Gidday Vivienne and all, <<the people on this soap box have never seen the mat, second it is quite <<boring, third they couldn't do it and finally the only thing that excites people is <<the number of bobbins!
As someone planning to make Miss Marple's Bathmat very soon (VBG) I have to disagree. Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but whilst you personally may find it a boring piece, I consider it to be 1) very pretty and 2) a challenge. Whilst the individual components of the mat may not themselves be extremely difficult, the challenge lies in negotiating and handling such a huge amount of bobbins whilst at the same time concentrating on making the lace tension even and getting a great end product. I will be very proud of myself if I can do this - to me it is the ultimate Floral Bucks challenge, perhaps because no one else has come up with something as large & complex? so this is all we have to aim at. I think that the experience of making this piece of lace will make me better at understanding the intricacies of floral point ground work, and give me more confidence to design complex pieces myself. I think this is a good thing - perhaps if more of us made the mat, there would be more lacemakers with the skills to design similar-in-complexity/size lace designs produced. There currently isn't a lot to choose from is there (well not that I've come across). As far as "they couldn't do it", well discussions over the last few days have shown that there are many lacemakers that like to do exactly what lace tutors tell them they can't! There you go everyone - take up Vivienne's challenge and prove that we all CAN do it (provided someone can get around all this copyright stuff!). One day we can have a Bathmat Display. Michelle Long an Aussie living in South Africa (who was was lucky enough to buy my Ruth Bean pricking a few years ago when there were still copies available) Getting back to my packing now.........how can there be so much stuff to fit in two suitcases (more craft things and presents for teenage children than clothes at the moment) Ian & Chelle Long +27 35 788 0777 - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
