Progress on Maharani's Fish Pond

I had to put the Maharani's Fishpond from the Summer School aside to make a birthday nightdress. That was a bit hard - it is such an addictive project.

Eventually, however, I was able to get moving on the background stitching - in some ways the most creative and enjoyable part.

I decided to use very pale blue and very pale green thread - single strand - hoping to give a sense of water.  Eventually I introduced a slightly darker green as well.

The design is carefully segmented by strands of floating plants, so I began by following the shapes each each section.

Eventually I got bolder, and worked circles and long lines like waterfalls.






It was such satisfying work - improvising and going where the project took my needle.










































I then decided to work the whole piece of fabric, creating a further border on the outer edge of the fabric.

I made the inner border in green, and created blue 'waves' by weaving thread between the running stitches (as in the 2014 sampler). The outer border is blue and I intend to stitch green waves on the outer edge.


I have a few ideas for the gap between the borders, but need to play around a bit before deciding.

So much enjoyment from one project!