Ukranian/Byzantine Wedding "Rug"

Hello Stitching Friends! I am back from vacation and taking a few moments this afternoon to post some pictures of the wedding gift I told you about in my last post. You can view an entire album of related pictures by clicking here, which will take you to my facebook page.

The wedding itself was beautiful - a long, elaborate service with an Eastern-rite, Byzantine style Eucharist (a.k.a., not Roman Catholic) and many interesting traditions. One tradition is for the priest to tie the bride and groom's hands together in an embroidered scarf, a symbol of their union. It was a joy to make this heirloom for my friend. I used her wedding colors and trimmed and backed the linen with a gorgeous black linen embroidered with a gold floral motif that I found at a specialty fabric store. The monograms stand for their names, and the verse is from the Song of Solomon; "Thurow" is the couple's last name. I am very pleased with the finished product!






I had a lovely time with my parents and got in some good visiting with my grandmother, who is now in an assisted living home. It was nice to be away from normal routines, but I am happy to be back home and very much anticipating the cooler weather and the advent of my favorite season of the year!

Edited to add: some of you have asked about the design: I did chart it out myself, using the alphabet and motifs from this book.