Here we are at another Wednesday and I have found more hidden treasures and have another confession to make......
I was once a bobbin lace maker.....and here is the proof.
There is a completed butterfly body underneath the cloth and it has been left half way through making one of the wings.....only problem is it has got all twisted and knotted up and I can't remember how to get going again. I can see hours of sorting going on here.
My other lace cushion had a lace mat in the making but this is how I have found my bobbins! I have had to cut these loose and think the only way to solve this one is to undo them and start again.
Several hours later and I have cut free and removed the thread from all 112 bobbins. Don't you just love all those fab beads?
Some of the bobbins are just run of the mill ones but some of them are engraved and are made of the most tactile wood and have come back out like old friends.....here are a few of my favourites. One has our wedding date on it and two have our daughters births on them.....Yes I did bobbin lace when my two girls were babies and before their brother was born!!!!!
When? How?....answers on a post card please :-)
The other thing Jo and I have been doing this week is to sort out boxes of old photos and here are some of my favourites...
Don't you just love old black and white photos?.....I know I do.
The other thing I wanted to show you this week is this....
Living opposite the church as I do [at the mo] I see all sorts of coming and going and this week I was treated to this gorgeous funeral carriage. I didn't know the gentleman that had died but what a way to go eh?
I hope you have enjoyed calling by today. If you leave me a little hello comment I will do my best to pay you a return visit....but if I fail please forgive me cos my every waking hour is spent with sorting, clearing out and getting ready for moving house.....when we get a buyer. [The viewing we had on Saturday went very well and the young couple really loved our house and plan to put an offer in when they have sold theirs. :-) ].
Hugs,
Annie x
41 comments:
OMG! Love the bobbins! I would have to weigh how long to redo the wing or untangle the threads and it looks like you chose what I would have! I have a couple 'candy boxes' full of old B+W pictures I really need to go through and put names etc on so people will know when I am gone...just not enough days in the week. Thanks for sharing. Have a great week. Vickie #1
Hi Annie, what a lovely post today, those bobbins are absolutely gorgeous - I so admire you being able to do lace like that. Love your photos too, it is so lovely that you can reminisce with Jo. It certainly is a beautiful funeral carriage. Happy WOYWW, Anne x #23
Love the bobbins...I'd be happy with a display of them so I could just admire the beads....I simply do not have sufficient patience to actually make the stuff!!
Ad old photos always look identical don't they? I swear we've got exactly the same as the bottom right one of yours! I had to look twice :)
And yes, if you've gotta go, then do it in style!
Hugs, LLJ 36 xxx
Gorgeous bobbins but did you have to put my topless photo on your blog?! x Jo
I really enjoyed your post today Annie it was like a miniature magazine. Did my old black and white pics set Jo off I wonder. Have a lovely week.
Lynn xx
KIKKI says hello x
What a trip down memory lane you are having in the process of selling your home. Those bobbins are superb but it really knots me up to think of lace making. That and tatting were the only things I couldn't cope with when I studied textiles. I had to do a module for each and I did it successfully but it really stressed me and knotted me up in both mind and body.
Lovely old family pics too... you'll have to scrapbook with them. Such treasures.
Jo x
Would love a go at lace making but it looks so complicated. Was talking to a lady at a recent craft show who was demonstrating it and she assured me it wasn't, said it was just a couple of basic stitches, mmmm, not so sure.
Hope the house sale goes through, hold my hands up to having a snoop round via your estate agents, what a fabulous garden. Jozart's is right about the photos, need to scrapbook them. I have a box full, some of people I don't even know (my late Mums family) from the '30s, must do something with them.
Thanks for visiting already.
Ann B
26
Is there no end to your talent, Annie. I don't envy you sorting out all those bobbins through.
You need to get those beautiful photos scrapbooked for all your lovely family so that they know who they all are. I've been nattering my MIL to do hers as she has so many and knows some wonderful stories that we don't and it'll all be lost one day if they are not recorded, such a shame.
Good Luck with all the house move stuff.
Happy WOYWW
Hugs Lisax #59
Is there anything you can't/haven't done!! Love the bobbins. Agree about black and white photos - very atmospheric, always. Have a good week. Helen, 11
Priceless treasures those bobbins, and such beauties! Is there no end to your talent? I do hope you manage to do the other butterfly wing some time, I would love to see it. If not can we just see the half please?
Oh Annie, I do not envy you all that packing and sorting but what a lot of treasures you are finding along the way. Lovely photographs. Maybe I should start trying to cut back ready for very old age if nothing else. (emphasis on the VERY)
Thanks for your earlier visit = Hugs, Neet xx 16
Fascinating seeing the bobbins and great photos too. Lots of lovely tradition there x
WOYWW Heather #46
I'm another ex-lacemaker and I think I've got something half-finished still on the pillow. I liked the bobbins best too!
Wow, I had a go at lace making a long time ago, you must keep it up. Love the photos and the hearse picture. They often pass by my window too. Happy WOYWW
Oh WOW Annie! And more WOW!!
The bobbins are a lovely sight and the first I have seen on blogger land, other than my own. Sorting out messes is one of my favourite past times! Yes honestly! It is the achievement factor.
As for the funeral carriage, that is the way I want to go - on a Tuesday through Abergavenny - yes, Market Day!!
Thanks for the treats today. A feast for my sore eye indeed!
Hugs
xx
Hi Annie, no desk from me today as I know I won’t have time to get round to people this week.
Bobbing lace is something that’s I’ve always wanted to have a go at and when I was a lot younger I brought one of those DRAD (think that’s the name) starter kits. It was so difficult to get to grips with so I just gave up but I wish I had stuck with it and gone to classes or something.
Loving the old photos, will have you scrapbooking yet!
Happy Crafting!
Sue
x
haha lovely pic of you Jo :D
Gosh Annie, you have had a trip down memory lane haven't you. I admire anyone who makes bobbin lace!!! Someone tried to teach me but I was all fingers & thumbs with it. I hope you get them untangled soon so that you can finish your butterfly. So...lots of oo's and aaahhh's from me today my lovely, HUGS xxx
what a lovely blog today with lots of very interesting things you've shared with us. I love looking at old photo's . Have a good day Jill #30
Happy WOYWW. Bobbin lace making. My older sister does that - and was given all the bobbins/pillow etc by an elderly cousin. I looked into it last year and was shocked to see how expensive it all was! Amazing carriage and horses. What a grand way to go. Ali x #34, with Candy
That carriage requires a jazz band. Love the lace making bobbins. Was taught that as a child though never followed it up.
Monica #84
Hi annie - those bobbins are spectacular! I would never have the patience for lace-making, and think I owuld get very tangled up!
happy woyww
Debs #95
Wow! I really admire anyone who has made bobbin lace! So intricate and a minor feat of thread engineering. And those photos. I've just been on a visit to my sister in Scotland and spent a few evenings laughing crying and giggling at a selection of these. Mind I do think they were certainly kinder than the colour ones of today!
Oh my, you really are unearthing some treasures, aren't you? I love the bobbins, and had no idea that they were so pretty or had stuff on them... I would have to make a display with them if I wasn't planning on using them again...
I love old photos too, have ended up acquiring most of my families and hubbies too!
Love the funeral carriage, that is a wonderful send off!!
I take my hat off to anyone that does lace making as it looks so difficult but so amazing. What a shame they all got twisted like that resulting in you having to cut them all free. I would love to see some of your finished lace.
As you say what a send off that looks beautiful
Happy WOYWW
Ria 60
What a great post ...brought back memories to me . My late husbands Aunt dabbled and I remember seeing her cushions with the bobbins dangling. Then, as a gift he had a go at turning some on a tiny lathe and I beaded them.
Now that funeral carrage is the way I'd love to go. xx
Hi Annie - I just love that collection of bobbins. Lace-making has always been on my list of things to learn, so I envy you knowing how to. There are just so many things to try though, aren't there? I've got a stash of old family pics and want to frame them all, to go down my newly decorated stair wall but it's on a list with so many other to-do's! I look forward to seeing the lace progress. Have a great week, Chris x
What beautiful bobbins - so pretty. I'd love to be able to make lace but it's one thing I've not done...yet. Happy WOYWW! Karen 123 x
My Gran used to do bobbin lace and I spent many hours sat helping her to do it. She added beautiful lace to my wedding veil and made my Christening robes as well. Those bobbins are gorgeous. Thanks for sharing. Have a Happy WOYWW. Caro x #61
I remember watching lace making at a museum once. I must have been about 7 years old and stood mesmerized!!
Happy WOYWW
Laura
:)
68
That collection of bobbins just about rivals mine Annie. Most of mine (56 pairs I think), are attached to a fan on my cushion, but I haven't progressed beyond the starting band yet! The Spanish love our spangled bobbins, and they cause quite a stir when we work with them at a lace day. (I occasionally go to one with a friend and usually we are the only two English folk there). Spanish bobbins are plain, fatter, and are not spangled. - very boring. Also they work them differently, holding them from underneath instead of over the top like we do.
I didn't make it to the Wednesday blog hop this week, but I am trying to fit in a few comments anyway.
Take care of those gorgeous photos. Sadly, when we sold our house, I sorted all mine into 'keep' or 'throw' and one box ended up in the wrong pile, so I have lost some precious memories.
Love Kate x
Hi Annie great to see all the bobbins on a blog... I am a lapsed lace maker too... nothing left on my pillows now though, the last thing I made was a garter for DD1 18 months ago.. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it, but sadly no time at the present.
Love the old photos too
janet #19
Beautiful bobbins Annie. You are one very talented lady - lace maker as well eh?
My wedding photos are black and white. Used to wish we'd had colour ( couldn't afford it at the time as colour ones were relatively new) but I love them as they are now. Happy WOYWW Anne x #137
Your bobbins are gorgeous. Who'd have guessed moving could bring out such lovelies - the funeral carriage is a very elegant way to go. Good luck with your viewing x
fab photos Annie, and wow those bobbins...amazing!
What a fabulous craft to make lace like that. The bobbins are beautiful in their own right but it was such a shame you had to cut them apart!!!
I have a ton of old black and whites...just trying to get the B&W tones all the same before I scrapbook them...some are greyish, some are brownish, some are true black...ugggh
Scrappymo #32
What a wondeful post - your bobbins are really beautiful! Lace making is quite a tradition in our country but I have never got up to it - ha, ha I think there is still time to learn! Nowadays you rarely see a funeral carriage! But I guess it is the best way to go!
Lots of hugs,
Cardarian
Oh Annie, you are amazing..
I guess you made me aware of the fact I won't have enough time to move ever again if I have to do sorting.
Bobbins are lovely, pictures are treasures and the coffin, heavenly.
Answer your question of doing so much with the children so little, We were young, we could conquer it all.
Have fun, enjoy your week
Hi Annie,
I love all those bobbins. How special to have some carved with your wedding date and the date of your girls' births.
Also, the old photographs are so special. I love black and white photos, especially those that have the white edge around them.
The carriage is stunning. Good luck with the sale. I'm going through the same thing and I'm finding it hard to keep the house picked up (crafting supplies, you know).
Thanks for visiting me already!!
Happy WOYWW
Kay (108)
I had a go at bobbin lace making years ago, i loved it but wasnot that good at getting the tension right. Id love to see the butterfly and i hope you get it un knotted again.
Gill x
Wow amazing bobbins wow you are so full of talent. Do you think you will take it up again when you move? Let's hope they sell there house quick and make an offer. Have you seen anything you like? I can imagine the time it's taking to sort out especially if you are finding lots of treasures like this. All this time I have been taking I have managed to learn crochet and make some flowers. Happy woyww :-) hugs Kezzy xxx
I was looking at all your pics and then got sidetracked by the pic of all you sweet little grandbabies!!! You are so lucky Gwamma! Happy WOYWW!
That funeral carriage took me right back to my grandfather. He was an old fashioned undertaker, and although he did not have his own hears and horses he did use them for his funerals before motorised hearses came into use. He made all his own coffins, and I always remember the smell of all the coffin wood stacked in the entry while it was seasoning. Then it went down to the cellar. The one family photos I regret losing is one of Grandad standing at the head of the procession to walk it out, in his top hat, with the beautiful plumes on the horses' heads. Have fun with all your photos. xx Maggie #9
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