Finnweave Wall Piece, by Chris Beech

Every picture tells a thousand words! Double weave pick-up, including the lettering. Crochet cotton.

Not a recent work, but one of my favourites.

Have a Happy New Year, Everyone!

by Chris Beech

Bags, by Win Currie

We have seen Win's bags before here. But the newer model comes with magnetic closure!

by Meg Nakagawa

Wall Hangings, by Peg Moorhouse

"Moonlight"

"A Walk in the Bush"

by Peg Moorhouse & Meg Nakagawa

Season's Greeting

No matter where you are, or what holidays you celebrate, we wish you a happy holiday season to you and your loved ones. May the coming year be as colorful as this one, and may the warp tension be even and smooth for us all.

With love and friendship,

Marlborough Weavers

(The wall hanging is "Balustrade" by Peg Moorhouse.)

Bag, by Joan McLauchlan

Joan wove with wool and rayon in the warp and rayn, dyed in the cone, on the weft, but the ends didn't seem to work and she didn't know what to do with it. So one day, she cut it up and made a wee bag! Now, Joan, can you please hold still for one second so I can take a pic. Please?


Thank you!

by Meg Nakagawa

Bags, by Rose Pelvin

We saw this one, virtually, before here.

Here is a photo she brought; the top right one is by Win Currie, but the rest, by Rose, were all sold before she had the chance to show us.

This is usually a wine bottle bag, but on this day it carried Rose's umbrella. Woven in leno, it is a very stretchy bag.

"The knot and fringe makes it totally impractical because you cannot stand the bottle on the table," said Rose.

Someone replied immediately, "Get the kind with the dimple in the bottom!"

by Meg Nakagawa & Rose Pelvin

Bands, Bands and More Bands, by Chris Beech

A selection of bands I have woven over the years, all on 4 shaft floor loom - 1" wide bands look a bit ridiculous on a 48" loom, but it is a very efficient way to weave these warp faced bands. I don't use a reed as the epi is so high, simply pull the weft taut and use the shuttle to beat it hard to the fell.

The first pic shows four warp faced tabby braids, all in carpet wool except the Christmassy one which uses crochet cotton.

The 2nd pic shows warp faced twill bands: 1 and 3 from left to right are chevron twills [see Handwoven Sept 1982,page 50], while nos. 2 and 4 are card weaving designs adapted to a 4 shaft loom [as per Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot Winter 1976].

Dianne, does this help??

by Chris Beech

Bag, by Anne Udy

Not difficult to spot Anne Udy colours all the way from this end of the table! Lovely.

by Meg Nakagawa

Details of Works by Peg Moorhouse

Here are some close ups of work Peg Moorhouse's work I shot during our November meeting to whet your appetite.

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Bag, by Jenny Murray

Elegant and lovely. This bag is smaller and more delicate than it appears in the photo.

by Meg Nakagawa

Bag, by Sue Timpany

Joan inspects Sue's bag, in cotton.

By Meg Nakagawa

Peg Moorhouse In The exPress

It is not her age that makes her weaving fabulous, but we don't shy away from good publicity (and fabulous photos) of our members. So here's Peg Moorhouse in the Marlborough Express last month.

Blog Mum

Bag, by Chris Beech

Chris was much too dismissive of this attractive bag, but her view may have been colored by the fact the body of the bag used to be her skirt some years ago. Made of wool, with a lovely new band, this bag comes in a hefty, nice size and a unique shape. Chris is going to use it to haul library books.

by Meg Nakagawa

November Meeting in Two Parts

First part of the 2009 Year-End Meeting of Marlborough Weavers took place in Annie's Cafe on State Highway 1 yesterday. We had a lovely brunch, followed by a Show and Tell of our 2009 bag project. There were some spectacular bags, and we will be showing them to you in the next few weeks. (Alas, yours truly did not have one.) And then we went around the table reporting about our individual projects. While most of us had one goal, with different results, Joan set four goals for herself and finished two.

Then we visited Peg Moorhouse in Sunshine Bay and viewed her recent work, and had a nice cup of tea and Christmas mince pie. We started to talk about the 2010 goals/projects as well as possible topics for our meetings. These will be finalized during our first meeting in January.

We'll show you some of Peg's recent works in the coming weeks as well.

Next meeting is around the third week of January 2010.

by Meg Nakagawa

Bags To Be, by Meg Nakagawa

Every year Marlborough Weavers have a theme or a project that members work towards during the year, and show results to the group at the end of the year. This year one of the projects has been bags, hence Win's beautiful pieces.

I, having belonged to Marlborough Weavers for three years, start thinking about these projects with gusto every February but somehow have not managed to come up with tangible results for the first two years,. So I would love to be able to show at least one bag at the last meeting of this, my third, year.

I was surprised, and impressed, that Win planned a whole weaving project with bags in mind, because I have been thinking all year about bags made of end-of-warp swatches, a kind of recycle/salvage project. Unfortunately most of my fabric pieces are extremely soft, because that is what I aim for when I weave my scarves and shawls, but I do believe there is a bag, or two, in my swatch pile somewhere.

I've exactly 14 days to come up with one!

by Meg Nakagawa

The Bags, by Win Currie

These little numbers have proved to be truly multipurpose. I had been planning to make myself a small bag of similar design to one I had bought many years ago, big enough for a change purse, comb and lipstick, car keys, wear over the shoulder so your hands are free. Then our Weavers group decided to have ‘Make a Bag’ as the year’s challenge, and the group had a stash of fine cotton. So here is the result. The hardest part was making the initial paper pattern so that I got all the folds and fancy yarn parts in the right places. I was very pleased with the result though. I still have to devise an improved closure design. I welcome suggestions.

by Win Currie

The Baby Blanket, Or Don’t Always Depend on the Rules, by Win Currie

I have always used the 3:5 rule when making rugs. That is more or less 3’wide by 5’long, the measurements I work to. So I made this baby blanket about 37"wide and about 60"long. When I took it off the loom and spread it out to get the overall effect it looked just... AWFUL. It looked out of proportion and just too long. How to fix it? As luck would have it the block construction was such that I realised I could just chop off the end blocks, zigzag the ends and crochet around the whole lot as I intended to do anyway. Problem solved!! But I still don’t know why the magic formula didn’t work!!

by Win Currie

Come See Us During Garden Marlborough

International Year of Natural Fibre Part 5: Work by Rose Pelvin

And some more of my work.





by Rose Pelvin

International Year of Natural Fibre Part 4: Work by Rose Pelvin

I called my display "A tisket, a tasket . . .". I found all the natural fibre baskets I could for the occasion but had to resort to one plastic one (it is woven though, but not by me). I should have covered it a bit better.



by Rose Pelvin

International Year of Natural Fibre Part 3: New Zealand Flax Weaving by Katie McDonald

These are by Katie McDonald, usually known as a felter but now producing work in flax, (New Zealand flax, phormium tenax, or harakeke.)

Katie's collection of baskets.

Flax bookmarks.

Flax bag, or kete.

by Rose Pelvin

International Year of Natural Fibre Part 2: Work by Chris Beech

Chris Beech brought these works.

A wool blanket in bright colours incorporating squares of huck lace.

Cushions in Summer & Winter.

Chris has perfected her mohair and wool rugs.

This gorgeous scarf is SO soft.

A request from the hospital for baby blankets prompted this one in an 8-shaft twill.

by Rose Pelvin