Angel Playing a Rebec - I'm still here ! 😃

 Apologies ! I am still here !  We have had a very long heatwave and drought . I have been busy trying desperately to keep my vegetable garden alive . 

We are presently on a hosepipe ban , so running back and forth with two watering cans has been quite hard work . Especially as I am still recovering from a serious spine injury . I'm doing really well now but have to be careful .  Husband helping with the carrying though .....sometimes .

                                                   ☀️

......and then .....it would become too hot to do anything at all , but flop on my bed with a fan to cool me down !  

We,ve had a couple of slightly cooler nights and some drizzle  . I have been able to pick up my embroidery again . 

     So ...where was I ?

I bought a little frame and began to stitch on a thin piece of cotton quilting batting/wadding .

                It just makes for a nicer base to take the embroidery .

I finished doing that and then remembered , I still have to embroider the strings of the Rebec instrument .

                                   This gold thread is Heavenly !

                                               Perfect !

                                         O.k So here we go !

So how am I going to do this ? 

 ⭐  Plan A)  use a whopping great needle with a hole large enough to take the gold thread and force it through the embroidery ?  🪡

 Yep ! I could do that , but it would make horrible holes through the embroidery and I have to do six plunges for each string so it really would show and not look nice .

⭐ Plan B)    Lasso method .  🪡

So I'll try and show you how I do this .

  You basically thread your needle with sewing cotton double with a knot. Then thread the gold thread through this loop ...like a lasso ......

 Pull on the lasso and it will carry the gold thread through to the other side .

 Leave a long tail to one side .....you could put a temporary holding stitch to stop it slipping through , but I didn't ..it was fine ..it behaved itself .

Next I had to take the gold thread through the Rebec bow and up the other side .

Then again under the bow handle and up the other side .

                                Oh this was terribly fiddly !

                                          Two strings done !

        I had to plunge and lasso six times for each golden string !

I'll be honest , I was a bit worried at this stage .

     Maybe I'd bitten off more than I can chew !

         🎶🎵     Three wobbly and very out of tune strings !    🎶🎵

    Flip over to the reverse and over and over stitch the three gold tails down to secure them .

I tied the tails at the other end and stitched them down . This enabled me to gently tug the strings nice and taught on the front side .

                                     That was very , very stressful  !

                                     I'll show you some more tomorrow !  

                                               Peace and Love 🕊️🤍

                                                            Debbie 💐x