Savage Mill

Today was my open house, and I needed to get outta dodge for a few hours. So, I went to visit the shops at Savage Mill, on my final tour of the places I like in Maryland. It's a mall, made out of a 1700's mill that made/wove canvas, mostly. There's a bunch of stores I love there. The Queen's Ink, a specialty art shop, And Sew it Goes, a fabric store ('natch), and a neat antiques mall.
I had coffee and a pastry and mousse from Bonaparte, the French bakery inside the mill that makes my favorite palmiers. I stopped at each shop, bought my trinkets from each place, but the place I wanted to go the most was the antique mall.
I had visited numerous times over the years, and this one vendor has always been there. They're called Treasure Trove, and they sell mostly antique linens. Each time I have been in there, I have picked up, but never bought, this one piece of antique lace trim. Today, I bought the trim, and a Victorian jewelery casket, which I had never seen before, but had to have...

The lace was right where I remembered it, even after all these years of going. It's 18th century guipure needle lace. Yup, that's the 1700's. It's only a fragment, but makes me wonder what kind of larger piece it came from, and how long it must have taken to make it. I bought it and a second piece of 18th century Flemish lace, which is smaller and has the little scalloped edge.

I made this weekly quilt inspired by the mill, the Victorian casket, and the lace. The background is one of the last bits of a ver favorite and now long gone fabric. I quilted it with thread that was hand dyed. I sewed on the larger guipure lace and te smaller 18th century Flemish lace by hand, and then sewed on the sparkly trim on the edges, which is the last bit of that that I have, and another favorite. This piece really speaks to me. I got really emotional making it, wondering what the person who made that lace would think of my new use for it. So what does lace from the 1700's cost you? $10.50. That's all.
On the way to and from the Mill, Starlight by Muse came on the radio, and was stuck in my head while making it. Oh yeah, and this week, I made the below lonely sheep ATC for an online buddy.