarmid. It's not a wonderful likeness but they've got the hair! (The panel's not dirty - those are just shadows.)

I can't remember what this depicted, but again, the stitching is great. 

1000 stitchers from all over Scotland took part in this - mainly, but not exclusively, women. They're all named beside their panels, and we recognised the names of a few people whom we vaguely know. Scotland's a small place.