Victorian Lace and Nature's Lace

Have you ever seen such amazing lace as this?

This is an original Victorian Lace Collar

which has recently been gifted to me

along with a few other precious lace collars and pieces

such as these.  I am not quite sure what these

may have been used for as they are quite 

long and narrow - perhaps panels

of a skirt or similar clothing?

but aren't they just stunning?

Perhaps you can inform me as to how they were used??!!

And look at this delicate lace

which has been fashioned into another collar insert.

A close up view of it's delicacy!

Take a look at this incredibly beautiful piece.

To think this collar could be up to 150 years old and 

in such mint condition.

Some embroidered and beaded black netted lace

along with this unique beaded netting

and

this very beautiful vintage lace was part of the wedding dress

of the woman, Di, from South Australia

who gave me this exquisite gift to me.

The white satin on the left was from her own mother's wedding

dress and the Victorian collars were from Di's own

grandmother.

Now how very fortunate a person do you think I am to

receive such incredible beauty to treasure

and keep.

Part of Di's wedding dress I used to create 

this collage

as a momento which Di can treasure and keep

and pass down to her very own daughters.

Look at that beautiful paisley effect through the lace.

Now nature has her own way of displaying lace

year after year when we are shown

the beauty of lace through the blossoming of trees

like this Weeping Cherry which is growing so 

very happily in our Spring garden

It probably spans about 4 metres across now!

Can you see and feel the beautiful lacey effect of this

amazing tree?

I snuck out of bed at 6.30am this morning before the sun rose

to capture this amazing image before the sun

came up on another day here in our

garden paradise so I could share it here with you!

I feel so blessed for it all!

♥♥♥♥♥♥

And I also feel blessed for having all of you coming to

visit or follow and for leaving such kind

comments - all I can say is

"Thank you from my heart"

and

I hope you enjoy this post.

Love, Suzy xxx

A new Journal "Silent Prayer" to show you!

Hello dear friends,

I have been rather absent lately because I have

been working on a new journal which I was keen to finish

as we are coming into Spring here where I live 

in Australia

and

I am so often torn between creating and wanting to be out

in our beautiful garden and I was determined to complete it.

  The bird song at present is waking

us so early so there's no excuse to be laying around in bed.

This is my new creation:

I went searching through my Tombstone Angel images collection

which I played around with because of an idea

which was turning around in my head.

How often do we pray silently to ourselves in times of need?

and call on the angels for help?

Those little metallic leaves reminded me of angels wings

and were amongst a gift from my friend Liz www.lululizinlalaland.blogspot.com

and they were just the right thing for the front page.

Many layers of vintage lace, (torn and tattered), chiffon, cottons 

doilies, buttons and jewellery have gone into the making of these pages.

Layer upon layer the pages build and above you can see

some natural dyed silk which has been embroidered

with my trusty sewing machine.

Solve is another technique I have used in

collaging these precious lace pieces together

with bits of thread, fibres and raw silks!

Some beaded chiffon on the left with a felted signature

laced and layered with a piece of vintage beaded

cardigan with the Virgin Mary sitting opposite!

A pleading hymn!

Handmade lace and machine stitching

highlight an angel - but 

"Angels are in All Ages!"

More tattered and dyed lace

and pieces of dyed raw mohair!

How comforting are these words?

A pocket near the back embellished with another special

medal!

And after many hours of layering and stitching,

tearing and ripping, ironing and sticking

we come to the end of

another very satisfying project!

Hours make the day

Layers make the journal!

Inspired by these angels!

♥♥♥

This particular journal has been sold and is packed up

 and ready to be delivered

to the U.S.

♥♥♥

If anyone is interested in me creating them a journal

of a similar nature or different topic

then contact me by email at suziqu@tpg.com.au.

"Love is how we earn our wings"

and I'm sending some love to you!

♥♥♥

Thank you so very kindly to all of my new followers

and for all the most appreciated comments left.

You are all gems in my life!

xxx Suzy

My Lacebook is Back Home with the Birth of Spring

My Lace book has come home and

it is now completely finished!!!

Chamara of www.gypsypurple.blogspot.com

has just featured  my Vintage Gypsy Lacebook

"Gypsy in My Soul" on her blog. 

Chamara's blog is her take on a

French Gypsy's collections -

it is just stunning and so addictive!

You will love it!

Thankyou for your kind acknowledgement!

It's getting quite exciting with these lovely warm days now coming

with the approach of Spring here in Australia

because now we can can say goodbye to Winter 
 for another year 
and these everyday
things - like the firewood

which has kept us so warm for the last few months

and the tools which we have been using

every day

like these and the wonderful old hand crafted bellows

which we have been using to aerate the fire embers
if they die down to sleep!
You can see the worn leather on the sides after 40 years of use
but these are just some of the wonderful home comforts
that we live with.

So Spring is all but upon us now and already we see
evidence here 

with the very first of the climbing roses "Lorraine Lee"

but I also wanted to share another birth because
after 6 long months of creating with a group of most wonderful
creative souls mainly from the US and Canada in a
Lacebook Round Robin Group
I have completed, sewn pages, embellished, and finally
bound my own pages into my version of
"Vintage Gypsy".

Each woman created two pages each of their own
particular vintage subject and then passed
it to the next woman for her interpretation of that
woman's subject.

(Each month - over the 6 month period -
 I created two pages based on their themes
and each month one member created two pages based
on my theme -Gypsy in My Soul - so that I ended up with
my own book back which I began with covers and four pages, with
two pages created by each member of the group.

So that meant we all had a hand in each other's final works).

The first few pages including covers were of my own
choice and design 

This is a side view where I incorporated a piece of a

vintage clutch along with

many layers of vintage laces and trims.

This shows the binding using vintage buttons over a
crushed velvet wrap around the whole of the lacebook.

This shows the inside front cover and first page

Next two pages

I know that some of you may have seen these
single pages on a previous post some months ago.

Many collaged layers of soft silks, chiffons, netting, hand-

dyed lace, satin motif, embroidered and beaded

chiffon motif, pearls and jewellery

go into making up some of these pages.

Many of these fabrics have been recycled.

Next two pages

Sequens, trims and fabric laces.
That beautiful silk ribbon was a gift from Pat Winter
of 
www.gatherings100.blogspot.com


The pages below were created by
Karen Dorcas of www.alaskabluemoose.blogspot.com

The images, lace and composition are so lovely!

These two pages below were created by Socrates of
www.alteredmeditations.blogspot.com

Liz Deck at www.nearingfull.blogspot.com

Some little personal added bits of memorabilia!

From the  very creative hands of Teri Flemal at

www.quinceberry.blogspot.com

came these two gorgeous pages!

Now look at this amazing handpainted image -

how clever is this girl?

Oh and the last contributions came from Deb Byers

so simply beautiful aren't they?

My last two pages including inside cover with pocket

to hold the ATCs which we created for each other 

before we created the pages.

The back cover in rich ginger coloured and embroidered

crushed velvet!

And finally a side view of this amazing lacebook!

which represents so many precious hours 

of lace worked collages and a true

keepsake.

It was such an incredible journey and many hours
of shared friendships, inspirations and lasting memories!
Thank you Lacebook girls - I was proud to be 
part of that wonderful group!

Thank you to all my new followers of late and to everyone
who has left such kind comments especially those left
on my Giveaway post and the one following  - it shows such
kindness even in the face of not winning - this time!
 these are so
always appreciated!

Hope this post has not been tooo much of an overload!!!

Love and thanks to you all,
Suzy xox