Vintage arch for Patsy

I have been aving a wonderful time over the last few days working on an arch for the Textile challenges year long arch page swap. This month I am sending to Patsy. She requested tea dyeds lace and neutrals, along with vintage images. I usually never quite know what to do with vintage pics, despite ikeing them. So I found this one and it as in lovely sepia tones and I thought to myself what is this lady up to. I decided she was waiting for her lover. Then I had to think where would she be waiting, well it couldn't be a bus stop could it!!!!!! I decided on trees.
If you click on the pic you will see all the background is woven of Coffee dyed cotton, the last of some I got from Sue Bleiweiss a while ago when she had a give away. I fused the woven strips which included a stip of lace to the background. I had already fused the picture in place. I cut through the weaving to reveal, reverse applique style the pic. I then free machined the trees, which are a shot silk, and the edge of the lady in place.I hand stitched then in a tonally similar thread, again click to see all the hand stitching that covers the background, including the little bird up in the trees.
I bound the edge with a frayed strip of the cotton and then added the strips and buttons. I wantedthe page to have weight from the buttons and to have something sticking out of the page so that when Patsy binds her arches into a book she will have them sticking through. On the back I decided I had had such fun with the little bird I would carry this on. I hand appliqued the bird and hand stitched a tree and 3 little flying birds. With a brown fineliner I wrote the thought that started this with, "and she sat beneath the tree and waited for him..."
Such fun, just hope Pasty likes it now. If she doesn't I'll keep it!!!