Holidays past

I'm taking part in the Embroiderers' Guild Travelling book challenge again.  It's a great way to boost your creativity because you have to do a piece of work each month in response to the theme chosen a member of the group.  The books are swapped every month, new theme, new challenge!

This month's theme is Gwynedd, North Wales.  This sparked lots of memories of family holidays to the area and after a couple of phone calls to my Dad, photos too.  This is me aged 7 outside the station with the incredibly long name.

One particularly vivid memory was a trip to Beddgelert and sad tale of the prince who returned from a hunting trip to find his favourite dog, Gelert, covered in blood next to his son's cradle.  The prince assumed the worst and killed the dog, only to discover a large wolf my the child's bed.  The dog had killed the wolf to protect the child.

My work is inspired by the Bayeux tapestry.  Of course we know it's not a tapestry but an embroidery, cleverly worked in wool using a special filling stitch - Bayeux stitch.  The legend of Gelert is set in the 13th Century a couple of hundred years after the famous tapestry but I imagine that similar materials and techniques would still be in use.