I have just returned from two wonderful, though rather, cold weeks in England. Those were two weeks with lots of lace in them.
I arrived in London and headed off to Thame for the lace day my friend Maggie organized for the 10th year at the St. Mary's Church . The church hall was really packed. If I'm not mistaken there were about 170 lacemakers taking part. Not all were at their pillows, some were embroidering others making needle lace but everybody was busy. I had the good chance of being seated at the same table with Cathy Barley and Margaret Tite, which made the day go by too quickly. I enjoyed every minute of the day seeing lace and talking to people.
I stayed in Thame for a whole week, and though Maggie couldn't take time off from work , I wasn't bored for one minute. One afternoon I was entertained by a friend who took me to her home and showed me the lovely lace she is making. On another evening we went together to the Isis lacemakers. One day I just went by bus to Oxford and took a long walk . I always like going there. Another I went to Ayelsbury, there was always something to do.
But the main reason for my going to England at this time of year (too cold for my liking) was that I registered for a Honiton course at Dartington , Devon. Dartington House is a very old building dating to the 13th-14th century (if I got all my dates right). It has beautiful gardens all around it. Flowers were just popping out though the trees were still quite barren but also beautiful. A morning or afternoon stroll through them gave enough energy to settle down to serious lacemaking.. Lace work was quite intensive and most lacemakers worked from 9 am to 9 pm with the usual breaks for tea and meals. There were two classes one in Honiton with Caroline Biggins and the other mixed laces with Patricia Bury.(Binche, Flanders, Russian Bucks etc.)
I chose a design by Barry Biggins of a rose which I made in light yellow silk with green leaves. I managed to complete the flower and one leaf and have two more to do now. If I can trust our weatherman we'll have rain over the week end which should give me enough time to finish this project and move on. Everybody was very interested in the fact that I'm using colour and came to check out the results. Most agreeing that it looks beautifull (or they just didn't want to ambarass me by saying something else). Tricia Bury, who doesn't really like colour in lace came daily to check out how I'm doing.
Friday noon we broke up with a big good bye of "see you in Prague".
My next stop on this trip was a visit to Angela Thompson. I arrived at the Totnes train station an hour too early but could get a train to Worcester. Trouble was I had to change at Cheltenham Spa and wait there for an hour. The waiting area was so filthy it was quite disgusting to sit there but at least it was a heated area. I called Angela from there and was informed by her that she is snowed in and that I have to get to her by Taxi. Luckily I got a nice taxi driver who was very helpful. It isn't easy to find Angela's place in the dark when it is foggy. But I got there. Angela's talk the next day, to the Mercian Lace group was about her experience of writing and publishing her lace book. Her book about Romanian Ground Point is lovely and very clear. The pictures are very clear and the diagrams easy to follow. I might even give it another try. I stayed with Angela till Monday afternoon. We had a lot to talk about lace and embroidery and her coming trip to the IOLI convention.
I'm sure that the arachnes taking her course will enjoy it very much.
I arrived home yesterday morning to the grim reality of our existance here but at least being away from the news and the newspapers for two weeks was just great.
Miriam, back in Arad, Israel
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