Grumpy

I was feeling grumpy over the weekend because there was housework that had to be done, we went to the market on Saturday which is always nice but takes daylight time away from lace making time, and my bobbins needed bowing so I couldn't finish that last leaf at the top of the clematis piece. The first pic on this post shows my bobbin trousseau with the bobbins separated into piles of runners and passives (or knots and nots if you like). The second pic shows the trousseau with the bobbins bowed into pairs, which I did after I cleaned the house from top to bottom, ready to go again Monday morning, ungrumped.

Ha! I figured out how to put the pic where I want it it the blog - I found both ends of the appropriate tag in the html and copied it where I want it, making me feel inordinately proud.
Anyway, this third pic shows the clematis piece as Work In Progress - you are looking at the back of the lace as it's worked so the face is towards the pillow for readers not familiar with Honiton lace making.
I just need to finish the flower on the right, under the top three leaves - you can't see the pricking in the photo. And just to show you what it looks like as I work on the lace, when I've dressed the pillow, this next pic.

As you can see, I decided not to do a beaded piece as I said in the previous post, prefering to do Honiton lace instead. I'm thinking this piece will be the top fall of a two fall jabot, with the centre of the bottom fall being based on this rose that I did last year, from a pattern I picked up at a Devon Lace Teacher's Day at the Priory School in Exeter.

I haven't done all the buds and stems coming out from the central rose, because I want to finish the clematis first, to determine how the negative spaces will look. It's a bit complicated to describe this creative process...
Speaking of which, I have come to realise that I'm not really a planner type artist: I very seldom do the mindmap and sketches first. What usually happens is that I get inspired by the colours and textures of the materials and they speak to me, except of course with white lace, where it's the lines. In fact, I usually get wildly enthusiastic and leap right in, resenting any preparation time at all. Pinning & basting - bah humbug - just hold the pieces together and feed them through the machine.
Here's a pic of the lavender sachets I made using my stash of Liberty lawns (which have a gorgeous hand and are pure pleasure to handle). I used up all the lavender I collected from this year.
So I guess I've been reasonably productive for January - only two days to go until the February TIF challenge - and my good friend Cynthia sent an email saying she's put a surprise package in the post for me - can't wait to see what arrives...