FROM LOTTE.

Received from Lotte -Belle Fleur de Lis in Belgium, June 2012.

I have been patience for a long time and finally my letter from Lotte have arrived, and I'm so happy. The waiting time was so worth it.

Lotte is an amazing young woman. She is right now attending bobbinlace classes, hoping one day to become a teacher in this amazing technique. Her wonderful blog Belle Fleur de Lis is so fragile and pretty. Lotte  combine her love for flowers, crochet and lace in this blog with the most stunning photos. I so much love it.

When opening the letter from Lotte, it took my breath away. She has made this, oh so beautiful package full of treasuries. I feel so special.

Lotte have made this doily which were going to be part of her Crochet Treasuries. The yarns she has used is a little crispy to the touch, and it gives a nice tactilily.

An old doily she has thrifted from a second hand shop in Antwerp, her favorite city.

Beautiful pressed flowers. The red Astrantia Major to the left is one of my favorites. In Denmark it's called Stjerneskærm. I so much like this name as Stjerne is a Star.

This doily is not so big. It is made of a combination of a glimmer /glitter yarn together with the light pink. So pretty.

Some of Lottes pretty photos. If you want to follow Lottes process of her flower inspiration into her crochet and bobbinlace work, please visit her flickr.

Lotte have also send me some of her more woolen crochet work, which is part of her pattern research.

The colors and the wool is a good combination.

Dear Lotte, I want to thank you for your amazing textile letter to me. The little glimmer /glitter doily is hanging in my studio together with the pressed flowers. And the doily you have made specially for me is in my home.

Thanks to you, I have signed-up for a bobbinlace class. I feel so happy.

FROM KRISTINA.

Received from Kristina in Germany, June 2012.

Kristina writes to me that even when she was a little girl she has always been impressed by exceptional fibers, structures and techniques. She has always been knitting, crocheting and crafting.

She likes working with paper, linen, straw, crepe yarns, silk and wool.

If you want to see more of Kristina’s work you can find it here.

A beautiful sample with linen and overspun wool. Very pretty!

The card is full of the yarns Kristina likes to work with: Italian silk crepe, silver thread from Japan, Shifu –paper thread, straw, horsehair, llama –dyed with onion and homespun, paper thread from Japan.

A sample of towels with pep-border and homespun linen in the weft.

A sample of a mixed warp with inlay.

The weft is homespun soy silk and cotton. I’m impressed by all the homespun yarns Kristina makes and uses in her weavings.

I like the softness and the simple complexity in the inlay. A very beautiful sample.

Photos of woven textiles where the weft is straw.

Dear Kristina, thank you so much for your letter to me. The white sample in homespun soy silk is hanging in my studio.

FROM KIM.

Received from Kim, shipbuilding in Australia, May the 21.

shipbuilding is such an amazing blog, and the owner Kim have just sended me this letter. I have been following shipbuilding for a while now and I always go in there, hoping Kim have made a new blogpost. Her photos, weavings, words, everything is so beautiful and I'm so happy we have started to exchange letters.

The letter from Kim, each piece is wrapped inside some handpaper paper. It was fantastic to cut off a little string and open.

The letter were written on a doily in paper. So pretty!

Weaving sample in twill in very fine silk and cotton.

Pretty transperant leafes like the Gauze weavings.

Beads!

Kim's card and some of her favorite yarns and colors. Pretty!

A little origami bird in gold and white paper.

Small strings from each little package.

Dear Kim, thank you so much for your lovely package. Your twill sample will soon be hanging in my studio.

FROM DONATELLA.

Received from Donatella in Italy, April the 7.

Donatella is a weaver like me and we have so much in common, these are the first words from Doni's delis blog: handweaving, textiles and yarns, scandinavian design. Thats us!
Donatella have send me a textile letter which is like a book, made out of fabric, full of bits and pieces from her life.

Donatella's loom and a beautiful old lamp. It looks like a Bauhaus lamp to me, lovely!!

This piece of lace is so amazing and it has belonged to Donatella's Grandmother. I am so happy that it's now mine.

Donatella started weaving in 2001 and she knew from the beginning it would become a big passion. This is a very early sample from her.

This is a piece of fabric from a special time in Donatella's life, when she were studied handwoven textile design in Bradford in the UK.
It's a sample for a double weaving project used as inspiration. She used the painter Hundertwasser as inspiration.

Here is a piece of fabric which is from Naj Oleari, a famous brand in Italy in the 1980's. When Donatella were a girl it was used as a skirt. Now, much faded, but still beautiful -it's a laundry bag that she takes with her wherever she go.
I like the idea of re-designing and this woven piece is so amazing, both in colors but also the way it has been woven, a little bit like a double cloth.

When Donatella get leftovers from thick handwovens, she likes to felt them into small shapes like leaves, hearts, flowers and then she uses them as decoration. What a nice idea.

Dear Donatella, I want to thank you for your lovely textile book you have made for me. The woven sample from Naj Oleari will I put on my studio wall.

FROM HERMINE.

Received from Hermine in Belgium, February 24.

This is my third letter from Hermine and I feel so lucky to have her as my textile letter penpal.
Hermine is such an amazing person with lots of projects going on at the same time. Her personal blog; Journal de Jours, Words for Strangers which I am of course participating in and Walk Walk Walk amoung others.

The textile letter were divided into two. This is flowers and leafes in fabrics.

The second were bobinlace.
Hermine is so sweet and this is the second time she has send me bobinlace. She has told me she were so lucky and found an old book full of bobinlace.

Dear Hermine, I want to thank you for all these treasuries.
The bobinlace is already hanging at my studios wall together with the others you have send me.

FROM HERMINE.

Received from Hermine in Belgium, January 27.

My first textile letter ever have I received from Hermine from JOURNAL DE JOURS and now she has sent me one more. Right now Hermine is part of an exhibition at Huis van Alijn.
Hermine is a textile designer and she is working with so many fantastic and amazing projects. You can see some of her photos here.
The textile letter is divided into two. First part is Hermine's Words for Strangers project which I am now part of.

There is a little color theme; BLUE like indigo, which I love.
Hermine must some how know that I like the Boucherouite rags from Morocco, as the little card with red is one of these. Thank you.

The Words for Strangers project.
Hermine have send me this little package with notes, and some of them are empty for my own words. I am going to hang them on bikes, like she do, and take photos and send them back to her.

Pretty "old" photos from Huis van Alijn. I remember these kind of photos and have seen them in my grandmothers photo albums when I were a child. The white edge with the little zig zag reminds of the old times.

The second part of the textile letter was for me so touching and in a way it also took me  back in time.
First a little sample of Hermine's weaving in blue and white.



Hermine have found a book full of old bobin lace and so sweet as she is, she thought of me and sended me these beautiful pieces. Actually they are more than beautiful, pretty and amazing. They take me into another world of happiness.

They touched me, as my grandmother taught me to do bobin lace when I were 14 years. I still remember the evenings when I sat in her living room and she learned me how to do the spiders web. Later on when she became older she could not remember how to make it, and then it was me who had to help her to make the spiders web. It is because of this; bobin lace I am fascinated by the gauze weaving.

Dear Hermine, as I know you love cats a lot (from your photos), I am sending you a little sneak peak of my wonderful cat Osvald. He loves sleeping like here and he is now 14 years old. We have shared so many good things together, and he have always been there for me even when I have been sad. He is very special to me, so therefore this photo is for you.

Thank you so much for this so amazing letter. You already know how much it means to me with the bobinlace. These I will hang in my studio, as I like beeing surrounded by beautiful things that is close to my heart.

FROM JOY.

Received from Joy in USA, January 21.

A beautiful textile letter have come to me.
Joy lives in Colorado near the beautiful Rocky Mountains with her husband Brian and two children; Ian and Cora. She have been weaving since 2006.

Joy sended me a lot of beautiful items and I have made a little selection here.
The scarf to the left is in silk and Joy have handdyed it with onion skins.

In the fall Joy visited Japan with her husband and the white ribbon flowers is from there. It almost looks like a bracelet together with the two others I wear.

A woven sample from a scarf in Tsumuguto silk by Avril made by Joy in color effect. I really like this kind of weaving.

Beautiful recycled silk yarns. The colors are so fascinating.

The letter from Joy with two small handmade flowers.

Small buttons from Mongolia. These are used to be put on there traditional clothes. When I shake them, they make a beautiful sound.

Dear Joy, thank you so much for your textile letter.