Lace motif and a new start

Here is the photo I promised of the lace motif I've just completed:



It's my first ever attempt at Milanese lace, and too nearly a year, despite being exceedingly small... Oh well. This week I plan to start a larger piece of Milanese lace, from the same book (Read and Kincaid, Intro to Milanese Lace) - a lovely swirly sea monster. I've decided to work him in 2 shades of blue/green, which I bought from Pipers Silks at the Christmas Lace Makers fair.

Yesterday I started the birth sampler for Monty (he's about 15 months old now!!). Monty is the second son of my school friend Michaela - we'd not really been in touch much around the time Monty was born, which I guess is why I didn't start anyhting sooner. We met Monty for the first time at Christmas, which reminded me I needed to stitch somehting for one - I did a blackwork wedding sampler for Michaela and Stuart (stitched in dark red - coincidentally the colour of her wedding dress!!), and a birth sampler for Monty's older brother, Toby.

As Michaela and Stuart live in a lovely cottage I felt traditional styles were called for, so I picked out 'Birth Band' by the Drawn Thread for Monty. Here's what I've done so far:


Caroline told me this was a fairly quick project, and boy is it working up quickly - not bad progress for 1/2 a day!! At this rate I'll have it done in about 2 weeks, even alongside other projects! I'm really enjoying the finer count fabric (36 ct Edinburgh linen, antique white) and the silk threads, and as for the speciality stitches - wow!! I've done a few eyelets and smyrna crosses before, usually as called for in a TW, but no satin stitch since I was a little girl, and double back stitch was completely new to me too.. all great fun!

I'm off to London tonight for a couple of days - work related, but I'm staying with my sister, which will be fun - so probably lots of wine drinking and little stitching - but Birth Band will be back in my hands as soon as I return.

I've not thought about goals yet, I'll post some later today, or maybe when I get back.

A Double Happy Dance!!

Well today I've actually managed TWO happy dances!! The first was Sonata - I'd nearly finsihed it yesterday when faigue hit me, so I finished it (last 2 strands) over my lunch break:


Sonata, Abbey Lane Designs, stitched on 32ct platinum cashel with Belle Soie silk 'blue lagoon'

After tea I went to Louise's for our lace night - and put the final stitches into the piece of Milanese lace I've been making for nearly a year (my first ever attempt at Milanese - it's pretty ropey in places). Tomorrow night I'll take the pins out and take a photo, so you'll have to wait for that one!

Fantasy Triptych Progress

Over the last week or so I've been focusing on TW's fantasy Triptych, so I thought I'd share a progress photo:



Last night there was no lace class, so Sonia and Louise came over to mine - we had a good laugh, ate some wonderful Dutch syrup waffles (thanks Sonia!) and made some lace. The Milanese piece I started last week progressed well. I taught myself how to do a 'Meander in Braid', including a turning stitch (new to me) using the book, and we were all impressed with the results. I am intrigued where the pairs go, and think it would be fun to try a short bit using coloured threads to track their progress. Anyway, here is a photo of what I've done so far - not bad considering it's only c.4 hours work and the technique is new to me:



The good news is that I've only snapped 1 thread so far....

Milanese lace

Well I started my new piece last night - it was fun to be something different, although so far I've mostly been doing a cloth stitch trail, so not that exciting. It's using a finer thread that I usually use (100 Brok cotton), and when I got to class 2 pairs which I had winded on ready for the start had already snapped - urrrgh, this doesn't bode well....

I learnt a new way of starting a trail though, and also how to do a blind pin. Best of all, there was some visible progress in just 2 hours... Hopefully next week I'll get some more done and at that point I'll post a picture - it's just a white blob at the moment!!