WIPs

A quick look at what is happening...

Porcelain doll week 4...

 The horseshoe finished...sorry about the quality of the pic...I might try for a better one tomorrow or the next day...

 My handspun using my own bobbins and beads...the next update for this one will be September :)

 The silk scarf...

Time for bed now...work for next few days...

Hugs my friends...

Mediums

My first porcelain doll is progressing nicely.

The skirt layers are finished, and the bodice is in progress.

 From the front...

 This weekend, she will get the lace on her front and some arms, then into the kiln...ohhhhh HELP!!!!

A friend is getting married at the end of the month, so I thought I had better get busy, besides, what better excuse to play with some wire!!

The pattern is from Christine Springett's Lace for Children of All Ages.

All that is left now is to 'doll it up' with some flowers, so I will share again soon.

Love and hugs,

Old and some new

I have been trying something new :)

I was given the marble with a delicious swirl in thanks for a lace lesson.

What do I do with a marble?!?!?

I found the instructions for this wire wrapping in one of my magazines and thought it would be perfect!

Ok, so I have some room for improvement, but I am happy with the finished product :)

An old project now...

the dolls lace is currently at around 83cm...will work on it again this evening... 

 I went in search of some Pooh fabric when the craft fair came to Tassie, to no avail.

When I mentioned on Gumlace (Aussie email ring) what I had been looking for, a member offered me some of her fabric...it is just what the new Grandaddy ordered :)

Progress is being made, and the best bit - the quilting is happening at the same time as the pieceing!!!

I love it!!!

I really must block some of my tatting...2 doilies to boast about, but no pics yet...

Hang in there tatters!!  It will get done!!

Happy lacemaking and thanks for reading :)

A frog and wire.

One of my bobbin lace students collects frogs. The pattern has elluded me once again - I found it this afternoon with the frog hiding inside after searching for the past 5 weeks!!

He is made from Milford Mercer thread in size 20 - colours ombre green (the verigated and much nicer in real life) and holiday green.

Again the scan is not great but this wire lace piece is THE pattern that attracted me to wire in the first place. One of our local lace makers had a copper coloured piece mounted on black velvet as a choker and it looks stunning.

I intend to mount this on velvet too, but wore it at the Tasmanian Craft and Quilt Fair last weekend in my hair - alice band style. The pattern is from Barbara Underwood's Bedfordshire Lace in 20 Lessons book.

Short and sweet this weekend. Lots happening but not much to share yet.

Hugs til next time, til then, I look forward to hearing what you think. Stay safe and have fun :)

Wheels, water and a little lace

First of all, we went back to Sheffield in North West Tasmania last weekend, and I promised some Gumnuts the pics of FIL's current fleet of T-Models. This first one said goodbye today - it is moving to a new home at Westbury, there was no challenge in restoring it from this condition!It is a 1926 sedan.

Here is the fleet that went to Sheffield...a 1948 converted to 1950 5 tonne Ford, 1913 T-Model 1 tonne truck (sedan converted with Smith Chain Drive) and a 1923 T-Model 1 tonne truck.

There is a pic of the 1913 T here

The 1923 T-Model truck.

The 1950 Ford.

The blue coupe is Everyone's favorite T-Model in Pop's shed. I have posted about it before here.

This A-Model arrived as a left hand drive vehicle as you can see here. In Australia, normal is right hand, so Pop has been busy converting it. It is nearly ready for it's debut, with everything spruced up while the reconstruction was under way.

The news of our local flood waters has got out. Colin went and took some pics of the Gorge today. The swingset on the bottom right of this pic is usually well away from any water and a safe place for the children to play. And the water level has receeded considerably since Friday evening! We are all safe - several businesses and community associations like the Scouts and Naval Cadets have had some mild flood damage but the coastal areas have had more to be concerned about - for the second time in 2011!

Not easy to see, but my Bedfordshire mat is under way again - for a little while at least! The center section is just over half way and growing quickly!! You can see the completed outside edge on the side - although I still need to sew in the ends.

Finally, I made this wire lace horseshoe this week. A work friend is getting married next weekend so I hope she likes it :) The pattern is from Christine Springett's Lace for Children of All Ages.

I have a tatted motif to share, but may make it some friends this week and I have not scanned it as yet.

Enough for now, thanks for reading this far. Drop me a line in the comments, have fun and take care. Happy lace making :)

Cotton, glass and wire

Here goes 25 motif challenge number 3!!

I thought about making 25 coasters...there are some gorgeous patterns out there in blogland and beyond!

But...I was reminded of my design tat course this week, and my ambition to make a tablecloth or bedspread in tatting, so I have decided to see if I can design 25 motifs this coming year, then choose 1 of them (or maybe more) to start work on that tablecloth or bedspread!

2 days in the truck and here is the start to my new challenge...

Number 1...I do like this one :)

Number 2...not like the drawing, and the spokes need to be a touch longer to make it sit right, but passable I think?

Number 3 is no closer to the drawing, but I kinda like it too :)

Number 4 come about from a piece that I cut off, then played with. I think this one might join nicely, and allow for some more experimenting in that process to create some lighter areas to balance the dense rings...

Tomorrow, I plan on playing with the glass again! Some serious trolling of the internet has my head bursting with ideas to try out. Most of them will have to wait until I have a bit more experience, but I have a few ideas ready to go now.

Here is a necklace I have put together as a Christmas gift.The next two pics have not scanned so well, but you can get the idea!

Here are the final 10 Christmas tree decorations to go with my cards. You cannot see it very well, but I used 2 colours in each plait, and the 'real life' effect is quite pretty.

Finally, the last of the necklaces for Christmas! I love the black/silver colour combination, but I had soooo much trouble with breaking wire in this project, and there is a leaf missing - it fell out when I pulled the pins and I decided not to remake the section!

I am thinking the tension was in me, as the same wire was used in the pieces above and I didn't break a single wire then.

Sorry about the pic quality - I might take a real photo tomorrow!

That is long enough for now...thanks for reading on :)

Don't forget to let me know what you think before you go.

Christmas hugs for all in this busy final week of crazy!

Finishing off

Another 25 complete!!

Here is bookmark 25 - the same as bookmark 1 (but a bit longer)

It is made with Lizbeth HDT - shell in size 20 and the pattern belongs to Jon - I'll try to find the link later - it is no longer in my bookmarks :(

Tomorrow evening our Tuesday lace girls are going to enjoy a meal together.

Here is my Kriss Kringle parcel :)

- 2 cover cloths

- a pin pusher

- a lazy susan/pricker

- thread

- pin cushion

all in a travel bag.

Here is (one of) my current lace projects - another wire lace necklace...

Design by Britt

Made in black and smoked wire.

Finally, here are some of my handmade beads, at home on my new handmade bobbins :)

Thanks for reading. Have fun and stay safe :)

Bits and bobs

I spent the weekend in the shed...again!

This time my work was on the lathe :)

Here is my new lazy susan - this was the first bobbin I broke -

complete with a set of handmade beads. Timely, as I replaced my lazy susan with a needle pin and have been looking for a new handle! (I keep giving them away but this one will stay)

Here are the rest of the bobbins I made this weekend.

The inscription says:

Bobbin 1: Life without lace...

2010

Bobbin 2: ...I'm a frayed knot!

2010

On the right, you can see the other bobbin I broke. I intend to put it in my Kriss Kringle pack for my student's break up. The reciever can decide it they need a pricker or a lazy susan :)

I still have 2 sets to inscribe, but after 3 weeks of playing with open flames and molten glass with not so much as a singed hair, I burned my finger on the poker and had to pack up for the evening.

Now, I promised some lace in this post!

The tatting will have to wait until next time...I still have about an inch of chain to complete the final bookmark in my 25 motif challenge...

My bucks edge has stalled with Christmas drawing nearer at an alarming rate...

Tomorrow evening I will be delivering these wire lace necklaces.

They were designed by Lenka Suchanck.

I think I will have to make another for myself :)

They were so pretty I decided to use them to make my Christmas card cover for 2010.

Finally, I got to playing with some 1mm copper wire as LOML would love to see a wall decoration made in wire lace :)

More practice required but there are some possibilities here...stay tuned :)

Have fun, stay safe and please let me know what you think before you go.

Many hugs in this super busy time.

First, I have some wire lace bits.

These are designed by Britt of stitchety grub fame.

The larger design is the main pendant and the smaller is supposed to be the earrings, but I like it as a pendant too.

With the arrival of new colours in the wire today, I can't wait to play :)

Next, I have some more tatted bookmarks.

Bookmark number 18 in the 25 motif challenge is one I have been working on for some time. After starting Sharon's design class, I started experimenting and here is one of the results...I am not entirely happy with it, but there may be a pretty good basic idea hiding in here...somewhere!

Number 19 and 20 are more stumpy's.

Like Diane from lace lovin' librarian, I love this design and have been using up those little bits of thread that are not enough to make something with...I messed up with the one on the right and had to change threads half way through so will probably keep it myself, but I kinda like the effect anyhow.

I will post again over the weekend...I have a pic of my finished Withof pieces and have been busy with some quilting projects. Thanks for letting me share, hope you have found something of interest :)

Hugs for now.

Show time!

Here is a new page I put together in my scrap booking album for FIL.

I will be showing my customers how to do this surprisingly simple page at my end of month workshop...hope they enjoy!

I entered this page in the local Show and Won! such a simple page and the reward very unexpected!
Here is my tatting entry, with it's new ribbon :)

... and my wire lace entry...also with a decoration.

I entered 2 other pieces of lace, but gave 1 away before I could take a pic, and have plans for the other, which means I cannot share here for now.

Although I have been very busy with my lace, there is much I cannot share just yet.

Sending hugs to all my bloggy friends, with hopes that your lace is growing, threads never breaking and pins never bending...