Have I mentioned I love lace?

Last year one of my dearest friends gifted me some lace she had received as a bride in Italy almost 40 years ago.  I used almost all of it on the corset blocks...  Last week she gave me this box of laces belonging to her late mother-in-law who passed away in 2000 at 81 years of age.  The laces were carefully wrapped in tissue by her mother-in-law Luigia who lived her entire life in Milan... and who I was told wrote lovely poetry.  I just love it when I have a connection to the materials I'm using...  As I am stitching her lace, I will be thinking of Luigia writing her poetry..

And speaking of lace...  I had forgotten our little post office is now closed during the noon hour and of course that is when I arrived..  With about 45 minutes to kill it so happens one of my favorite thrift store (VOA) is just a block away.  It is the one that consistently has a good supply of vintage linens.  I found 2 dresser scarfs with lovely edgings, 5 finely crocheted doilies (one edged with variegated pansies).  The vintage pansy doilies are a very rare find any more.)

And what are my plans for all this lace?..... CQJP2016 of course. This 2008 block was mine when CQI used donated wedding dresses to make blocks for quilts for breast cancer fund raising. I loved doing the white on white and want  to explore it further.  So that is what my focus will be for next year.  Now that I am finishing the CQJP2015 I am eager to start getting ready for next year.  If you are considering participating next year, registration is about over.  This is a completely personal challenge allowing stitchers at any level to hone their skills.  People from all over the world are involved and share their work.

It's a wonderful opportunity to make friends world wide and see work that is truly inspirational.





http://cqjp2016.blogspot.com/