This and that

Last Monday evening, my small art quilt support group, Ravenesque, met at the friend's house with whom I recently shared her inherited stash.  She is very generously continuing to share, and during the feeding frenzy (we are such a calm and polite group!), she casually brought out a very nice device that is used to make the thread rings  that are part of Hedebo lacemaking.  These rings were made and used in the 70's by serious embroiderers, not in actual lacemaking, but to add texture to the very detailed and complex surface stitchery that was popular then.  These devices were usually made from wood which had been turned and shaped in a lathe, then polished to a very smooth finish.  The device she had appeared to be glass or crystal, and was very small/fine, for making very tiny rings, and was probably quite expensive in its day.  I expressed pleasure and surprise on seeing it, and this lead to a conversation about the technique. By Tuesday evening I had the whole embellishment part of a new piece planned.

On Tuesday, itself, my DH and I headed out for a three day visit to the USA, with me sitting in the front seat making Hedebo rings using the body of a Sharpie pen for shape.  I made those 'suckers' for three days and 1000km.  We even had to stop at Nordic Needle in Fargo to buy more colours of thread for making them.  I also found the spray adhesive for quilting that I had been looking for, and 15 small matts for pictures at a price I couldn't refuse.  Today, it was off to the sell-out of a local Ukrainian museum gift shop, where there was a significant amount of embroidery thread on sale, stopping at a local rummage sale to buy old jewlery, on the way home.  The embroidery thread I bought will likely be overdyed to make it more interesting, and then used in embellishment, as will the beads recovered from the jewelry.

Can an art quilter ask for a better week?