Progress in our mended world

The second meditation panel, Mended World, is progressing steadily this winter. This post records what has happened over the last ten weeks. The hand stitched circle was created last summer. Many hands worked on it in the church hall on Thursdays and in between I stitched quite a bit at the cottage. (here) To help me cut the circle to the correct size, I made a paper pattern. Cutting into the hand work was difficult on an emotional level and I had to lie down a lot. To finish the edge, purchased gold piping was rejected in favour of some made from white Chinese silk. The background - or sky - has taken way more time than I thought it would. And more fabric. It is huge. I cannot touch the edges without folding it. Part of the reason it has taken so long is because it is made with the sewing machine. We cut the strips from table cloths, then sew them together, then re cut and sew again to make string fabric. Ribbons of string fabric are then flipped and stitched to the foundation. The sewing machine seems to isolate the operator so I usually don't use it on Thursdays except when Linda (above) comes. She prefers machine work and we work together. Today it was snowing so hard, I stayed home and completed piecing the square.
Next challenge: putting that large circle into that huge square.