Winter and some lace

Yes, winter has arrived!  We had the first snow a few days ago, and it is cold with a capital C-O-L and D!  Daytime temperatures are around 0 - 2 degrees Celsius,  the low 30s Fahrenheit, and while I know it’s not as cold as it is in America for example, for us it is pretty cold.  I went to West Linton the other day, not too far away, and stopped to take a photo on the way over and another on the way home.  The countryside is just so pretty, as long as the roads are clear! 

The light was beginning to go on my journey back so my car headlights were on, as you can tell from the photo on the right.

We don’t get temperatures as low as they used to be when I was a child.  Our local duckpond was always frozen over sufficiently for it to be used for skating.  The ice had to be at least 8 inches deep all over before anyone was allowed on the ice.  I came across this photo of a game of curling on the frozen river Tweed, that was taken probably in the 1950s.  A few years ago there was ice beginning to form on the river but nothing like this has happened for several decades.

Anyway, I haven’t had a chance to show you pictures of some of the lace on display at the Edinburgh Lace Day way back in October.  The Edinburgh Lacemakers hold an Open Day, mainly for other lacemakers, every October, and as well as stalls selling lace threads, bobbins, books etc, there is always a display of the lace made by the club members.  I took photos of several of the pieces on display, demonstrating the different styles of lace that is worked by the group.  Everyone has their favourite style, whether it be one of the four styles of English lace to the European countries’ styles.

It is extremely hard to make those little leaves, and they say you have to make 200 of them before you can call yourself a lacemaker.  Well, a lacemaker made this, that’s for sure.  These are beautiful.  Actually I have the feeling that this just could be my sister’s work!, though I could be wrong.

This one is a sampler.   I started this pattern myself years ago but never finished it!  This is excellent!

 

 

 

So is this piece.  I’d say this is quite complicated to work, but it’s beautiful.

 

 

I just adore this piece.  I first saw the pattern in a lace magazine and it was in colour.  Oh how much I wanted to make it myself!  However there were various techniques I had never tried before and I knew I night need a lot of help, certainly at the beginning, so I never even got started with it!  Here’s a closer look at the flower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far all of these pieces have been worked in white, a very traditional colour, along with an off-white called Ecru, but there were also pieces in colour which can really make a pattern zing!

This motif inspired a bookmark and a decorative edging  for a runner, while the next piece could well have been dyed with its lace edging already in situ.

 

 

 

 

 

This purple design was stunning, and again, look at the petals of the flower.  Worked in the same way the leaves were in the first picture, these flowers are “something else”!

I believe it was actually a  neclace design. .  Perfectly beautiful!         Yes, here is the complete necklace.

 

 

this was one piece out of a set, the hairpiece/hat in black and red, accompanied by the  shoe accessories and the handbag.  Someone  worked hard on these.

 

 

 

Here’s another piece of traditional white lace, a bookmark, perhaps.  It’s another quite complicated piece.

and this is part of a wallhanging, worked in a variety of styles and patterns.

 

 

 

 

Years ago, when I was a member of the Edinburgh Lace Club, everyone made a circular piece of lace with their name attached, to be part of a club project, for a table cover for special occasiions.  This was my effort, and this next one, my sister’s.  It was nice to see the cloth still used, and our lace displayed.

 

 

 

this is a piece of Carrickmacross lace, worked as two layers, hand stitched  round the central and outside white sections then one  layer in berween cut away to leave the net as a contrast to the design.

This was an amusing and clever little picture of some spiders, with two spiders seemingly escaping from the picture.  I did like it!

There were a few others I took photos off , but I hope the lacekaers will   understand   that I can’t upload every shot I took!    I hope you have enjoyed seeing these ones.

Talk again soon.