Spot the difference

 The footballers have been lying on the floor for the past week, and today they made it up onto the table. It was time to baste them to the background, and at the end of a long day all the little bits were held down by stitches, ready to go "under the machine" -

Up close to it for long hours of stitching, you get so used to seeing the various bits, you don't really "see" it after a while -- but it's obvious from the photo that the brown bits were just not working. There will be some unpicking tomorrow! This shows the brown areas covered up, but they need to come right out -

Nor is it quite ready to go under the machine - the backing needs to be done, an extra layer that will make it just that bit firmer, hopefully to hang better.

Even though there seem to be more questions than answers, I'm enjoying the making process. Listening, as I stitched, to many consecutive episodes of History of English podcast, was pleasant. I learned about "the anarchy" in the 12th century, caused by the dispute between Stephen and Matilda about who should rule England; goodness what a terrible time, 20 years of civil war...