Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The love of lace.....

I love lace. I love lace curtains and looking at the world through them turns things into a kind of artwork. I also enjoy making bobbin lace which was something I wanted to learn when I came to live in Holland.


I just put a jar of old lace bobbins on my bookshelves alongside my aunt's wooden knitting needles. I was given these bobbins as a gift by a friend Carolien. I was so touched that she wanted to give them to me along with some other items that had belonged to her mother. To a lacemaker any vintage or antique items are very precious. I just love seeing these on my bookshelves!


In case any of you have never seen bobbin lace on a pillow before, this is a photo taken while I was making a lace collar in 2005 for my niece. This kind of lace is called Torchon.


My mother gave me this book as a gift many years ago. It is a really wonderful little book that is a perfect thing to sit on a table with a few pieces of lace for decoration. "The Love Of Lace" is a book written by Cynthia Hart and Catherine Calvert.

Carolien had asked me, in the blog entry about my new dishes, if I had made this piece of lace with the butterflies myself. No I did not. This was a piece of handmade lace I purchased in a shop in Brugge, Belgium.


A sweet quote from the book:

"Lace is that aspect of the poetry of dress which corresponds to the poetry of life."

~~ Marion Powys

16 comments:

Nancy said...

Carolein is a wonderful person to part with the lace items she gave you. The bobbins look so nice in the jar. Janey would love seeing her knitting needles on you shelves. You already know I love your lace, I have to take pictures of the pieces you gave me. Ok mom,
get busy and do it, right Heidi.
Love you, Mom

Betty said...

Heidi,
Gosh, how talented you are! The lace collar is gorgeous...I'm so happy to have found your blog...always such interesting things to see...Betty

Karen said...

Always amazing you are Heidi. The thought of even attempting the making of lace makes me sweat, LOL. But I enjoy looking at your wonderful works of art.

Hugs - Karen

Reginas Cottage said...

Heidi
Insanity what you all can,you knit,stitches,sew,patchwork,etc
You are very talented.Have you yet
ideas for eastern decoration? In
Germany it's said to pillow-lace
Klöppelarbeit.
I wish you a wonderful evening
Hugs,Regina

Joyce said...

Heidi,
Thanks for sharing your own health struggles with me and encouraging me with my own! I only have one and it's plenty enough to deal with. BLAH! Anyhow..we must press onward.
I love lace too but never would try to to fashion any myself. HA~! I would have NO patience for such a thing.
You ARE such a very gifted person in the sewing arts from all I have seen thus far on your sites.
I bought some lace in Belgium ....Europe IS the place for great lace that is forsure.
Thanks!
Joyce

Suzann said...

Heidi,
I love your lace. What a talent!!! I never thought much about lace, but you have caused my wee brain to think about it more and more. The bobbins and knitting needles on display are just lovely. Love that quote too. I'm going to have to jot that one down for reference - I'm sure it would inspire me in some way.
Just LOVE reading your blog Miss Heidi, always such a treat.
Suzann

Rhondi said...

Hi Heidi That lace collar you made is beautiful. It must take a long time to make something like that, but worth every minute.
Thanks for your comment on my thankful Thursday post. I am so sorry for you to hear that your sister died suddenly. My sister and I have said we don't want to think about when one of us dies. Thanks for being my friend "across the pond" as Mary would say. Rhonci xo

Betty said...

Heidi,
Thank you for the sweet comment on our Lucy...she is a ball of energy....we also had a Shitzu, Bandit, who we loved dearly for 12 years....

Blessings to you and yours...Betty

Carolien said...

Hello Heidi,

How sweet of you to display the bobbins of my mother. I think she would enjoy that and would be proud. I have two lace things of her and I cherish them. I love to see your lace work, it's beautiful! (I love to see handmade lace but I hate 'nep' (fake, machine made)lace. How nice you bought the butterfly work in Brugge, town of lace!

Enjoy your fire and hugs, Carolien

Nunnie's Attic said...

Your talents keep surfacing! Thanks for sharing all of them with and inspiring us to work on ours!

Love,
Julie

angelasweby said...

Heidi, I have always loved lace because of it's delicacy and it's ethereal quality. The delicate, intricate patterns woven with fine threads from countless little bobbins always brings to mind scenes of nature and the imagination, spider's webs, snowflakes and fairy's gossamer wings :>)
I found this rather lovely quotation which I'm sure you will like:

"I consider lace to be one of the prettiest imitations ever made of the fantasy of nature; lace always evokes for me those incomparable designs which the branches and leaves of trees embroider across the sky, and I do not think that any invention of the human spirit could have a more graceful or precise origin."
Coco Chanel, April 29, 1939


Hugs, Angela

Ragged Roses said...

Hello Heidi
Do you know I read this post yesterday and only just remembered this evening that I didn't leave a comment as the phone rang and I had to leave the computer. Anyway what I wanted to say was that I love lace too and the lace collar you made is very beautiful, you are very talented
Kimx

Anonymous said...

I think it must take tremendous skill and patience to make such fine lace. I've often seen bobbins at antiques fairs and they're lovely things in their own right.
Margaret and Noreen

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

Wow! You are amazing! I can't even imagine attempted something like that! It is so delicate. Just beautiful!
Hugs,
Penny

Janice said...

Hi Heidi,
I just want to thank you for your sweet comment on my blog. Everything is fine, lots going on and terribly busy. Hopefully I will have time to post on my blog soon. Thank you for caring!
Blessings,
Janice

Solstitches said...

Heidi!
Where have I been to have missed this post???
Sometimes I tend to overlook this blog and wish I knew how to do the feed thing that automatically notifies of new blog entries.
Anyway, I loved this post all about lace. It was nice to admire the lace items that Karolien gave you and the book looks wonderful.
I'm becoming a little obsessed with lace - still can't do it very well but am beginiing to get some understanding.
My next piece will be a square border when I will learn about footside.