I am sure you will agree that we are all indebted to Janice for giving us such a vivid insight into the world of not only lace, but embroidery and so many varied textiles as a result of her travels over the years. Reading about her visit to China in our last two magazines brought back memories of a Speaker we had in 2010 at our Lace Group, the Martlets Lacemakers in Horsham, West Sussex. The Speaker was Ruth Smith and she spoke about her many visits to the Guizhou Province in south-west China, the home of the Miao and Dong minority groups and their amazing embroidery. Her talk was gripping, inspirational and we were spellbound and that is all before we had the chance of looking at all the amazing embroidery (in the flesh) that she had brought with her. As to how Ruth came to go to the Province in the first place, we have yet to learn, that is the subject of another of her talks. For the time being, we are eagerly awaiting her Workshop later this year when we will be learning how to make the Miao women's ingenious paper booklet that Janice spoke of, in which they store their threads and keepsakes.

Thank you Janice for allowing us to share in your amazing discoveries. I am going to miss my travels with you!

Jane Martin

Thank you Jane for your e-mail and kind remarks, I too will miss sharing travels with all of you. I thought we could briefly remind ourselves of some of the places that the magazine has taken us, not just with me. There was Bobowa lace from Poland reported by Rockingham Lacemakers and Angels Thompson who also showed us lace in Myanmar. Our chairman, Diana Millner and Shelly Canning took us to Sri Lanka, this island was also reported on by Sara Creed. I am constantly amazed at how they can make lace on their big pillows almost at ground level and wonder how they are after the Tsunami. Shelly also found lace in Madagascar along with those charming Lemurs.

You have been with me to Bhutan, India, China and nearer at home Malta and Hamburg, as well as going with me to the OIDFA congress in Prague, Greece, Japan and The Netherlands. The latter country has been visited a few times by me and others. One of those Jeanette Moody has also taken us to Bruges, also the subject of a visit by Valerie Black. Italy has been visited by several of us from Venice to Puglia, with Cantu lace reported on by Yvonne Scheele. Rapallo attracted visits from Joan Rooke, Rosemary Brown and Renate Hawkins. Austria has also featured thanks to Renate and Jane Martin has told us of lace in Croatia. Nicky Höwener-Townsend told us of Schneeburg lace in Germany and the festival there, nearer at home she has researched Suffolk lace. We mustn’t forget the fantastic museum at Retournac in France as well as other examples of French Lace and Spanish lace! Quite a list for which I apologise but it just shows the diversity of lace and how far we all travel.

We have also had contributions from members in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. Who can forget the lovely Nanduti lace and its parent Teneriffe. I just hope I haven’t forgotten anywhere! Lace is truly international.

You might like to try and identify some of the pictures I have picked out.

Janice Cole