Festival of Trees & Traditions

Coming up on Thursday, Dec 2, 2010  will be the kick off of the Festival of Trees & Traditions.  Mark you calendar if you wish to bid on the NELG's Tree. 

This is long time event of the Wadsworth Atheneum.  Many organizations decorate and donate a tree to the festival to be auctioned off.

NELG was asked if we would donate a tree.  We had done a tree for another organization the year before.  This year, with the request from the Atheneum, we decided that we will produce a tree for their event.

If you love lace, then you'll love our tree.  It's about 4ft and decorated with hand made lace edged fans.  We have recieved great applause for this work and it is amazing!  I've submitted two pieces of lace to date.  I'm in the middle of making another piece.

If you are a lace maker - get your lace completed and to Mary.  Check NELG website for additional information.

Hope to see you at the Festival!

Demonstrating making Lace

So mark your calendars.  October 16th we will be at Webs in Northhampton MA and on November 6th & 7th we will be at the Fiber Festival at the Big E grounds.

Why demonstrate?  First of all I find it fun.  Most of all, it is showing the public what bobbin lace is, a bit of it's history, and that almost anyone can make the lace.

Each of us (demonstrators) make it different.  Some of us bring exhibits, some bring pillows the public can work, some just bring a current pillow project.  There is not one way to do it. 

I found that by watching the crowd around you then you 'invite' them to come closer and see.  I have also found that having a name tag helps you look a bit more approachable.

There was an experience that came to my attention just recently.  Unfortunately, there wasn't enough information given to the demonstrator about the "set up time".  She had traveled some distance, arrived before the 'open' time, yet it was after the cut-off time for the use of the carts.  Without the carts, it was too difficult for her to move her display.  Unfortunately, the lace maker left without demonstrating.  It was a loss for her and a loss for all the patrons at the event.

Let's work on our information about demonstrating, get it out early, and have really successful days in the public!

NELG Meeting

Last weekend was the first gathering of the New England Lace Group since the summer vacation and the first meeting of the new year.  We met at the Joshua Hyde Public Library in Sturbridge. 

Business meeting was first.  We reviewed the past year's financials and the current year's budget, brillantly done by our treasurer, Winann.  Our vice president, Carolyn W,  outlined the programs to be held during the next couple of months and a few surprises for next year.  We congratulated the Big E winners and noted the upcoming themes for 2011 and 2012.  Our president, Jill, indicated that the nominations committee should get underway for next year's canidates as president and member-at-large will be open positions.  We discussed opportunities to demonstrate at a new venue this coming fall at the Eastern States Exposition - the Fiber Festival along with other events.  All said - we closed the meeting to get on to our program.

Carolyn W prepared a great presentation on the needle lace Alençon.  When we were at Rhode Island School of Design, we were able to see Napoleon's bed spread.  This was truly a treat and we were all impressed with the small bees that were decorated the spread.  She gave us a bit of history of Napoleon and the creation of the bed set.  Look for a future article in the publication Piecework Magazine. 

We all began with a sampler.  This will be my first attempt at needle lace - errrrrrr.  For beginners, it is made with a pattern that is stiched to a cloth backing to give it some strength.  Then the outlines are made with several strands of the thread you will be using and will be 'couched' down on the pattern.  There is a method to it all, like using a different colored thread to do the couching! Then the real work begins, you begin to make the stitches.  We are using a small darning needle and plain old sewing thread.  I'll put up pictures once I get a bit done. 

Over all, we had a great time.  Next month we will be demonstrating at Webs Yarn in Northhampton, MA from 11am to 2pm  - Join us on October 16th!

Demo at the Big E

It was Connecticut Day at the Big E and according the staff, one of the largest attendance days.  Go CT!

I choose the day as it's in the middle of the week, and I like to see the parade.  There are lots of CT related high school bands, the Governor and her Foot Guard, the State Police, fife and drum and lots of others.  The end of the parade was the Budweiser Clydesdales and the Hallamore Clydesdales each with a eight-horse hitch.   So amazing the size and strength of these gentle giants.

In the morning, traffic was bruttle and took me almost 90 minutes to go 34 miles!  Gate 1 is where the one day volunteers, vendors, and performers get to park.  It is so nice, it is right next to the back gate making it easy to bring in my lace making gear.

The New England Building / Creative Arts is where we get to set up.  Actually we don't really have a space, we set up in the aisle. It would be nice if we had a 'real' space we could set up in (hmm idea for next year).  Linda (fellow lacemaker) met me there and we set up our space so the patrons of the fair could learn about lace.  I met Linda at the fair last year and helped her rekindle her love for lace making.

Before you know it, the building opens with a raising of the flag, accompanied by a group of fife and drum musicians.  It is fun to watch the patrons go by, some are outright curious and come up and declare that I'm tatting (lol) and others are too shy unless you invite them over to see what we are doing. Time goes so quickly, some where around three and a half hours into it, I could feel my voice getting scratchy.  We handed out lots of NELG flyers to interested folks and may come up we a few more members!

I must say - it was a successful day.  Many for folks learned a little more about bobbin lace.

Ladies and Gentleman and all those fiber enthusiasts ...  the list is now available -

This year's winners at the Big E for Lace have been selected!  Congratulations to everyone.

Big E opened today - and will run until October 3rd.  Stop by the Creative Arts Building and see our display.  If you are there on Wednesday, I'll be demonstrating.  I feel so inspired.

The link above will take you to the pdf list - here a quick list.  Once again, good job to all. 
Department 4 - Lace
Section A - Bobbin - Original


Class 2 - Non-Instructors
1st Wolf, Bryce M.

Section B - Bobbin - Adaptation

Class 1 - Instructors/Professionals
1st Hawkins, Jill
1st Hawkins, Jill
1st Hawkins, Jill
1st Schick, Doris

Class 2 - Non-Instructors
1st Karwarski, Frances
1st Karwarski, Frances
1st MacLean, Gail A.
1st MacLean, Gail A.
1st Provest, Barbara
1st Sacco, Sharon
1st Wolf, Bryce M.
2nd Bouchard, Nancy
2nd Bouchard, Nancy
2nd Denette, Lynn
2nd Provest, Barbara
2nd Sacco, Sharon
3rd Denette, Lynn
3rd Linden, Mary
3rd Steinmetz, Winann D.
4th Bares, Rosalie P.
4th Morrow, Barbara

Class 3 - Youth
1st Miller, Jacquelyn P.
1st Schyberg, Orion
2nd Figuenoa, Tatyana
2nd Schyberg, Aurora M.
3rd Miller, Jacquelyn P.
3rd Peterson, Gabrielle

Section D - Needle - Adaptation

Class 2 - Non-Instructors
1st Linden, Mary

Section E - Combined - Original

Class 2 - Non-Instructors
3rd Coleman, Jim

Section F - Combined - Adaptation

Class 2 - Non-Instructors
1st Wolf, Bryce M.

Section G - Tatting - Original

Class 2 - Non-Instructors
1st  Perrault, Linda


Special Awards

Class 1 - Best of Division - Adult
1st Schick, Doris

Class 2 - New England Lace Group
 Best Technical Proficiency
1st  Schick, Doris

Class 3 - New England Lace Group
 Best Beginner
1st Schyberg, Orion

Class 4 - New England Lace Group Award
Best Original Design
1st Wolf, Bryce M.

Class 6 - NELG of Connecticut Award
 Best use of color in any lace
1st Linden, Mary
1st Linden, Mary

Class 7 - Lace Bobbins by Chris Parsons Award
Best Continuous Lace
1st MacLean, Gail A.
Class 9 - Lacy Susan Award
Best Use of Color in Any Lace
1st Wolf, Bryce M.

Class 12 - Van Sciver Bobbon Lace
Best Buck Point Lace
1st Hawkins, Jill

Class 13 - Bobbins by Van-Dieren
Best Torchon Lace
1st Sacco, Sharon

Class 14 - Best of Division - Youth
1st Schyberg, Orion

Kascare.org - Squares for Children

I received this email today and I am still so excited!  Can you imagine! 

Hello Patty: Wow, one of my friends has thirty made, and still going. She is using up every bit of yarn she has left over from her projects, awesome - another has at least 10, I have 6, waiting to hear from the other two. When I get the 30+, I will check in with you and find out when you will be at the Library and get these down to you. Again, everyone is doing simple stitches, not being too creative, just wanting to help the cause.

See ya, Dori

The lady with thirty made - wow - I'd love to use up lots of my scraps too!  I better get upstairs and continue my square!

KasCare - Colors of South Africa

I received a great question, what are the colors of the South African Flag?

So here it is, the red, white and blue date back before Nelson Mandella became president in 1994.  The black gold and green are representative of the South African people.

Wikipedia has a nice write up regarding the history of the flags of this country.  It also contains the proper flag etiquette. 

If you'd like to use these colors, please be respectful on their presentation.

CT Lace Group Meets - We are Artists!

We had a lovely meeting last Saturday at Boo's home.  Surprisingly it was Labor Day weekend and we had over 14 of us partake in the name of making lace, conversing and enjoying company.

Boo and her husband and two children were the greatest hosts.  As we do, we organize the lunch as a 'bring a dish' as requested by our hostess.  This time, I brought a cheese tray. 

It's not a regular meeting for NELG, more so it is a chance for us to gather for a few hours of making lace or some other fiber interest.  I took the opportunity to get some ideas about a flyer that came across my desk from the Hartford Public Library.  It is their call for Artists for the ArtWalk.  I spoke with Mary and Marian of HPL about the project.  Generally it appears that they only want one artist.  With reading the outline, maybe several artists(lace makers) would be within the confines of artists they would be interested in.

I thought it might be a good project if the group thought so.   I received good feedback.  I'd be looking for already completed works, antique works that inspired current work.   Once I get a chance to talk with our President and her thoughts, I'll be back to the Library to find out about if they would accept an exhibit with more than one artist? 

Either way, it would be a way to get our work out into a larger space and educate the public about lace making.  It would allow us to have an exhibit that could be posted in various libraries and exhibition spaces.

Big E - Your Entry

Is you lace entry ready?  Contact nelginfo@gmail.com .  We have a group from Massachusettes and Connecticut bringing up the entries!

The Big E's judging day is September 13th!!  Opening Day is Friday September 17th 8am to 10pm!

NELG's members will be present most days - Find us in the New England Center.  Stop by and see Cross / Twist and you too will be making lace!

Squares for Kids

Just a quick note on the squares.  My emails have been paying off.  My list of volunteers are growing, lots of squares, several are postage contributors, and one is a monthly contributor to KasCare.  You can see our numbers grow on KasCare Org - Pledges.

My square is almost finished.  I'll be entering it into the JoAnn's Craft for a Cause and make my vote for KasCare - Knit a Square.