En vacances

For vacation this summer I went to France!  Claudette and Michel Bouvot host a lace day and workshops in Normandy each year and two of my friends and I planned a lace-themed vacation. The lace day was in Caen, beautifully decked out in American, British, Canadian and French flags for the 70th anniversary of D-Day. 

The lace day was very busy- there were more than 80 venders- pillows, bobbins, books, threads for lace and knitting and lots of patterns and lace.

 Michel Bouvot gave a lecture on the history of lace from the area, featuring his book

"Zélie, Dentellière à Alençon", unfortunately out of print right now.

 There were lots of lace vendors.

 Because of the 70th anniversary of D-Day, there was an exposition of parachutes and doves in lace to celebrate all of the soldiers who helped to liberate France.

 There was an Eiffel Tower made of bobbins and lace.  (My apologies for the sideways picture).

 There was an exposition of lace dresses and many types of traditional and contemporary lace.

This photo shows me in a class on Flanders lace, taught by Catherine Mazé,

 who wrote "La Dentelle de Flandres: dentelle a fils continus", edition L'Inedite, 2007.  This two day class, with only four students, was an excellent introduction to Flanders lace.  Mme Mazé   (photo below on the right) is a  patient and knowledgeable teacher.

We were able to borrow lace pillows from the organization for the class, so that helped with the packing.  Unfortunately, that meant I had to cut off what I made to take home.  The following two samples I made during the class.

Mme Mazé gave us two additional patterns to work on at home - here is the first, in progress.

The class was a good experience.  At first, I was a little intimidated, but the students and teacher were gracious and fun and I learned a lot - both about the lace and about the people of Normandy.