Yes, I did get to it.

I kept putting it off, thinking I'd just maybe wind the bobbins and get everything ready. Next thing I knew, it was on the pillow.

I was off a bit on the second eye but I know what I did wrong. I also crossed a pair or two in the center at some point that I shouldn't have, but overall, considering there were new techniques, I think it turned out well. I will do another at my friend's house on Tuesday so all I'll do tonight is wind the bobbins. Really!

Saturday's Sample

I felt like a lot of things came together for me with this sample. It's the same pricking as the other two and there actually are two colors but it's hard to tell here.

I'm ready to start a bookmark series. We'll see if I do it Sunday or not!

Here's my first sample completed. I knew I was making a mistake with my end twists but nothing came apart.

Here's the one I completed last night. I'm still confused about the end twists but I made it work. I just need to read up more on it. It's only with the half-stitch section because of the way the thread lays on top, it can't twist the way the directions say.

It took me about 4 hours to complete this one. Yeah...my shoulder was burning. And my eyes. No bobbin lace for me tonight! I used size 8 perle cotton.

Catching up!

I've been so busy during the holidays and after that I've sadly neglected this blog. I didn't do a lot of "other" lace work beyond tatting though, and in fact, this pretty much brings it up to date!

These covered rocks are a combination of tatting, crochet and needlelace. The needlelace is on the back side, the final finishing, but it's there, trust me! One has already gone to its new home and was well-received.

A little lace knitting, although the yarn was only sport-weight, not the fine silky kinds I usually associate with lace knitting, but it was also something I've been wanting to try for awhile. I gave this to my granddaughter. I forgot that I had knitted her some mittens last year in this yarn.

A lace friend and I have started meeting weekly to refresh and refine our bobbin lace skills. This is the start. Very simple, very ordinary, but this is the best I can do at the moment. Next week will get slightly more involved and hopefully each session after that for awhile.

So...at least next week I'll have some bobbinlace to show. If I don't get sidetracked!

I have to show this elegant embroidered silk purse that I bought from Karen Ruane of Contemporary Embroidery!

Exquisite, isn't it? Need I say more?

While I am most active with Lafayette Lacers, I do belong to a few other lace groups and one of them, L.A.C.E., Lacemakers of Illinois (link isn't working right now) has a beginner's bobbin lace program at this weekend's meeting so I'm preparing some of my unfinished bobbins.

I don't have a lot of bobbins and what I've bought were unfinished. I can use them that way but when I took the thread/ribbon dying class in May, I ended up using some of the dye on the unfinished bobbins so I really needed to finish them up, adding embellishment and varnishing them. I still need to spangle them. I also need to redo my pillow. I have three pillows in process of being made and haven't completed a single one! I really like the ethafoam I have so that's what I want to replace the wool in the one that is almost done.

Janice Blair will be leading the lesson and I took one last year at their Lace Day with her which I found very informative and helpful. Let's hope i haven't forgotten everything I learned!