First Fall Meeting

I do love these bright, cooler days we’re having. The snap in the air, the bright sun, the comfortable nights. And even better, the resumption of our lace club meetings. This time next week we’ll be meeting in our regular place at the East Hastings Community Centre, in the boardroom, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Even if you’re just wondering what the club is all about, do drop in for a visit. There’s no charge for the first meeting you attend.

Regular club members, this is dues day – $20 will pay for all of the meetings in the coming year. Occasional members still just pay $3 per meeting.

Hope to see you there.

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Ready For Another Year of Lacemaking!

Despite the great weather we’re having, we all know that September means winter is coming – and it’s time to think about another year of lacemaking! We have had a few successful summer meetings in the Rose Garden – and we may even schedule another one, since the weather is so good – but our formal club meetings are about to start for another year. Our first Fall meeting is on Thursday, September 28th.

We’re happy to see anybody who wants to drop in to our club meeting. You don’t have to join ($20/year or $3 per meeting) if you don’t want to, and the first drop-in is free. Just show up any time during the meeting hours! Meeting details are here.

Also, it’s time to start long-range planning if you want to attend a lace conference in 2018. I have updated the lace conference links on the right-hand side of this page, adding the World Lace Congress in Bruges, Belgium, and links to two pages, a facebook page and the official IOLI page, for the International Old Lacers, Inc. annual conference in San Antonio, Texas, in July.

Bruges (Brugge) is one of the great centres of lacemaking, so their congress is a wonderful opportunity to experience lace in its historic setting. IOLI’s San Antonio conference is taking place during San Antonio’s 300th-birthday celebrations, and the hotel is right in the heart of the cultural venues. Whether you go to one of these conferences or the other or both, you should have a great experience!

We’ll Meet Again – We Know Where, We Know When

Today we finally had our first summer meeting in the Rose Garden at Queen’s Park. Great fun, and the perfect day for it, with a light breeze and filtered sunlight. The roses are still in bloom, and they’ve added some living pictures to the garden. Very pretty.

We decided to do the same thing again next week, so – Thursday, August 17, from 10 – 1, we’ll meet again in the gazebo. (map)

 

Summer Lacemaking Project

Here in southwestern B.C. we are in the doldums of a smoke-filled summer. So today I thought I’d find something fun!

You may already know about this, but Lenka’s Way of Lace is planning an online exhibition – “Lace Heart Art” in 2018. Lenka has provided a complete pattern and drawings for a simple but colourful and imaginative heart. Most lacemakers will find the pattern fairly easy to make, which allows them to have fun playing with colour and fibre. Why not take a look at the Challenge page on her website and think about how you’d like to make it!

Summer Fun

Here we are, well into July, and our summer weather has finally arrived!

We have two demonstrations planned this summer. The first is just a week away – July 15th at the Surrey Museum’s Fibre Arts and Crafts Festival. Do drop by – our demonstrators always love to have a bit of company.

Also, on August 20th, we will be demonstrating at London Family Farm for their Annual London Family Farm Day. Look for us on the verandah of this century-old home and museum, and give yourself plenty of time to go through the museum, see the heritage farm buildings and gardens, browse the gift shop, and have a nice cup of tea.

Normally during the summer months we have a few meetings outdoors – with the Surrey Museum demonstration coming on so soon, these still haven’t been decided. We will let you know when they are planned.

Nostalgia! The 1982 Conference

In 1982 the Vancouver Lace Club hosted the annual conference of the International Old Lacers, Inc., on the UBC campus. We still have some paper memorabilia from that Conference, and as it is becoming fragile with time, we decided these pieces should be made available to our members – and preserved – by scanning and uploading them to this website. We have therefore added a page – The 1982 Conference – under the History link (under “About Us”) on our home page.

We have uploaded scans of two 11″ x 17″ paper placemats that were used at the Banquet at that conference. These placemats provide a nostalgic look at our amateur pre-digital graphic arts capabilities (!) as well as business advertising from the time. Sadly, most of these businesses are long gone, but we are happy to have this remembrance of them.

You can see these scans on the 1982 conference page, or click here.

Meeting This Thursday

Just a quick note to say that our last official Lace Club meeting of the 2016-2017 year will take place this Thursday, June 22, at our regular location.

Continuing the tradition of the past few years, we will have a few outdoor meetings during the hot summer months. I can see everybody rolling their eyes – so far the weather hasn’t been warm, let alone hot, but they say it’s coming any day now. Honestly!

We will tell you of these outdoor meetings well ahead of time, with reminders closer to the day. Please do come to these meetings if you can – the more the merrier, and we hold them where we are sheltered from the sun (or rain, as the case may be).