A Bedfordshire Book Mark

Over the last ten years I have been working on and off through one of my Bedfordshire lace making books. This is design number 6B in the book, a little book mark featuring  flowers made of six tallies, and six pair crossings.

Note that this is design 6B. Two years ago I finished this handkerchief which was design 5 in the book. Personally I think these two designs should have been swapped. The book mark should have been Design 5, and the handkerchief edge should have been design 6. Surely it would be better to practice those flowers in something small like a book mark before tackling an edge. Just my opinion.

Anyway, my little book mark is finally finished. I have practiced those little flowers again, and I still need more practice! This time though I played with some different thread. The cloth stitch border is a King Tut variegated quilting thread, while the flowers are a combination of the king Tut thread and a Mettler Silk finish 100% cotton No 50. I thought the two together may have been too thick, and it is a bit, but its a book mark, so its OK. It was an experiment, so now I know what will happen when I go to do something like this again. It will be a useful tip to know to bring in some creativity into my lace.

Now onto design number seven, a little simpler I think, but time will tell. Watch this space!

Double Eyed Spider Book mark No 3

This is my third attempt at this book mark with double eyed spiders. I wanted to do it again to get my notes down pat, and to see if  I could work it again just from my notes. I still had trouble, and my notes are not the best. These double eyed spiders have certainly got the better of me. I usually found that I got interrupted half way through working them, then got lost, so just tried to figure it out following the lines on my pricking.

Anyway, it's finished now, and I am already onto something else. I think I may let these little spiders a rest for a while.

The book mark itself is worked in Guttermann Sulky 30  thread, with a gimp down each side of Guttermann Quilting cotton in a double strand of plain blue. It's difficult to see in this pic, but it's there, and a little thicker and more noticeable than the last attempt. The quilting cotton was a bit tricky to work with, but we got there in the end.

I've been keeping track of the hours it has taken me, and I have worked out this book mark  has a value of $200. No wonder I only give my bobbin lace to people who appreciate it.

A new book mark has already been started, another deign with no spiders, just seven little tally flowers. I've tried these flowers before and they certainly were a challenge. Oh well, practice makes perfect and I am always up for a challenge. Watch this space!

Double Eyed Spider Bookmark No2

Back in April I finally had a go with this pattern featuring double eyed spiders. There are four of these spiders in this book mark, and on that attempt they were all different. I vowed to myself I would do another one to practice them. At the time, I made notes on how to work them, and I wanted to test my notes out as well.

So, here is attempt number two of this book mark. It is worked in Guttermann Sulky thread, just a slight different colour than the last one. This one is more green than blue, and I put a plain bright blue pair of Guttermann Quilting thread down each side. Unfortunately it gets lost and is not noticeable. I may need to double it next time to make it stand out.

All my spiders are the same on this one. I followed my notes working them, and for the most part they are good. They just need to be tweaked a little at the end.

I want to work another one still, just so I know my notes are fool proof. Once they are correct, I will type them up and store them with my pricking. So watch this space to see version number 3 of this book mark.

A Blue Edged Handkerchief

This little handkerchief is another one in my collection. The edge is in bobbin lace worked by me and then  mounted by hand to handkerchief linen. The pattern is by Olwyn Scott, and was published in Australian Lace.

Started back in April this year, it is finally finished and ready for show and tell.

The pattern of the edge is the same as this yellow one that I finished back in February. When I finished the yellow one, I nearly cried, it wasn't square! So not to be put off, I made a new pricking, made sure it was square, and started another one.

This one is also worked in Gutermann Sulky 30, in this gorgeous variegated blue. This time I tried a little experiment though. Along the edge, I used a double thickness of a plain deeper coloured blue/green thread, sort of like a gimp. It's difficult to see in this photo but it's there. It worked beautifully so I may try this double thread edge thing again.

I am very happy with my new little handkerchief, and once it has finished it's run of show and tell, I plan to use it.

Double Eyed Spider Bookmark

Back last year when I was working my yellow lace edged handkerchief, there was a pattern for a book mark on the same page as the edging. I had wanted something little to take to lace meetings, so I drew up the pricking and proceeded to start.

What I hadn't counted on was these double eyed spiders, and they stumped me. I tried so hard to work them out, but my lace meeting was getting closer and I needed something to do. In the end, I changed my pricking and inserted  whole stitch ground  diamonds instead. That book mark can be seen here.

I was going to master these little double eyed monsters, so I tried again, and still had trouble. The pricking was tiny and the lines were fine, so I made a larger version to try to work out the thread path. By looking at this larger version, and also at the photograph in the book, I realised that I had pin holes in my pricking that should not be there. OK, I could just try to ignore them for now and fix up my pricking for next time. One problem solved.

As I continued to work, I still got confused every time I came to one of those double eyed monsters. In the end I came to the conclusion that that there were still pinholes there that should not be. I couldn't figure out what to do with them. Anyway, I got my book mark up to a point that I could take it to a lace meeting and have something to work on for the afternoon. One of the ladies at this meeting had made a number of these book marks, so I had a chat to her and she sorted me out. Yes, those pinholes needed to be there, but as support only.

So behold, my new finished bookmark! It has been made with Guttermann Sulky 30 thread, with a purple crochet thread acting as a gimp down the side. My double eyed spiders leave a bit to be desired, and like the spiders in nature, they are all different. Watch this space for another one when they are all the same.

A Yellow Lace Edged Hankerchief

Check out my latest handkerchief edge!

I wanted to do another hankie edge, something easier than the last one, so I checked out the patterns I had, and chose this one. I had not done it, but it looked easy enough. Famous last words!

I set about drawing up my pricking, and printed out just a small section around a corner to practice it first. Mmmm........... what I thought was going to be easy turned into a challenge. No matter what  I tried, I could not figure it out. Mmm....... What to do.

I thought about waiting for my next lace meeting and asking someone, but that was ages away. Then I thought I could ask someone on the lace related Facebook groups that I am on. I got lots of answers back, some helped, some didn't, but the one that helped the most was the one that told me it was triangular ground.

Triangular Ground? What is that? So I pulled out my lace books and did some research. Yes I found it, but it didn't really help. What now? Frustration plus!

One of my family members suggested You Tube, everything is on You Tube! So I checked out You Tube, and found a video of how to work two different types of triangular ground. Which one was I supposed to do? There were a number of videos, and they were so good they soon had me sorted which one I had to do. There was only one hitch, The video was demonstrating working the triangular ground in one direction, and I had to work it in the opposite direction.

There was much to and froing from my PC to my lace pillow, much note taking, and finally I produced my little sample. I had to check my notes to make sure that I could not only read them, but follow them again at a later date.

Now the hankie edging was ready to begin. It is worked in Gutermann Sulky No 30 thread, which was beautiful to work with. There were no breakages! Not one!, and  it took approximately 40 hours of work to produce. Now that is just scary!

It will just sit and look pretty in my glass cabinet for a while until I decide what to do with it. I want to make another one in pretty blue colours. Watch this space.

A Bobbin Lace Book Mark

Slowly but surely I have been working through a bobbin lace book I have on Bedfordshire Lace.

This is pattern 6a in the book, and it took me a total of fourteen hours to work, not all at once I might add.

I have been working through this book for some time now, and another lace maker that I know has advised me not to use it because of the shoddy work shown in the book. Well, I love the patterns and designs in this book, and I was not going to be put off. I have not had a problem with the book, until now.

I started this book mark back in November 2017 at my local lace group. I had spent the afternoon winding bobbins, then was just beginning to set up to start when it was time to come home. I packed everything up well, or so I thought, came home and put my lace pillow away. I was about to go on holidays and would not have time to touch it for a while.

It was not until after New Year that I got time to pull it out again, and this is what I found!

Obviously I had not secured everything well enough for the short distance I had to travel home. No, my Fluffball of a Sasha Cat did not get into it and have a play. It was packed away where she could not get to it. In my years of making bobbin lace, I have never had a pillow in such a mess! It took me some time to sort it out and make it neat again so I could work.

OK, so I was all set up to start my book mark. I started reading the instructions in the book, and it was like reading double dutch. I was so confused! I had started two other bookmarks similar to this before, so I ditched the book instructions, pulled out the notes on those other book marks, and figured the start of this one by myself. Once I got the start sorted, I was off and running.

The pricking was drawn up on a 5mm grid, and I used DMC Special Dentelles thread to work the lace. The thread was possibly a little too fine for the 5mm grid, but I am happy with the result. Next time i might try a Perle 12.

A Lace Book Mark

I have a few lace book marks now, this is the first one that I have used variegated thread in. I had picked up the thread in Spotlight one day , wondering how it would be for my lace making. In reality, it is a bit flimsy for a bookmark, I think I would like it with a bit more oomph. Still it's pretty.

So how did this book mark come about? I was searching through my patterns one day looking for another handkerchief edge to work. I found one, and beside it was this book mark. They both looked easy, mmmmmmm......... yeah right!

I drew up the pricking for the edge, and was so grateful I started on a sample first. No matter how hard I tried, or how many times I tried, I just could not work it out. In the end I asked the on-line community of lace makers that I know who gave me all kinds of help. The main piece of advice I got was that it was 'triangular ground', so the research began. It took a while, but thanks to You-Tube, I now know how to work triangular ground.

OK, so I got my edge started, but I needed something to take to my lace meeting. The edge was being worked on my block pillow, and it is a bit bulky to take to our limited space. So I drew up the pricking for the book mark. It could be worked on my cookie pillow and there was room for that at our lace meetings.

I wanted to have it started at least before the meeting, so that I wouldn't get stuck and have nothing to do for three hours. So a week before I wound bobbins and tried to start it. I got so far then got stuck. The pattern had something called a double eyed spider, something I have not done. It's in one of my books, but no matter how hard I tried I just could not work it out. I think I was just in a hurry.

In the end I changed my pricking, and put in a whole stitch ground diamond instead of the double eyed spider. It looks OK, not as pretty as the spider, but still pretty.

Ok, so this one is finished. What's next? You will all just have to come back for another visit to find out.

A Bobbin Lace Hankie

Behold, my new lace edged handkerchief!

It's been a very long time happening. from the first day I contemplated making it, until the day it was finished, it has been nearly eight years. Mmmm..... that is a long time, but there are prickings to draw up, handkerchief linen to source & buy, decisions to be made about thread, threads to source & buy, decisions about how big to make the pricking, then sourcing and buying a lace pillow to work it. Then we get to the actual working of the lace itself, which took me about two years. I might add here that there have been plenty of other projects happening over the same time frame.

Lets start at the beginning. Quite some years ago I acquired a book called 'Bedfordshire Lace-making' by Pamela Nottingham. When I looked through the book, my toes began to curl in absolute delight. Another lace-maker I knew also had this same book , and as it was set out in lesson format, we decided to work through it together. I might add here that that challenge has long gone as life has got in the way for both of us. I have still continued on in my own time though.

For the lessons up to this point, I had only done samples, and I was tired of making samples. I wanted a finished project, so I decided to make this edging into a handkerchief .There was lots of learning involved, from using slubby linen thread, to making even tallies ( yeah right!) and working six pair crossings to make those little flowers. Then there was the joining. The little flowers were certainly a challenge, and there are no two alike. Someone told me it is just as in nature.

I was advised to use a linen thread, but in reality I may just not ever use it again. The slubs made it difficult to tension, especially in those tallies. It also snapped a lot, meaning there are joins in my edge everywhere. I was told that linen thread is the traditional thread used in Bedfordshire lace, but recently I was told that a lot of Bedfordshire lace makers now use cotton thread. Mmm...... something to think about for the next one.

There are 224 tallies in this edge. I have been told that I have to make 1000 before I can get the right. I think I have a few more to go. The next ones will be in a cotton thread I am sure.

Once the lace was finished and joined, I then had to mount it to my linen fabric. I had a few different suggestions as to how to do it, but chose something called 'Nun's Stitch' to mount it. I had to find out how to do it, then learn how to do it, but in the end it was easy, and it gave a little pinstitch along the edge which is pretty.

It may not be perfect, but the mistakes and inconsistencies in it show that it is hand made. I am extremely proud of what I have done. It is my first ever bobbin lace handkerchief edge that I have done and there will be more. Watch this space!

A Christmas Star

This is the third in my series of bobbin lace Christmas decorations, and I  think my favourite one yet. The patterns have come from an old Anna magazine. I have used the same thread as the other two, a DMC Cordonnet Special No 50. This thread is fine for cloth stitch, but it doesn't handle plaits and picots all that well. I was warned many years ago about using crochet threads, something about the direction of the twist. I may have to just remove the picots off it if I do any more.

Still, it is done, and will hang prettily on my Christmas tree in a few months.

A Little Christmas Stocking - Bobbin Lace Style

I've finished another little bobbin lace Christmas decoration. It's from the same series as the little bell I made back earlier in the year. This is also  made in  DMC Cordonnet Special No 50 thread. 

When I made my bell, I was happy with the thread choice, but this time around it's a different story. I like it for the cloth stitch, but not for the plaits. The plaits are a little but cumbersome. Maybe next time I will change the inside decoration to something else. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I have started number three in the series of six. So watch this space to see what it is. It may be a while, there are quite a few other projects happening that are priority.

A Bobbin Lace Edging

I've been making some very slow progress on my lace edging. It's an edging from the Pamela Nottingham book of Bedfordshire Lace making.

Started quite some time ago with the drawing up of the pricking and planning on how it was actually going to be worked. It took even more time to get started on the actual piece, and even more time to work!

I'm on side three at the moment and coming up my third corner, ready for the last leg to the finish. The join is scaring me a little, but I have had some help from an on-line group of lace makers who are very free with advice and help. As a result, the last corner and final join are not so scary any more.

So watch this space to see the final product. it may still be a while yet though.

A Little Christmas Bell - Bobbin Lace Style

This little Christmas bell was born from cleaning up my sewing table. In my clean-up I found some old magazines that I had picked up at one of my stitching groups.  I had picked them up for a reason, and  when I looked through one of them I found the pattern for this little bell. So I put it aside to have a good look at later.

When I picked it up again, there were actually six different decorations, and I believed I could do them all by myself, without any help. When I started reading, they were worked in a thread that I didn't know. Mmmm......... So I gathered together threads that  I had that I thought may be suitable, and tottered off to my lace group, complete with the pricking I had made, my lace pillow, pins and other lace making paraphernalia.

I asked my lace teacher which thread would be best, and we settled on  DMC Cordonnet Special No50. To me this is a crochet thread, and when I first started making bobbin lace, I was told not to use crochet thread. Mmmmmm...........

So I wound my bobbins and started off. The thread was actually a dream to use, and I would certainly use it again. The bell was actually quick to do, four hours of work including winding my bobbins.

I am actually very proud of my little effort. I have always wanted to make a bobbin lace Christmas decoration and now I have. There will be many more in the future.

A New Work Bag

Behold, my new work bag!

This bag was born out of my local sewing group. One of the ladies had so much fabric she decided to cut up a huge pile into squares, and the members of the group could piece together colours of their choice into a bag. At group day, I chose my pieces, and got them all sewn together but one seam. It them came home and sat on my sewing table. I had one brainwave that my bobbin lace fish could adorn this bag, so set out stitching him onto one blank square, then promptly left the bag rolled up, unfinished, in another bag, on my sewing table. I found it again in my clean up last week, so decided to finish it.

It only needed one seam to sew, lining, quilting, a bind and some handles. The lining was scraps, donated by the lady who cut the squares. There was enough of it, it just needed to be be joined to make a piece large enough. The batting was scraps left over from other quilts that I had made. Once again joined to make a piece big enough for what I wanted.

So I made my quilt sandwich -  backing, batting and bag outer, and pinned it all together. I even checked that my fish was in the best place for viewing. Then I decided to have a play with the quilting and do something I had not done before. Because I had added my bobbin lace fish, I thought it might be fun to quilt fish shapes and waves on the bag. I had quilted  plenty of straight lines, shadow quilting, and stitching in the ditch, but stitching shapes and other lines like this was something new. I had tried once before and outlined the marks on a quilt in pencil.  As a dressmaker I should have known better because the pencil has never washed out, and as a result I have stayed away from free form quilting. This time I traced the fish shapes and waves into a tear-a-way, and quilted  through that. Wallah! Fish shapes and waves and no pencil markings! Why didn't I think of this before?

I was on a roll, and my bag was looking good, until I started to join it together into the bag shape. My bobbin lace fish that had taken sooooooooo long to do, was sitting at the bottom! I nearly cried! He couldn't stay there, he would wear, so he had to be moved. But how? All his working ends had been taken back through the green fabric and finished off. There were dozens of them, so he was not moving from that piece of fabric. The only choice was to move the square, but that meant unpicking quilting! So that's what I did, unpicked the quilting, swapped two squares around, then re-did the quilting. Sounds easy right? Took me a while, but I got there and my fish can now be viewed well and is safe from wear.

The bag was formed, seams on the inside bound, once again out of scraps. Then I made my handles, once again out of scraps. They contain slotted waist banding for strength and ease of making, and a layer of batting for some padding.

All in all I am happy with my new work bag, and will use it with pride. Amazing what can be made from other peoples unwanted fabric and one's own stash of scraps.

A Lace Bookmark

Behold, my latest finish! A Bedfordshire Lace bookmark.

This little book mark started as a filler. I really wanted to continue my lessons from Pamella Nottingham's " Bedforshire Lacemaking" book. I am up to lesson 5, and rather than just doing a sample like I had done with the other four, I wanted to make a finished piece. So I decided to continue the edge around in a square, and when finished, I would mount it on some handkerchief linen. So I made my pricking, and  tried in on for size on my lace pillow. Immediately I could foresee problems. Yes, the pricking did fit, but it was flat, and my pillow is dome shaped. I could cut the center out to make it fit better, and as the edge has a scalloped footside as well as a scalloped head side, the finished  lace could be moulded flat when I mounted it to linen. Mmmmm...........  But the edge of the pricking came very close to the edge of my pillow, and I knew this would drive me crazy when working it. So I invested in another pillow, a bigger  square one with 9 blocks that I can swap around as needed. This would take time to arrive, and I wanted to do some more lace now!

So while waiting for my new pillow to arrive, I looked through and found this book mark pattern. Could I do it? I thought I could, it was plaits and tallies, and I knew how to do those, so I went about making my pricking.

Step 1. Make pricking - note to self - to consider the colour of thread to be used up against the colour of the pricking when choosing the colour of the contact. Remember to use a contrasting colour !

Step 2. Wind bobbins - how many do I wind? Oooops - not mentioned on the pattern, I would have to work it out!

Step 3. Work out the working order and how to start so I can calculate how many bobbins to wind Mmmmm........... next question - this wasn't on the pattern either and I had no idea how to start!

Luckily I am a member of a few on-line lace groups, so I put the question out there. One of the ladies on this group very kindly sent me a diagram and some notes to help get me started. My thanks go out the her ( she knows who she is). As a result, I could work my book mark above.

It is far from perfect, but I am proud of it. My tallies are different sizes, but they did get better as I progressed. My picots are all wrong, but hey, they are there. I was having problems with them and could not get the tension right. Then when I showed it to some real lace-makers, some comments I received had me going back to refresh how to do them. It was only then that  I realized that I had done them wrong. No winder they didn't tension right!

Oh well, it is finished and very usable. It has served me well in being a filler while waiting for my new pillow, as well as giving me some good practice and revision lessons. Now this one is finished, and my new pillow has arrived. So my handkerchief edging is happening as I write. Watch this space!

Lace Fish Finally Finished!

Yeh! He's finally finished! My bobbin lace fish that has been on my lace pillow for such a loooooooong time! I won't say how long, but all my lace friends know exactly how long he has been on there.

He was supposed to go on a lovely trip overseas quite some time ago, but was not finished in time. There was even supposed to be a second one,  mirrored, so that I could join them together to make a 3D fish with padding in the middle. Mmmmm............. yeah right.................

He is made with Guttermann 100% cotton sewing thread, a  Guttermann metallic thread, and a DMC variegated Special Dentelles 80 thread. Consequently lots of joining in, leaving out, sewings, & ends to finish off. His eye is a tally, which is cringe worthy in the lace world, but I am happy with mine. The orange half stitch 'scales' leave a bit to be desired though. I personally think half stitch is cringe worthy, but then again this is the first time I have done half stitch in 15 years. Maybe I just need more practice.

It was such a learning experience, and there are mistakes everywhere, but he is finished & I am proud to say I have made him.

So now that my lace pillow is free, what's next? Hopefully a  beautiful Bedfordshire handkerchief edging. I have thread & fabric ready to go, my pricking is nearly ready, then I have to wind some bobbins & I will be in business!Watch this space.

Coral Calypso - an Exhibition

A week ago, my local embroidery group held an exhibition. We only hold one once every five years so that there can be enough work to show off a really fabulous display. I personally had 10 pieces in this one, the most I have had in any exhibition I have been involved in. So here I will show you the ten, some you have seen before, some not, and some you have seen in progress.

Piece 1 - The above white table mat featuring reticella, measuring approx 50cm x 36cm, this piece is my pride & joy. It took five years from conception to completion, including designing, sampling and one failed attempt where at the last minute I changed the design, and didn't think it through before starting to stitch. The consequence was my reticella design wouln't fit the space. You can read about that story here and see the result here. Then there was the twelve months that the piece sat there waiting for me to cut into it. After one failed attempt already, I was scared it would happen again, even with all the extra counting & thread marking I did this time around. Luckilly all that counting paid off & the design worked, to the point that I am extremely proud of the end result.

Piece 2 - Is an experiment in combining pulled and drawn work as well as in design. I had come across a book showing how to create and use mandalas in patchwork, & thought I may be able to use the same concept as a base for some drawn work. The piece of fabric was a scrap that I had aquired from somewhere, and there was not much room for sampling stitches, that is if I wanted the end result to be square. The square also presented a problem with designing, as I found six sided shapes didn't sit well, they needed to be four sided. So I played with a drawing program I have, overlaid a number of four pointed star shapes, then set about eliminating lines until I was happy with the resultant design. Then came the fun of stitching. Pulled work is not something that I have done much of, so the stitching had to be simple. Satin stitch, eyelets & four sided stitch, it is amazing the effects these three simple stitches can have when combined together, used in differnt counts, or used where some threads have been removed. Over all I am happy with the result.

Piece 3 - This little bag is also a combination of pulled & drawn work. It bagan as a holiday project, one where I threw a piece of fabric, some threads, and mabe a book or two for inspiration, into a bag & see what I could come up with. As soon as I started stitching, I realized the fabric was open to pulled work, but I had only brought drawn books with me, so I started on drawn work which kept me busy for my holiday. The pulled work background came later, and the lining & twisted cord came two days before it had to be handed in for exhibiting. Nothing like leaving things to the last minute. Am I happy with it? Mmmmm,......... it's cute and functional and I intend to use it as a little work bag.

Well, the above pieces were all new, the rest have been seen here before, but I will show you them again anyway.

Piece 4 - A cream table mat also started when on another holiday.

Piece 5- My first piece of reticella, which has now been in a few different exhibitions. Might be time to retire this piece, even if I am still very proud of it.

Piece 6 - My Seahorse Sanctuary, which took pride of place by the front door. A piece of creative drawn thread work done a few years back for a course.

Piece 7- My first full piece of Tenneriffe lace. This piece was designed for, and given to a special friend for a special birthday. I so want to do another piece, one for me to keep. A slightly differnt design though.

Pieces 8 & 9 - Bookmarks, both of which are a form of drawn work. The one on the lft is filet, while the one on the right is an all over filling, something that I want to play more with.

Piece 10 - A bobbin lace fish that went to Japan for an OIDFA dispaly. A huge challenge for me to work as he is double sided

For those of you that made it to the exhibition, I hope you enjoyed what you saw. For those of you that didn't, you missed some stunning pieces, so I hope you enjoyed seeing what I had displayed. Anyone see a common theme happening here in my work?



A Fishy Tale

My little bobbin lace fish is finally finished. He is worked in cloth stitch, with a giant spider in the center. I have used three different threads including a variegated, a plain & a metallic. He is double sided & padded with pellon & felt, covered with crystal organza. I gave him a bead for an eye so he could see when he goes travelling to Japan for exhibition later this year. If anyone is interested he can be seen unpadded here. I think he looks much more dashing with his yellow undergarments.

Seafood Anyone?

My local lace group are busy making fish, ready for a display somewhere. (Japan I think) This is part of my effort, as there is another side to this fish yet to happen, then he is to be padded. This little fish was certainly something different for me. I had tight curves to deal with, sharp corners with sewings, adding in pairs, & brushing up on how to work a spider ( yes , it has been a while!) The thread was also a bit of a challenge. I used a variagated green crochet thread combined with a green metallic for the passives, and as always, the metallic did not want to play nice. I persevered though & this little fellow is the result.

Goodies

Happy New Year to everyone. What a better way to start the year than with some goodies.

The bottom two lace bobbins are commemorative bobbins, beautifully hand painted, from an Australian lace internet group that I belong to. I've had them since before Christmas & have only just now had time to show them off. They still need spangling, something I must do soon as I am bursting at the seams to use them.

The top bobbin & the lapel pin are gifts from a visitor the we had from the USA to our small local lace group. L--- put the call out towards the end of last year to Australian lace-makers, made e-mail contact, & armed with directions, braved the public transport system to visit our small group. Shows how keen us lace makers are. We spent a wonderful afternoon with show & tell. & L---, if you are reading this, thank you so much for taking the time to visit.