Blog & News

I brought my tonder pattern on my travel pillow and at night I do this. The doors to the outside close at 6:30pm!

In the day, I wander the network of streets and discovered that everywhere is a lace shop.  Then passing by a window with bobbins, a brugges holly shop! I knocked on the window as she was closed.  I must have been a sight akin banging on the window and making lace motions but she let me in and opened little shop. Imagine, small everything;  small is Europe.  Knave to go to service and lunch -  more tomorrow.

Love to all NELG

Sr Madeleine

Upon arriving and armed with my mapquest walking directions, I headed for the beguinage. If you do not know what that is, it is worth a click on the link.  Lace to suffice to say it is an 800 yearold quasi monastery. Protected by a group of Benedictine nuns living there.  The 12
Nuns run a small guest house for any who wants solitude and peace.

I pushed and pulled The Monster Suitcase. We arrived at the quiet and securely locked green door hoping someone would a) answer and b) would know who I was. The door opened and I was gloriously greeted by  Belgian Sr. Clare welcoming me warmly and drawing me in to their community and guesthouse.

Now all the windows have curtains with a stripe of lace done by Sr. Marie Anne. the lace sister. We talked lace over the next three days.  I slept, missed masses and generally am getting adjusted. She showed me her pillow block; seems to be the most common here with a lovely large torchon pattern. She uses a stand but many use folding tables like us. I haven't seen much lace now.

I arrived safely in Belgium airport, now 10 days ago. I remembered that my suitcase was way too big by European standards. Though the size was chosen by the size of my block pillow and wonderful accouterments. After, struggling valiantly down two flights of stairs to the Quay, I stumbled, suitcase and al.  With the help of the platform guard onto the train, others stepped more conveniently by with their smaller bags! The scene was repeated in Brussels, North Station. Where again I managed to just catch the Brugges train. This time setting  my suitcase in the spot between the cars.  The suitcase would not go above. The train was filled with day trippers to brugges

 I was on and the brugges stop arrived 1 hour after passing, many  meadows, many cows and many small tidy brick homes. Yahoo!

There is a fantastic exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, Gems of European Lace, ca. 1600–1920, July 24, 2012–January 13, 2013. Check out the details at 

At the 59th Annual General Meeting of the IOLI, voting led to a name change. IOLI now stands for "International Organization of Lace, Inc". Out with the Old, in with the new, so to speak. Whatever the name, the IOLI is a wonderful group of lace enthusiasts. 

Hi Everyone,

Ok I am here!   There is a lace exposition and jam demonstrating they invited me to.   Wow...

love,
Sister

PS - Since Sister is having techy difficulty - she will be sending me her posts and I will post them for her.  Let's hope the glitch gets fixed.

For everyone following, Sr. Madeleine has landed in Bruges! I just received an email from her and she arrived just fine.  She is working on the internet connection - though there is some techy difficulty.

Stay tunned - we will have plenty to hear about!

Dear Lacers:

I took part in the OSV 'Redcoats and Rebels' reenactment this past weekend and camped the weekend with the Stow Minute Men.  I set up as a lacemaker on both Saturday & Sunday and passed out approx. 50 NELG brochures and even more Stow MM brochures.  I had an "apprentice" sit with me for an entire day and she started learning to make lace:  whole stitch, half stitch, variations by twisting the passives and weavers, and a few inches of Torchon ground.  She was really thrilled.  I'm hoping that this might also grow our membership as well.

Additionally, I think you should know that over the weekend, we had 6500 visitors to OSV and that we had such a visible location, that it seemed as though everyone visited our site.  We were, in spite of the horrible heat/humidity, straight out with questions, pictures, trying to make lace, examining lace that I brought.  And now, there is a budding lacemaker who will be moving back to MI in a couple of days.  So I'm going to get some contacts for her.

Pictures that were taken by a more professional photographer 2 weeks ago at the OLD MANSE in Concord are going to be made available.  Linda Lane and I were the 2 lacers.  I strong encourage the lacemakers to even just day-trip it to demo lace.

We also were visited by an older man who has his Eastern-block lace collection handed down to him by parents & grandparents, all the more dear to him because he lost relatives to the concentration camps.

This upcoming weekend is the Bolton Fair in MA and the following weekend is the Deerfield Valley Fair in Wilmington, VT.  I'm going to each.  I hope someone joins me.

Linda Sheff

Tomorrow is the big day! A couple has generously offered to drive me to Logan for my 6:30 pm flight. I have all my  lace supplies because of the generosity of so many. I have little gifts of $$ tucked into my suitcase for special reats and a whirl of thoughts going through my mind. What will the class be like? What about the shops? How much lace will Sr Marie Anne know? How much time can she give me? Will I be able to keep up? Will there be lots of Cafe lattes?

My first reality check and adventure involved a bank transfer. Sisters being without  the ease  of credit cards, I  delved into wiring money to the  Bruges convent  checking acct. The first challenge was locating the Bank closest to the Convent with the correct acct and then completing the paperwork in the small burg of Orleans where wiring money maybe happens once a year indicated by the slips and snags along the way. One snag required my calling the bank which only spoke Flemish on an auto responder........ I could tell you were supposed to press a number but my Flemish is pretty rusty in fact non existent but after simply pressing  all the numbers on the keypad the call rang through. Relieved, I requested a person who could speak French and the matter was cleared up instantly but that reminded me  that I am going to another country and will be be speaking and living in French in now just  another 48 hours!

So armed with my pink block pillow, bobbins, and thread I am off!
Lace Blessings to All
Sr Madeleine

For our members, the August 1st newsletter, our 78th issue is now available.  Members need to log into the MEMBERS ONLY area and get their copy.

It's packed with 16 pages of what  is happening in lace, great photo's from retreat, meet our new Vice President, Bryce  and new Treasurer, Karen.   There is a special report from Sr. Madeline of her time at Sweet Briar.  She will be blogging in another week or so from Bruges - keep in tune!

What is truly important is that this newsletter is by the great efforts of many folks.  One in particular, in the background is our Editor,Gail.

So in in as many languages I could find - THANK YOU for your time, your creativity and for your love to NELG - We truly appreciate the efforts!

Patty