MIRASOLACE: Summer Lace

Lace at Sweet Briar was wonderful. Good friends, great lace. Clay has created a Facebook page for LASB. I took the Tonder class with Bobbi Donnelly and worked on Fan Motif 1 (designed by Bobbi)) and started Bohnstedt (recreated by Bobbi from an antique lace).

Working by a window is always a pleasure. The facilities at the Florence Elston Inn and Conference Center at Sweet Briar College (Amherst, VA) are excellent.

Fan Motif I - My first goal was to finish something, and I did. This was worked with 63 pairs of 140/2 Egyptian cotton and 4 pairs of gimp DMC Coton a Broder 25.

I started Bohnstedt, with 40 pairs of 140/2 Egyptian cotton and 5 pairs of gimp, DMC Coton a Broder 25.

Pretty flowers emerging from a forest of pins.
This has been my third retreat at Lace at Sweet Briar and each one was better than the last.
Once home, I have been trying to make some lace every day. I am STILL working on the piece I started last summer, a reconstruction from the Barber-Conin Collection at Sweet Briar by Michael Guisiana and Bobbi Donnely that I am making into a handkerchief.

The corners are challenging, to say the least (one reason why I am doing Bohnstedt as a straight lace). Also, Tonder lace was traditionally done without corners, but was gathered when needed, and I am most inspired by traditional laces.

In the spring started a smaller Tonder lace, Bertha, for Peyton's 1st communion veil (in 3 years). This is a Karelly pattern that takes 23 pairs of 140/2 Egyptian cotton and 2 pairs of gimp.

Perhaps with 3 years lead time, I will finish this.

The gimp is laid in around each flower and then taken out at the bottom of the leaf, so it is a little fiddly, but very pretty.
With all of these projects going at once, bobbin management is becoming quite a problem. I bought some bobbin holders from Lacy Susan (she and her husband Kenny are great vendors!!), but at $4-$10 each, it can get pretty expensive. So I went to Michaels and bought some craft tongue depresser things, got out my drill, and made my own. I used an Xacto knife to cut the notches, bought elastic cord at a sewing shop, and finished them with clear wood finishing wax.

The commercial one is on the top, mine below. It took me about 30 minutes to make 10 of them and I spent about $10 on supplies. I have enough materials left to make 40 more when I need them.
I also saw some beautiful Flanders lace at the conference. Last year I bought two Flanders books so I started the small Tulip flower from "Blumige Reste aux Flandern das Beste" by Ulrike Voelcker. This one has 56 pairs of 100/2 Bockens linen.

The pattern is on page 27 and I enlarged it 160% for the linen thread. The motif looks challenging, but the diagrams are excellent. Dawn took a 3 day workshop with Ulrike doing this flower and she said it was a real bear. Working with 100/2 linen after using so much 140/2 cotton is like using rope - a nice change. I like the ground. Before I start the motif I'm going to redraw the working diagram in color to study how the threads travel.
Summer is my favorite time of the year because I have lots of freedom to make lace (during the day) and knitting (at night). Because I am a librarian, I keep my threads in an old card catalogue.