Dala horses 2

I was intending to finish this weeks ago, and couldn’t find it. I pulled it out when I was getting something else out of my bag of projects earlier in the week, and I’ve been taking things in and out of the bag for the last month! Crazy!

As I wrote in Dala horses last month, he needed an eye on each side: a sparkly silvery hologram sequin with a black bead in the middle. I also added a line of couched thread across the nose before cutting out both sides.

I used overcasting to join them together, starting behind the front leg so that I could stuff as I went along, which makes it easier to do the bottom of the legs and the head. I left the belly open to finish the rest of the stuffing.

I used a Sylko thread in the same green as the felt, which makes the stitches virtually invisible as they sink in to the felt.

I found the point of balance, and added a narrow ribbon in the same colour as the mane and saddle to hang him. All ready to hand in to Ruth at Seata tomorrow, ready for the Festival of Christmas Trees in Ashby in December.

The colours that I’ve used are very much the autumnal palette that I’ve seen around me in the last month or so. The cherry tree leaves that I see when I open the curtains every morning were only just starting then, but now they’ve all but gone.

Dala horses

Today has been the Seata AGM and first meeting of the new programme.

For many years the group has decorated a Christmas Tree at Scunthorpe Festival of Christmas Trees, which has very much become an annual event. Ruth has booked the spot and decorated the tree for several years now, and this year she had booked within 5 minutes of receiving the booking form! If only I could be so organised!

Ruth had brought a box of goodies for us to use for our Dala horses, or to add to our own bits and pieces: felt, patterns, templates, trims, and a whole herd of horsey samples which were passed round as examples of what we might do. These two finished ones are hers.

After rummaging through the pile of assorted coloured pieces of threads, I opted to work in a bright green for the body, and two shades of sage green for the saddle and mane. A suggestion of not cutting out the horses until they were stitched was soon passed on around the group. Once the template had been drawn round and the mane and saddle cut out, I started blanket stitching them on with a single strand of orange.

Once I’d done that I used a rusty red rayon thread for fly stitching down the legs.

Then some orange lazy daisy stiches on the saddle …….

……. and mane, with pistal stitches in between in the rayon thread. This is as far as I’d got by the time we packed up; both sides are the same. It needs eyes at least before I cut them out , stitch them together and stuff it. I deliberately chose colours that are not Christmassy, as I don’t want to think about Christmas just yet!

Thank you for all your hard work , Ruth, it’s been a good start to the new programme. This is another one of hers that was on our table as inspiration.