Friday, April 8, 2016

Isobel Lyon 1621

As I have been working on (actually thinking about) the Cabinet of Curiosities Casket, I have stitched most of the pieces that Tricia designed for the class and have added some of my own.
I stitched Mistress L to roll up and place in the casket. I designed and stitched Kathrin Boswell as inspiration. Although Kathrin is a real person, she has a story that I wrote about her.  I added to it by designing and stitching a whitework sampler from the years before she was born and decided that it needed to be worked by her actual Grandmother, Isobel. So with a little poetic license I named her  Isobel Lyon since some of the family is descended from King William the Lyon king of Scotland.
It really stretched my skills to both design and stitch the Reticilla section of the sampler. I used a size 80 cordonnet thread for the weaving, wrapping  and buttonhole bars.  I don't have it framed yet but do have it mounted on the blue-green silk background. I still have a few more ideas for pieces for the Casket but am closer to my final design.