Lace in Italy

Yes, I had promised my lacemaking friends. My appologize for taking so long but it is not easy to whittle the many photos down to a smaller number. Which photos are most relevant? All those beautiful things we saw. 

My husband James and I started our trip on September 14 by flying to Malta. If you want to read about all our adventures in Italy, feel free to CLICK HERE!

Of course being a bobbinlacer I have heard about Maltese lace. I was on the look-out for lace on this trip. And yes, one little shop in Valetta on Malta had bobbinlace (and other) for sale. They claimed it was handmade. One gentleman in our group tried to tease me "oh yes, made in China" but my answer was that if they had been able to teach the Chinese to bobbinlace than they had done well. The shop lady told me that the lace is being made these days in the next little island Gozo but there was no time to go there.

Every so often in the beautiful churches in the beautiful towns we were visiting had lace on the altar. Here examples.

And then our trip ended in Venice. Our guide knew that I kept looking for lace. Was it chance that we went to the island of Burano and not Murano? The famous glass is made in Murano but Burano is famous for lace. Needlelace to be exact. Not bobbinlace. But I had a course on making needlelace so I learned to admire it even more.

And this is the Lace Museum!

We were asked to put our bags into a locker. Good that we didn't have a schlepp our hats and other stuff around.

The exhibition was fantastic. We were both very impressed. James also liked it. 

The display cases were awesome and worked so well. But here only a few of my photos. So much eye candy. 

And then we came to the class room. Somebody was demonstrating. I could get really close and tried to talk with her but she did not speak any English or German.

I had asked and she did not mind for me to take photos. But it was only a brief moment and then the big boss came and put a rope up for me to stay outside. He also did not speak English or German. What a shame. I had plenty of questions. 

In this area next to the demonstrator was a different kind of exhibition. Modern lace in different techniques and from different countries. It looked like it had been a competition of some sort. Here also only a few examples. 

You can only look at so many things like this until you are on overload. And we didn't know how long it would take us to be were we were supposed to be for lunch with the group.

Right across from the museum was the cathedral with the leaning tower. We had a little time left and decided to go in. Yes, of course, more lace.

Do you see the vase with the white flowers in the middle of the altar?

Those are all 3D lace flowers. 

It was so much fun to walk criss-cross around the island. So colorful.

Well, and there was even a lace shop. Do I really need another lace pillow? I refrained. 

At the lunch place James and I sat opposite. He had a view of ....

... a lacemaker behind me.

Every day was a wonderful day but this day was "kinda special" for Christa. 

If you would like to see more about this Italy trip, click on the Main blog tab on the top and there on the Travel Report tab on the top. 

And I appreciate if you leave a comment (or critic).

WE quilters

Today (well, this was now a few days ago, sigh) was our November meeting. I was able to sew and share two quilt tops from the September pattern donated blocks. 

I sewed the first random stars one first. That was a bit of a challenge and took more time than it should have. Reason: I didn't have a pattern. Because of that I had to take some blocks apart. I am determent to write a better "lay-out" and do it again. 

I also had way more blogs without stars. The second top went quite fast together. There are three blocks across in each row and a strip of single squares down on each side. And a single square row on the bottom to make the size close to 48 inches x 60 inches. This is our preferred charity quilt size.

The first quilt top done with the BOM blocks donated in November. I think it definitely will please a man receiving it.

I hope you like seeing the results of the BOM effort of our group. I do enjoy it! Thanks to all.

Computer programs can be frustrating

On all three of my blogs I sometimes share a file, especially Chrismon patterns or quilt/lace patterns. I upload all PDFs as "anybody with the link can see it" and that is how I add the link into the blogs. You click on it and the PDF opens.

For about 3 years now every so often somebody sends a share request to me because the file will not open. I am sure that is frustrating for those who want to have a look. Sometimes it takes a while for me to answer especially if I am out of the country and without internet. I am trying my best to make everybody happy.

Yesterday I spent some time googling to find a solution. I found one expert site where the question had been asked three years ago and the comments are still going strong. Nobody knows how to fix it. Everybody is of the unanimous opinion that it is a bug in the system and Microsoft doesn't care to fix it. 

So, if you can't open one of my files but would like to do so, please write that share request and I will try my best.

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Several years ago I also had a feature on the side of the blog that you could select to "subscribe". Blogger decided some time ago to not make that available any longer. I did find another way for that again recently because I don't often like to post a new blog on FaceBook. Unfortunately though I have seen that it only alerts you by sending you the link (which is fine) but not the whole blog. Well, one more click should be ok. There is advertising though in that email which you most likely want to ignore. Sorry.

After you added your email address you receive an email and need to accept (a step so you are not put on a mailing list by strangers). I will not know who is subscribing. 

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Best wishes to you all - Christa

PS: I am always very happy if a reader leaves a comment on the bottom. If you do it unanimously, please let me know who you are at the bottom.

 

BOM

I think I should write an update about the 'done' WE Quilt Group BOM. Here is the last one.

The August 2022 pattern was "A Friendship Star"

The first pieced quilt top shown at the September meeting.

The next pieced quilt top from these patterns shown at the October meeting.

The September 2022 pattern was "Oh my Stars"

I was traveling in September and could not be at the meeting. Nancy was so nice and did my job for me to present all to the group. It was also decided to use the same pattern for the next month as well so there would be more blocks. 

And here is the first lay-out on my design wall from those blocks.

The November 2022 pattern was the "Nine-patch with Cross-bars"

The meeting is in a few days. We will see whether this pattern will be a success.

All the BOM patterns are now as PDFs on this blog. Just click on the tab on the very top.

A WIN

It's more than a year ago but I thought I still should record it. And it was a learning process.

Sometimes I find the time to participate in the Quilt Block Lottery. I wrote about it HERE. Yes, I submitted 2 blocks to the June 2021 lottery. 

I could hardly believe it. I won 34 blocks.

The next two photos are from August 2021. And yes, I learned a lot how to arrange blocks. Here are two different ways!

It was fun to participate, fun to win, and fun to make these charity quilts out of the winnings. I really should participate more often. It is fun even if you are not winning.