the lacebee

Welcome to The Lace Bee

Welcome to The Lace Bee — a quiet corner of the internet where handmade traditions meet seasonal rhythms.

Whether you are here to browse the latest blog, listen to the podcast, check out one of the book blogs or explore the art of bobbin lace, you’ll find gentle inspiration woven through every page.

The Lace Bee Speaks!
My podcasts talk about trends and news in the crafting communities, it also looks at different crafts and ideas to get you creating.
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View all the podcasts on my Podcast Page or subscribe by clicking on the images for Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Audible, below. Find the links mentioned in the podcasts by clicking on the episode or here.

Henry VIII, his six wives and Queen Elizabeth I bobbins by Chris Parsons

In conversation it came up that my lace pillow is really a reflection of my life in making lace.

I started making lace in 1988 which means I've just I've been doing this for over 30 years. Every bobbin tells a place or a gift, every bead tells a story.

There are the beads that I bought each month when I started. Because I worked in Kilburn I would take the Jubilee line and then the Picadilly line to Covent Garden, heading over to the bead shop in Neal Street or down to the wholesalers just off Regent Street. (I always remember where that one was because you turned up the road by the Godiva chocolate shop which was irresistible on some occasions).

Starting off as a place to hold my bobbins, this site has expanded and incorporated the book blog where I've been cataloguing and commenting on the lace books that I own.

Just looking at the bobbins in the pictures here I see some continental bobbins from our visit to Bruges for my 41st birthday, a heraldic dog from Sallie Reason and a pair of Paua shell inlaid bobbins in lemon wood which my mother bought me for my birthday the year I started making lace.

Glass beads from Japan or Italy. Semi precious stones from South America, Australia, The Far East and some even from the UK.

There are a pair of painted bobbins commemorating Christmas and the National Christmas Lace Fair in 2002 which have semi precious stones in the spangle where the green marking in them are from long crystallized ferns which you can still see.

Bilby spangle

There is the bobbin that cost a couple of pounds, but I just liked the look of, which has a bead in the spangle that cost over £10 just because I liked the bead. The two bobbins whose wood is from Tasmania that I won in a raffle ... So my Australian husband bought me two silver charms to remember him by; a Kookaburra and a Bilby (think very pointy nosed and pointy eared rabbit - go on, look it up on the web, they are cute).

This is the map of my life.

Lace also marks special moments in my life.

From a Christmas decoration made for my husband to a sixpence keeper heart as a Wedding gift for my nephew and his wife.

We make things where every single stitch weaves in our love for the recipient.

The things that we make are imbibed with our love.