Some bobbin lace PHD's

 First of all, here is the next lace for a porcelain doll...slow progress, but a little every now and then...have to find/design another piece to complete the doll, so still a long way to go before a doll will be seen.  This is Bucks Point in Finca 80...wide design by Heather Billington, narrow one from Pamela Notingham's Intro to Bucks book I think.

 Here is the 2nd piece from the workshop I was participating in when Colin collapsed.  I completed the 1st repeat at the workshop and most of the rest of this one was done at Colin's hospital bedside during his 2nd stay in Hobart.  The thread is Lizbeth 80...have no idea why I would buy this colour in the first place, but love it in this piece.  The designer is Ethel Zuccolotto.

My 3rd piece was started yesterday.  The pattern is from the Ulrike Voelcker Torchon series, done in Thai silk from a supplier here in Tassie.  The scarf will be for Colin's daughter...maybe for Christmas...

 

up close...

 

Finally, after our recent trip to visit Colin's surgeon, we decided to stay over and visit Mona Museum...I found out about this cement truck from a friend in Estonia on Facebook...now I have seen it for real!!

 

The detail is simply amazing, and it smells much better than one of the artist's other instalments at the museum!!

 Hugs to all, may your pins never bend and your threads never break, so that you can make the most of every moment life has to offer!

Just a little lace

First I would like to share some bookmarks I have made for the Arachne email ring exchange.  

I love taking part in these exchanges and will take some pics of my received bookmarks for next post.

This is Louise Colgan's hummingbird.  

I intended to take part in her workshop last year, but didn't make it.

I still want to work the workshop piece, but this Milanese tape will do for starters.

I think I will sew it on to a black shirt when I get some time :) 

My next doll is making progress...the week before last I finished the skirt...

And last week I added the bodice...

 Tomorrow I will add the arms and she will be ready for the first firing.

 Meanwhile, my friend has finished the doll she made with the lace I designed and helped her make.

Enough for now...off to read up on Porcelain doll making for ideas for the next doll....

Just for starters

Ohhhh how I have missed my bloggy friends :( Life has been crazy, but what's new?!?

This scarf is now almost 150 cm long and is being worked by one of my students. The pattern is in an Australian Lace Magazine from a few years ago and it is being worked in 'Misty' Alpaca wool...mine will be shades of mauve and I am soooo looking forward to some time to make it as this really is gorgeous!! BTW - the maker started making lace 1 year ago today!!

This is also the work of one of my 'girls'. The design is from Rosemary Shepherd's "Fantasy Flowers" and worked in Lizbeth thread.
I have finally finished my last 'big' project...will share some of it in June or there abouts. At the moment, I am just chilling and making bookmarks...these are from one of my favorite patterns...a possum...also from an Australian Lace mag. They are made in Thai silk, available in a large range of gorgeous colours from a local thread supplier...when her website is up and running I will be happy to share :)
These little friends will be winging their way to Canada and the UK by the end of the week with the following...

The Bucks Point design on the left is by Irene Tomlinson and another favorite...it always reminds me of Guzzie Sue - a bloggy friend - and this is the 3rd time I have made it (and the bobbins are wound to make number 4!!) I used brok 80/2 with a perle 8 gimp this time.

The torchon bookmark on the right was given to me to 'work out the pattern' for a friend.
this one has been worked in the Brok 80/2 and I have wound bobbins to work it again in Brok 100 as suggested...I guess that means it was fun to work lol.

This cool Aussie Green Tree Frog eating an Aussie Mozzie now resides in Thailand, in a quilt made by a local church craft group. I have been teaching lace making there since June last year, and felt that the quilt needed a little lace. Everyone contributed a square with an Australian theme and then the quilt was constructed by 2 or 3 of the members. It has candlewicking, embroidery, painting, printing and quilting as well as this lace. I did not have my camera on the night it was shown to the group after being completed, but I can assure you it looked fantastic!!

On top of everything else I have made 2 of these wire lace horseshoes for friends. I do love working with wire and they were both received with open hearts.

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

Next visit I will show you the completed truck quilt, which now resides with my gorgeous 2 year old grandson and is very well loved, and my garden make over...although I am not so sure I have a "before" pic for you to compare?!?!

I promise it will not be sooooo looonnngggg into the future when i drop in again, so please say hi before you go :)

Hugs and happy lace making to all.

Just bob-bob-bobbin lacing along...

It must be a record for me, but I did have 4 pillows on the go at once!!

Here is the beginning of a possum bookmark. The pattern was published in an Australian Lace magazine...the thread is Thai hand dyed silk in Jade...lovely to work with and the bookmark is fun to make.

Next...I have put a few more pins into my Grandson's Christening bonnet lace. This one is a bucks point length that I drew up on Lace RX-P using some workshop notes as a guide. The thread is finca 100 in white. Number 3 is to help a student get on with her lovely smaller version of this turtle. The pattern is from 75 Quick and Easy Bobbin Lace Patterns by Veronica Sorenson. I have enlarged the large version by 141% and am working it in Perle 8 thread. My student is using this pattern to introduce herself to some new ground patterns. I think it is much nicer than having a book full of samplers :)

Finally, I completed the middle piece of my Bedfordshire ring pillow pattern from Barbara Underwood's Intoducing Bedfordshire Lace in 20 Lessons book today...well almost, as you can see I still have a few ends to sew in :)

Back to the turtle...Tuesday is nearly here again!!

Have a great week, and thanks for dropping by :)

Motifs

Welcome All,

The rain is beating on the tin roof (somewhat more gentle than yesterday morning's storm)...a very welcome sound, (even though I have bucket loads of washing to do :()

Here are a couple more Quanti snowflakes. I have chosen to make 25 of these in one year...actually I would need to aim for more like 40 for my Christmas cards this year, but we will see! I thought the gold on the left on was Butterfly metallic, but I now don't think it is. The blue in the centre is Candlelight metallic and the white is Coats crotchet cotton No 20. The other is Perle 8, the verigated is by Anchor (shade 1344) and the solid colour one is a DMC (shade 211). I have not blocked either - thought I would wait for a few more - so they look a bit off. They will be stored until close to Christmas, and it is important they look great then so I will take more pics of groups of snowflakes - blocked and ready to find new homes :) In the meantime, these count as 5 and 6 towards my challenge.

Just before Easter, Diane (Lace Lovin' Librarian) suggested a thread swap ... you know, foster world wide friendship through lace and blogging. As my access to nice threads is limited to mail order much of the time (we do have a great local shop who will source lots, but the time involved is 3 projects long at times) I decided to send her some tools for her new adventure in bobbin lace in exchange for the threads. This was mutually very pleasing! Here is the first 3 rounds of a doily using the gorgeous Lisbeth No 20 thread in shade 632. Those of you lucky enough to be familiar with this thread will know the colour has not been done a justice in this pic! My parcel also included Lisbeth shades 651 (a lovely pale blue) and 660 (a delicious olde world minty green), 3 reels of size 70/80 tatting thread (white, pale blue and verigated yellow) and a hank of Ladyshuttlemaker's hand dyed rain forest. 2 shuttles from Lacis (1 purple [in use for this little project] and a grassy green one) and the delightful book - Tatting by Myra Piper also tumbled out of this little treasure package. Now I really do need more hands!!

I have not forgotten the bobbin lace readers either! This morning I unpinned my Maltese Tape Lace A. This is the first time I have attempted this lace so although there are glaring mistakes, I am rather pleased with the result. The final leg has the Arches stitch, and although a pain to tension nicely I feel I would love to do some more. The basket weave has not shown up so well in the pic, but gives a neat texture to the straight leg and I simply love the ovals stitch in the cross bar.

I am off to join my Oliver Twists hankie...it has been 'resting' for over a week now so should be ready to remove from the pillow. Tomorrow I am going bushwalking with my Joey Scouts (if the rain stops) so that will test the Physio I have endured this week :) Saturday at lace we have a mainland visitor coming along so that should be fun too!

Enough waffle on my part, but your comments are always welcome here :) Until next time, take lots of care, make lots of lace and as always - have lots and lots of fun :)

A few lace tools

Greetings All,
This little lady has ruled my home for the past 15 years. Her name is Sox, but we may call her "Your Highness"! We moved 6 months ago, and she still thinks she can boss all the cats in the neighbourhood around ... mostly still fairs well, however, she has come home on the receiving end several times recently :( This morning she veiwed her loyal subjects from atop this very shaky fence post as I denied her the pleasure of playing with my bobbins. The only time she will grace my lap with her company is when I am tatting... she loves to chase the shuttle!
O.K. Now some lace... here are the tools I could not do without... aside from pillows, pins, prickings and bobbins of course! Left to right - A nail punch, stolen from the shed for pushing pins into the pillow, some curve bladed scissors for threads - could be sharper, but I will eventually find a good quality pair :), a pricker - made from dowel with a needle pushed into the end, a lazy susan - made the same as the pricker, but point end in the handle (made from a broken bobbin) and a bend close to the eye, threaded ready for use, a pin puller - made by a local bobbin maker and a small crotchet hook - especially made for tatting by milward shuttles (no longer available).

To use the lazy susan to make a sewing - first remove the pin and push the needle through the pinhole. Pull the thread to make a loop.

Next, pass 1 bobbin of the pair to be sewn through the loop. It is easier to pass the bobbin spangle first if you are using spangled bobbins. Here, I am sewing 2 pair, so I have passed 2 bobbins through the loop.
Pulling on the handle AND the thread tails, gently ease the bobbin threads through the hole to form loops with the bobbin threads.

Pass one of the remaining bobbins through each loop. Gently ease the threads up to remove the unwanted loops and ensure that they sit neat with the hole where the sewing was made. If finishing off a piece, you can tie a reef knot before trimming the excess thread. Darning the ends may also be necessary. When making a sewing to join pieces of lace together (as here) replace the pin and continue on.

Here is my A with the first leg completed. I used basket weave stitch for this leg.

This afternoon I plan on completing some more ATCs so there should be another post soon. Are you interested in taking part in a round robin swap for ATCs? Please leave a comment!

From Sox and I...happy days :)

A little tape lace

Here is the beginning of my tape lace A. I am using Milanese style tape lace to construct this letter as part of my L.A.C.E. set. I am using a rather thick Finca 20 thread and following some instructions from The Lace Guild publication An Introduction to Milanese Lace. Although I have not completed any of the sample bands, I figure if I muck up totally, I can always re make the A and then keep this one for a sampler. For now it will have to do :) This stitch is called ovals and for a first up, Blind Freddie would be glad to see it :D Now for the basket weave straight leg...

Here is a peek at my only other attempt at a tape lace. This design is from 75 Quick and Easy Patterns by Veronica Sorenson - although this design was not that easy for this little beginner 15 months ago! The loopy tape was made first complete with an outside boarder. The ground was then filled in and a length made to make the frill, which is stitched on afterwards. It was fun to make although very challenging as I had only been making lace for 3 months or so at that point. I think I used No 80 tatting cotton...not really sure.
Here is the finished product! Needless to say the Bride was thrilled! I took it to her the day before the wedding and she later gave me some pics of her wearing it.

Please feel free to leave a comment...I love reading what you have to say :) Stay well and healthy and for those who do...have a great Easter Break.