Lace-making

A lace with the Maltese cross crafted by my mother

One of the crafts that is still very popular in my home country of Malta is lace-making. It is an intricate craft that some elderly women still master with a lot of patience. I share today a few photos I took of my mother when she was still alive working on lace. It is sometimes called tatting, and is creating by moving small bobbins while placing needles in strategic points to keep the finished lace in place. 

My mother Mary working on a lace project

For those interested in phonetics, lace is bizzilla in Maltese, the base on which the lace is formed is called trajbu and the bobbins are called combini.  These photos show some close-ups of some of the lace my mother did a few years ago, in my opinion true masterpieces of Maltese craftsmanship.

Another intricate lace crafted by my mother