It's Been Awhile!

It has been awhile since I've posted anything here and I almost forgot how lol. Things do have a way of coming back at least momentarily. So let me see ....... what has been happening in my life since attending my first Lace Days retreat. The first thing I should say is that my bobbin lace teacher and I agreed the project was a bit too deep for a beginner ..... and I am a beginner although I've been lacing a full year now. I can't believe it has been a year since I began my newest stitching journey. Well, back to my lacing project. I scrapped it .... for now. I didn't throw it away or anything that drastic. I just retro laced (undid the work) and put the pattern aside until I have more experience under my belt.

So what am I lacing? Well right now I'm doing another handkerchief edging (just like the first one I did but with some minor changes. I really did a lousy job (MO) on turning the corners and the "sewing" where the beginning and the end meet and asked if I could try again. My teacher thought it a good idea and that is what I'm doing. But I'm also "playing" on my own.


Here are the first five examples in my Introduction To BOBBIN LACEMAKING by Rosemary Shepherd, an Australian lace maker. She calls these beginner pieces "braids". My teacher calls them "bandages". If you look closely you can see the gauze like look of the cloth bandages. The first one is worked in a red and pink #70 tatting thread. The second piece is worked in a pale orange #70 tatting thread and the third is worked in a dark orange and the pale orange #70 tatting thread. The last two pieces are worked in a lace thread - #30 machine embroidery by DMC. You can see how much more lacy looking the lace thread is. Since these are just "playing" bits they will all wind up on some cq squares sometime in the future.

I didn't tell you about the passing of a dear, dear friend and knitting student of many years. Just two weeks before her death she invited me to her home and gave me all her remaining knitting and stitching supplies. She had previously given me all her quilting supplies and much of her knitting yarns. Among those stitchng supplies were several kits, and baggies of DMC floss plus one of the floss caddy boxes full. The Santa pictured below was one of kits. It will be one of the "new" ornaments on my tree this year.



Another "new" ornament for my tree this year is the "soldier" stitched on a scrap of linen (I don't throw anything away .... at least thats how things used to be, I'm being more selective now), added a pinstitch hem with fringe. I cut a small piece from a thin dowel for the hanging rod and used a single strand of the gold DMC metallic thread for the hanger. The knot in the hanging thread doesn't show because I slipped it inside the pocket on the dowel.

Another "first" for me happened back in August after a trip with a group from the senior center and our annual visit to Scott's Family Resort in Deposit, NY. Everyone that goes on these trips are dancers .... line dancing for me. Well, this year, the fella that teaches the daytime ballroom dance sessions went with us and got me out on the dance floor. I've never done any ballroom dancing but with his instruction I found him very easy to follow. So to make a long story short .... I started ballroom dance sessions on Tues. afternoons at the center. I've met some very wonderful people and am enjoying this activity very much. So much that in September the center has a couple who teach ballroom dancing on Friday nights. Guess who is there with dancing shoes on????? You've probably all seen the tv commercials that say dancing is good for the heart ..... well, not only good for the heart, its wonderful all around exercise and just plain downright good fun!!!!!!!!!!!! My pastor and the choir tease me about appearing on Dancing With The Stars but this great grandma would break a leg just thinking about some of those moves! Never watched the show until I started dancing and the other dancers told me about it. A good bit of that doesn't strike me as true ballroom dancing so the show is not all that impressive. Too risque for me. I feel lucky when I can pick out some of the steps I've been learning.

Now its time to get back to my lacing project. TTYL