More Bobbin Lace

Slowly I've been making progress on learning a bit about bobbin lace.  As you see, I now have a plentiful supply of beautiful bobbins.  I still have a few to add spangles to, but I have enough done to work on most of the beginner projects now.  Spangles are mostly beads that are added to give some weight to the bobbins as well as keep them from rolling around on the pillow.  In the first picture you see that the bobbins all have thread wound on them and are attached to the pattern. 

 In the next picture it is easier to see the pattern because the bobbins are out of the way.  I poke a little hole in each dot to make it easier to find the right spot when I am working.  The first couple of lines are finished.

 Now the pattern is beginning to be visible.  I can take out some of the first pins I use and move them down to the area where I am working and the lace will still stay in place.

 Now the pattern is complete.  It just needs to be finished.

 Once all the threads are worked to the center you can use some of the outer threads to tie it all off.

 Here is the completed bookmark.

Grandchildren - part 3

This week has been busy with even more grandchildren and things to do.  One of our daughters has been craving a trip to Maddox for their delicious food.  When we looked on their website, we found that kids can eat for 99¢ on Tuesdays, so that decided us on which day to head that direction. By the time others heard of our plan we had a group of 13.  With our group including a number of lively children they were wise to seat us in a private room.  Much to the delight of several of the Angelina Ballerina wannabes the wall of the room was a giant mirror.  While they waited for their dinners, they danced in front of the mirror.

The very next night four more cousins arrived with their parents.  Some of the cousins hadn't met  yet, so the last few days has been a great time of getting to know each other.  The next morning the newly arrived cousins decided to visit the AWHC.  One of their most popular activities was throwing tomahawks at some stumps and writing their names with the quill pens.  Of course they also rode the ponies and the train and visited the woodwright shop.

It was hot that day, so it felt good to go on up the canyon to spend the night at the cabin. They weren't there long before almost everyone migrated down to the creek to play and cool off.

The 'thinkers' watched from the nearby wall.

By the time we got home the next day it was sweltering hot again.  With so many kids going in and out and leaving doors open the air conditioner decided to ice up so more water play was in order.

Saturday was the long-awaited family picture day.  We had about a three hour window when everyone in the family would actually be in the same location, so we had professional family pictures taken and are looking forward to seeing them soon.  After the picture taken at a nearby botanical garden 30 of us adjourned to the nearby Golden Corral for lunch.  They took one look at our group and kindly invited us to use a private room which we enjoyed.  Everyone found something good to eat and we had plenty of space to wander around and visit with each other.

Did you know they had all you can eat cotton candy this summer?

This afternoon the kids all discovered the dress up box again. All eight kids who are here from age 2 to 15 participated, giving us a most amazing fashion show.

We have been enjoying having them all here to spend time with us.   The house will seem so quiet when they all return to their own homes!

Grandchildren - part 2

The second wave of grandchildren has arrived!  There are 4 of them this time.  Of course, we took them to the farm as they wanted to ride ponies and the train.  It was a hot, hot, hot day when we were there, so by the end of the day, they were quite enthusiastic about running through the nearby sprinkler.  I am not sure pioneers had sprinklers, but if they had had them, I bet they would have done the same on a hot day.

One of the other pioneers commented that one of those dresses looked the same as a dress that came to the farm recently, but it was on a different little girl.  I keep a couple of tubs of appropriate clothing in various sizes in hopes of having things that will fit when kids come to visit.

Two of the girls figured out how to work together well enough to use the 2 man saw with the help of someone to steady the log.

When they visited with the mountain men, they got to use a real quill to write their names.  They were pretty proud of their work.

 Today we had 7 cousins in the house.  We had 2 boys and lots of princesses.

Next week there will be 4 more cousins to play with.

Bobbin Lace and Bobbin Making

I guess everyone has some sort of 'bucket list' these days.  Mine is not written down, but there are a few things I have always wished I could do.  One of my items is to learn about my great-grandmother, Euphemia Jane Carter Freeman, and her occupation as a lace maker.  She was born in the little village of Blisworth, England, where her father was a legger on the canal. In her personal history written by her daughter it said:

Mother's school life was short.  In those days school masters or teachers were allowed to reprimand the children severely.  The children sat on backless benches in a row.  One day the teacher was called from the room, and the children played and ran about.  On his return he heard the noise and took his anger out on the first one on the bench.  Mother was innocent but she received the thrashing.  She begged and pleaded with her mother not to send her back to school, so she did not return.  Instead she went to  a 'lace school' to learn to make lace.  The lace made at the school was purchased, usually by the people who had money -- the nobility chiefly.  This was a private school and the owner was the teacher. At this lace school the children would stay while the teacher would have her afternoon nap.  Again, Mother attended to her work and finished the required yardage and went home while the others who played and pouted had to remain longer to finish their work."

"One pattern, remembered by Mother after many years was brought home by Irene (a granddaughter) on her return home from her mission in England.  Mother exclaimed, 'I used to do that pattern as a young girl!'  It was called The Running River."

She started lace school at the age of eight and by the age of twelve she was working as a servant, so her years of schooling were very short.  I don't know if she continued her lace making after age twelve or not, but I suspect she did as it was very common in the village of Olney, where she lived with her husband, for the women to supplement the family income with lace making.

Maybe ten years ago I happened upon a bobbin lace making kit which I purchased, only to be completely baffled by the instructions.  It ended up in my basement storeroom.

Recently I had an opportunity to learn a little about how bobbin lace works from a real person instead of a sheet of confusing instructions, so I brought out the old kit from the basement to see what I could do.  I am very much a beginner so it is slow going with lots of mistakes for now, but I can begin to see the possibilities.

One thing I found out is that the bobbins which came with my kit are huge!  This is where the woodworker came in and said the proper size bobbins looked easy enough to make.  He got excited about making them out of various kinds of exotic woods. 

That is a piece of Bocote wood.  It looks much too big and square to be a delicate lace bobbin.

It is getting much thinning and closer to the proper size now.

I think it will be no time at all until I have a lovely variety of proper bobbins to use.  Next I need to make a lace pillow.

The two bobbins on the left came from Olney, the town where my great-grandmother lived until she emigrated to America.  They are decorated with beads as was the custom there to give extra weight to the bobbins.  The five on the right were all made by the woodworker.  I think he loves an excuse to fire up his lathe.  He is already looking through his wood stash for more fancy woods to make bobbins from.  Pretty soon my bobbin collection will have as many wood varieties as my rolling pin collection.

Grandkids - part 1

None of our children live close enough to visit on a regular basis, so we are excited this summer that many of them will be coming to see us!  In fact, round 1 has already begun.  These kids were 'homeless' for a week between the sale of their old home and closing on their new home in another state.  During our few days together we managed to find some time for fun.  They played on the slip 'n slide and ate Aggie ice cream.  We even took Garrett and Julia to see 'Brave'. Julia is pretty sure it is the movie about her.  After all, the heroine has 'messy, red hair'  just like Julia.  In fact, when I asked her the name of the movie, she said, "Julia".  The older two children came with us to spend a day at the historical farm where we volunteer.

I thought they might get bored, but they spent the day talking to visitors, playing pioneer games, hunting for snakes, eating pioneer food, sawing wood with a 2 man saw, hauling water, panning for gold, throwing tomahawks with the mountain men and riding ponies.  They were far too busy to get bored.

Since our yard is not fenced poor Murphy could not run free, so he required lots of walks.  Fortunately, Garrett was quite willing to help him with that.

Aubrey was not here as much as the other kids since she had to go with her mother to close on their house and other important errands, but during her time here she greatly enjoyed finding different toys and practicing her new skill of walking.  Sadly for us, she also wanted to practice her climbing skills so kept us on our toes.

We saw them off to their new home in another state on Saturday morning and hope they will be happy there!