Apologies...some of this probably should be on lace chat...except I'm not. Mayflower - According to the Dept. of Agriculture (Canada), the Nova Scotia floral emplem, the mayflower is a trailing arbutus (epigaea repens) that grows across Atlantic and eastern Canada as far west as Saskatchewan. It's apparently very common in Nova Scotia and was selected for their emblem in 1901. I have a booklet with photos that shows clusters of tiny white flowers with large shiny evergreen leaves. The booklet is likely out of print - I purchased mine in 1967 for 50 cents - and a quick check of their webpage failed to turn it up. I have more info I can share on any of the floral emblems (including how to grow them) if anyone wants to contact me off list.
I've always wondered if anyone has tried reproducing the floral emblems in lace? Patons produced a knit afghan booklet with charts for the different provincial flowers (alas, the territories are missing <g>), I know I've seen various counted cross stitch renditions, and, of course, Bev Walker sells sets of gorgeous bobbins painted with the emblems. If there's anything in lace, I've not seen it. I'm nowhere near the designing stage myself, but maybe one day I'll do something myself. Except, my experiences with Honiton and Duchesse a few years back almost turned me off lace and those are the techniques that spring to mind. In the meantime, I have finally finished the Schneeberger angel from one of Lia Baumeister Jonker's booklets that I started last fall. It turned out quite nicely, especially against a dark backing. Most of the pattern was straight forward although I had to really think through a few steps before I worked them. The instruction is in somewhat idiosyncratic English and while very charming isn't always easy to follow with just the written information. One funny little thing that I've encountered once before - in one place I inadvertently looped my thread around the previous pin so I'm now stuck with a tiny loop of loose thread on the right side. Only thing I can think of is to bring it through to the back and hide it there. Fortunately, this piece will be framed so it's unlikely to show. One benefit of doing this design - I now have 25 tallies to my credit, and a few of them actually look ok. It's just as well that I have another 975 before I achieve perfection as it's going to take me that many <g>. Money in Prague? When I was there in 2000 (had really hoped to get there this summer but it's just not working out), I had no trouble either changing money or using my Visa card. I use Visa wherever I can, it's works for me like my current account, and I found even the smaller places there took it. There were bank machines anywhere I needed one. I usually used the one at the subway stop where I was staying. I was aware of all the horror stories and I'm pretty street conscious overall. There were places where I wouldn't have used a bank machine, there were places I wouldn't have felt like walking around... but that's no different than being anywhere else in the world and IMO not anything to unduly stress about. Oh yes, the first place I used a bank machine was in a scruffy train station near Cheb (we were coming from Bayreuth in Germany) where nothing was in English and it was not easy to read the train schedule, signs or anything else. That was just after a few uncomfortable border incidents so we were somewhat psyched. Fortunately, we found help, the bank machine got us money to buy our first Czech beer and everything went well from there. Most of you will likely be travelling by main line stations and more conventional means - just be aware of what's going on around you, and enjoy a wonderful country and a super opportunity. Sure wish I could be there too. It's raining...maybe I should make some lace this afternoon. JulieO in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada where it's definitely spring although not as warm and sunny as the cats and garden would like. [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
