Weekend workshop results

I've retired to bed with a cup of tea, after a very full weekend of textile artistry.  Set out below are the results so far.  They aren't finished yet; once everything has been stitched to the background fabric I'll sew loops to the top to hang them from.  

The inspirations for them are the trade union banners; the Orange Lodge banners of my own community; and modern interpretations of Buddhist  prayer flags.  In chronological order they tell the history of the coal fields, from the Industrial Revolution to post-industrial South East Northumberland today.  I have chosen images from 4 eras that are significant to coal mining, including nationalisation and the strike of 1984/85.  It has been an interesting and absorbing task.  I hope that there will be opportunities to explore this kind of story telling through textiles in the near future.

I will take better photos when they are completed.