The needlecase was made for the May challenge on Tricia's Textile Group and this month's theme was 'pattern'. The pattern I came up with is taken from a photo of a vaulted ceiling in a Norman church in Crondall in Hampshire which just so happens to be where my ancestors originate from. I've 'reflected' the design 4 ways (you can just see the cross hair pencil line going through the centre).

I then free machine stitched the design in Madeira FS thread and burned away areas with a soldiering iron. It was then backed with some shiny gold fabric to show through the open sections. It was difficult to see the original stitching so I had to stitch over again this time with gold metallic.

The needlecase is lined with some dark red poly/cotton and the closure is a machine made cord stitched again with gold metallic thread and wrapped round a gold button from my stash. I'm pleased with the result but have made note to use a lighter colour thread when stitching on black!