And so it begins...

Starting a new tapestry is always a joyful thing!  And so it goes for the first several inches, at least for me.  Along about mid-way, it seems to turn into a chore to keep on keeping on.  Then when the end is in sight, I find the excitement again.  Many more inches to go before it gets to be a chore, though.

This piece is 60" wide and sett at 8 epi, 12/15 cotton seine twine.  It's going to be woven 14" high.  I began this one with a 1 1/4" hem, using two strands of Vevgarn for the turnback.  The body of the tapestry will be woven with three weft strands, two of Vevgarn and one of 20/2 worsted wool (the Elf that Kathe Todd-Hooker sells; Vevgarn is from Norsk Fjord Fiber).  Both of these wools are ones I've used for many years and I really like the way they work for me.  And the 12/15 warp is from Glimakra USA.

Here it is with cartoon in place before I began the first bit shown in the top photo.

I've been working on and thinking about this design since April.  In the spring I made lots of photos and sketches of the fiddleheads as they were popping up.  The old fern fronds were still on the forest floor making a beautiful deep, dull green contrast to the new fresh yellow greens of the fiddleheads.  The leaf litter added beautiful rust and deep orange contrasts.

Here's an earlier post about working on the design... it's from a stay at Hambidge Center in May.