A group of Angus embroiderers are working to complete their contribution to what will be the biggest tapestry in the world.
The Great Scottish Tapestry is expected to have around 160 panels making it more than twice the length of the Bayeux Tapestry and it will be hung in the Scottish Parliament later this year to tell the story of the nation.
The ladies from Angus Embroidery and Textile Artists have been working on their panel, depicting the Pictish victory over a Northumbrian army at the Battle of Dunnichen in 685, since the autumn.
Members gathered at Guthrie Hall to view the results of their labour.
Group secretary Patricia Rae, who coordinated the project with Pat Beaton and Iolanta Robertson, said: “It has been an enjoyable experience for us all.
“We were given the wool in colours we cannot change and then we had to decide roughly where to use them and which stitches to use.
“Some of our ladies are former members of Arbroath Embroiders Guild so they are very experienced, but others have been on a huge learning curve.
“We have 40 ladies in our group, and at least half of them wanted to stitch a part of this historical piece.”
The Great Scottish Tapestry, which will depict key events in Scotland’s history, was the brainchild of novelist Alexander McCall Smith.
He and Scottish Parliament presiding officer Tricia Marwick sewed the first stitches last year.
Since then groups across the country have been working on the individual embroidered cloth panels, following a pattern laid out with the help of historian Alistair Moffat and artist Andrew Crummy.
These panels feature the battles of Bannockburn and Culloden, the creation of the Book of Kells, the founding of St Andrew’s University and Captain Scott’s ship Discovery sailing from Dundee.
More recent events to be included are the start of the North Sea oil boom, Ally’s Army at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, the cloning of Dolly the Sheep and the opening of the parliament in 1999.
Mr McCall Smith said: “Although the overall artistic vision will be Andrew’s, and the telling of the story will be Alistair’s, the creating of the tapestry will be the task of many hundreds of people who will invest in it their feeling for the story that they will be illustrating.
“I believe that it will bring happiness and delight to many people.”
The tapestry is expected to take its volunteer stitchers a total of 50,000 hours to create, making it one of the biggest community arts projects in the world.
“That is the equivalent of sewing 24 hours a day for six years.
Mrs Rae said the Angus group were really excited to be stitching a piece of history.
“One day, when we are no longer on the planet, our stitches hopefully will still be exhibited in some museum somewhere and of course are hoping that the whole tapestry may be shown at some point in the next few years at the new V&A Museum in Dundee.”