Surprise!

Week before last James flew to Brazil. He had been called for some consulting. He always liked his work and likes a challenge, so he was happy to accept. From St Paulo he also had to travel to Aracaju in the Northeast part of Brazil and when he had some time after work to go to the local market he found lace.

He was very proud of himself to have found this table runner for me.

Yes, James, the half-stich circles are handmade bobbinlace. Very crude and starched to the max ... like a board ... but I am still very happy about it. Husband, you did well!









I can picture how the lace was made, probably in Fortaleza. That is were another great surprise came from in January 2005.

James managed to find a Brazilian lace pillow for me, stuffed with shredded banana leaves etc etc. probably made by the lacemaker herself.
If you are interested in more details, contact me and I can mail an article to you (in PDF form) which I had written for my lace guild.

The pins are thorns of a Mandacaru plant (cactus).

The bobbins are little coconuts from a Bilrreiros tree (local palm) attached to whittled sticks.






When the pillow had arrived, the lace part was in a great mess. I had to sort all out and made half of the lace in progress. It was a great surprise to me how comfortable it is to work with this pillow, these "pins" and homemade bobbins.