Post 215

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I am struggling with layout here today. Blogger, the program I use has been updated and I (and a lot of others) have had difficulty getting text to wrap around photos. Until today the legacy system has been available, but today it has been removed. I'm hoping I can work out a fix over the next few days.

Today was the first meeting of the Basics to Beyond Group at the Guild since pre-Covid.   I finished the project I had been working on pre-Covid while in lockdown. My intention was to use today's meeting to progress the Catarina project, in particular, to get some help in making the tassels. There were  5 students there today, plus Gay as tutor. This is a far cry from pre-Covid levels of 15-20. It was, however, pleasant and productive. Two were new students, two continuing, and me as the 'Beyond'. 

I still had one and a half sides of double back stitch to work on the Catarina piece . I finished the half side of back stitch and also turned the hem before beginning the tassels. Since returning home I have finished the other side, hence the photograph. I placed it over a cushion to photograph it - it won’t remain there.

The tassels turned out to be even more complicated than I had anticipated from reading through the article. Each tassel requires you to tie 320 knots in the embroidery thread, each one 2mm apart. This wasn’t that easy. Gay has a useful idea of using a darning needle to manoeuvre each knot into place. By the end of today’s session I had 80 knots, enough to try the next stage when I got home.

It really was a lovely afternoon in Adelaide today. I managed to sit on the Western balcony for an hour to finish the double back stitch and hem. I moved inside as it got cooler at sunset. The tassel knots are too complex to work on outside.

The mobile personal trainer was back in the Square this afternoon in the warmish weather.

The tassels involve a length of knotted cotton, cut into lengths of 4 knots, then joined in bundles..Two of these bundles will make a tassel - 320 knots. So at the end of today I have a bit more than half a tassel!  I need four. 


Maybe tomorrow I will break up knotting with scanning!