In June 2025, we flew to Barcelona and stayed one hour north of Barcelona in the beautiful medieval town of Vic. Vic has many stunning churches and a fantastic museum which is called the MEV (medieval). The plaça de Major in the middle of Vic hosts markets throughout the week and is also used for local events. Vic is in the heart of Catalonia and you can see many Catalan flags hanging from the windows.
Carol Smith is from Perth in Scotland and we have come together with students from Scotland and England but also Australia and America to make lace for one week. We have had 2 beginners in the class who have never made lace. Carole has taught them how to wind bobbins and how to learn the stitches. Carole also provided beginners kits and beginners guide book from Alison Tolson. Alison Tolson is a wonderful bobbin painter living in Scotland. Alison has painted our bobbins for many years and this year, we have chosen to paint Gaudi's lizard on our little bobbins. We enjoy to give present to our guests and they can remember us with our bobbins.
When we arrived the first day, we had tapas for dinner and we learned pretty fast, that dinner in Spain is very late and so we had to wait until 8.00pm at night until the restaurants open. The first day of class was very exciting. We enjoy the first few hours, where Carol gets all the students going to make lace. Everyone shows their us their beautiful bobbins and bobbin holders.
We have also learned about cookie lace pillows. Round ones and square ones with different fillings. There is a whole world out there about cookie pillows.
Carol has some stunning lace patterns which are easy to do and they can be quite fun. Often, the more experienced lacemakers bring their own patterns with them. Carole is also very happy to help the students with their own lace patterns and often guests come with their large projects to get help.
We learned about cloth stitch and half stitch and sometimes we wonder how many bobbins are on the lace pillows. One guests said that they are all in pairs and therefore, there are not too many!
We made lace all day for 5 days but in between, we took our time to visit the local markets, eat ice cream and visit the fantastic medieval museum in town. One day, we took a private transfer which took us to the Monastery of Monserrat. We took the little train up to the monastery and took in the beautiful views. It was very breathtaking to look over the valley. We went to the museum which has stunning art from Dali, Rembrandt, Picasso and other Spanish and Catalan artists. Afterwards, we went into the Basilica to see the black Madonna. We enjoyed the absolutely stunning basilica and we took our time to take it all in. There were people from all over the world, praying, crying and enjoying the venue.
Our time in June was wonderful and to learn to make lace from Carole Smith was the best.
Carole will be with us next year in Lisbon, Portugal. We are excited.
