Category Archives: bobbin lace

Life is what happens…

…when you’re busy making other plans….

In the midst of my weaving, spinning, basket making, bobbin lace, knitting and gardening my life has taken a sharp turn.

I was so busy getting two Nantucket baskets ready for weaving while sailing in Maine in July and August… enthusiastically looking forward to a week of weaving at Vavstuga later this month…  admiring this year’s crop of weld blooming magnificently and watching for indigo seeds to sprout in the garden.  I’ve finished a blanket for a good friend recovering from hip replacement surgery and have recently started Deborah Newton’s ‘greenhouse tank’ from the current issue of IWKnits.

Then Life struck.  My father died unexpectedly on May 19, and now two other family members have passed as well.  I had to move my mother from her home to mine, a great distance away, and then into assisted living.  I am buried in legalities and paper work, and somehow my projects seem like a whim from a distant past.

Still, it is a beautiful spring here in NJ. My peonies and foxglove and iris are blooming profusely, and my cat entertains us with his annual boost of spring energy as well as doing double duty enduring our attentions not only for him but also for our recently deceased dog. That’s life.

 

the lion lies down with the lambs

In the midst of my grief and what seems like endless paperwork a friend sent this anonymous saying:
“Being happy doesn’t mean life is perfect.  It means you’ve decided to see beyond the imperfections.”

So, I’ve returned to working on my Deborah Newton “Greenhouse tank” and to my large Nantucket basket.  I’m juggling my time visiting my mother and getting her new apartment furnished, searching for all the paper work to file my father’s taxes for last year, and getting ready for a week at Becky’s Vavstuga! If you want to follow the basket making procedures go to my basket link above.

American Textile History Museum and ATB8

It was a beautiful weekend, although as cold as any day in Janurary, for visiting Lowell, Massachusetts to see the American Textile History Museum and the ATB8 exhibition on display there.

ATB8 is as good as I’d imagined!  I had edited the catalog so I’d seen large digital files of all the pieces, but there really is nothing like the real thing!  What amazing work!  It felt wonderful to see the works of a number of my weaving friends, and to see close up some of the pieces from weavers I do not know at all.  I came away so inspired to think about design and technique in new ways!

Bob and I walked along the canal and the trolley rails, where many of the mills have been turned into residences. There is even residential space available above the textile museum! The canals come off of the Merrimack River and supplied the mills with power.  I wish there had been time to see some of the residential spaces offered.  I’ve always wanted to live in a loft!

Booton Cotton Mill now open as museum and residences

 


 

petting the sheep!

Trolley station, Lowell

garden dress with lace inserts

"S" silhouette garden dress, cotton with lace inserts

Lace blouse, Arts and Crafts embroidery, tatted initials

Lace blouse detail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Dance!

bobbin lace 3.2011 003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bobbin lace 3.2011 004

Need I say more?  Lace classes started again so I am a happy camper!

10” of scallop border!  I would like to have a yard so I’m almost 1/3 done!

Gallery

New Projects

Don’t most of us return from summer travels full of ideas for new projects?  It’s hard to implement all the new ideas that crop up from even the shortest weekend away from home.  There is something about a change of … Continue reading