A letter from Walsoorden

Letters From Home
Finally some time to create another post. I had wanted to load some of the pictures I have been taking but the computer still gets upset with my camera so better not. The above photo is of one of the pieces of lace I made earlier this year and it is actually a screen print of a letter by my grandmother to my mother- my mother loved getting those letters but they also made her feel very homesick- because my grandmother lived on the other side of the world- and as I found out in belgium last week they call Australians "tegenvoeters". The photo shows clearly the effect i was trying to create with the shadow - a kind of sharp and agitated grid- for families are after all a kind of grid or network and in this instance whilst the letter is full of love it also created a prickly and sometimes almost unbearable after feeling of yearning for home.

I am going by Zijdelings this morning to pick up some transfer paints for a workshop later this week- and it looks like I am lucky to have actually touched base with Karina as she is off to the USA on Tuesday. Then later today I am going to Laura of Trapsuutjies to do some fabric painting and printing and playing- which I am looking forward to! And tomorrow I have to quilt and quilt and quilt to get another forest quilt done!

During the week an acquaintance took me to Lier to see the making of Lierse Kant- which is a chain stitch embroidery onto tulle or cotton tulle ( which believe it or not is still made and which I shall have to find- what fun to dye it and then play with it!)- the embroidery is very fine and the impression of the lace is very delicate and beautiful. In the little museum near the atelier they had a sample book of lace which contained rubbings of the lace, plus a notation of the hours worked on the piece. It was fascinating, but I was blown away by Lier itself- it was a medieval trading town and many of the buildings in the centre are still intact and in the Liers Begijnenhof area many hofjes still in existence- and town ports. I shall definitely be going back there to have a good long look around and if anyone goes to Belgium it is definitely worth a visit.I also visited two ateliers where the lace was still being made, and the ladies making the lace said that they had trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in order to be able to open the ateliers. Like so many fine hand crafts there is, alas no young people practising the art, and makes me wonder how modern adaptations could somehow provide new impetus to a very lyrical and fine lace.