Earth mini: finishing off

The front was completed, but I wanted to put a small Awen design on the back, just to finish it off:

This was worked in gold chain stitch and filled in with split stitch, in the same way as the front, and using Madeira stranded cotton in a pale green shade to match the colour of the front.

Both the back and front were pinned out for damp stretching:

I forgot to take an 'after' photo of this, but they looked a whole lot better than 'before'!

The finished piece is circular, so the excess fabric needed to be trimmed off.  I had a go at a slightly different approach here, using the overlocker to trim rather than trying to machine stitch in a circle:

I think this would work better with a larger circle to aim for, but it didn't work too badly.

I'd marked the outline of the 10cm (4") coaster I'm using to stretch it round on the back of the piece before I started, to make centring it easier:

And using a cork coaster, as well as already being a nice neat disc, meant that pins were very east to stick in it prior to lacing!

I could then lace it up, and remove the pins:

I ladder stitched the back in place, over a disc of felt, completing the reverse:

And here's the finished piece from the front:

I'm very happy with it - I might make a few more of these!