A Tale of Two Tales

Story #1:

My great-grandmother made a lace tablecloth for my mother's hope chest. I remember playing on the floor under the dining room table as a child and weaving my fingers through the lacy strings. My mother didn't inherit the crocheting genes, so when I learned to crochet I was responsible for mending the holes in the tablecloth (likely made by yours truly years earlier).

When I was in secretarial school, I crocheted on the long bus rides into town. I made a lot of lace since it was extremely portable. In September 1987 (the date inside of the magazine), I bought this magazine:



I was so excited because it contained a doily pattern that was the same as Mom's tablecloth!



I started making Mom a new tablecloth. Hers was well over forty years old, and even careful mending couldn't make it last forever. I crocheted while I commuted to school and then work. I crocheted while I was caring for one baby and I think I finished that tablecloth while pregnant with my daughter in 1990. It took miles and miles of crochet cotton. It is the only one I have ever made, and Mom loves it.

Story #2:

I spent the last week and a half working at Quilt Market and then Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas. I didn't get out of the HandiQuilter booth or classroom often, but my free time was spent at the WonderFil booth. Have you heard of WonderFil? They are a thread company out of Canada. I first met them at Machine Quilters Showcase in Kansas in May and have been fondling my thread cards from them ever since.

Since I don't check luggage, I had very little room to carry purchases home. Fortunately thread doesn't take up much space! I brought home a gorgeous spool of green and blue Accent thread called Avocadoes.



Since I apparently have too much time on my hands, I decided to see how this thread would look when crocheted into lace. I got home from the airport around 5pm Monday. By 11pm, I had this little piece made:



It's the same pattern as Mom's tablecloth. I only plan to make a small doily. Even if I had plans to make it larger, I learned a few things last night:

1. I haven't made lace in over 20 years
2. My eyes are 20 years older
3. My hands are 20 years older
4. I still have a full-time job
5. I have well over 100 unfinished quilting/knitting projects in my studio

The Cliff-Hanger:

Stay tuned to see how this doily turns out!


For part two of the doily story, click here