Tapestry News

Recently our Tapestry Weavers welcomed Lesley Longhurst from Wellington to a couple of their gatherings when she was here on holiday.  Lesley was working on a small tapestry she wanted to enter in the Port Nicholson Handweavers'  exhibition and had to get it finished by the time she returned to Wellington. We can now report that it did get finished, handed in at probably the last second, and in due course was accepted. It is now on view (but not in a real fireplace) with the rest of the group's exhibition at the Blue Pacific Gallery at Pataka in Porirua. Thank you for your friendship and encouragement.

Exciting Discovery

(in Rose's opinion)

Some months ago I saw an article (or advertisement?) with someone using a strip of LED lights fastened under the top bar of the beater on a loom, giving extra light on the fell of the cloth and especially for sleying the reed. I thought it was a brilliant idea and have been keeping my eyes open for something similar.  I found the very thing at Harvey Norman while hanging around waiting for photos. What's more it was in a bargain bin!  Here it is:
  

in the packet . . .

and out of it . . .

 

Showing the switch on the top . . .

and in use . . .

As you can see, it still works when removed from its base. It runs on 3 AAA batteries (supplied).  I have attached it with a couple of loops of elastic and it makes a huge difference. I'm quite excited about it and recommend it to anyone who can find one. Unfortunately there are no more where I got mine but I'm sure a bit of searching on the internet or in other stores may turn up something similar.

Remember this?

They say if you keep something long enough it will come in useful.

This tunic was an entry in 'Fibre Fantasia 2000' and has been hanging in a closet ever since.  This weekend my daughter Lesley claimed it for her 50th birthday present.  It is woven in fine wool, pleated and hand stitched.  She may wear the emu feathered hat that goes with it but draws the line at the silver stockings that completed the outfit.

Remember this?

Thanks to Chris we had some extra treats at Festival in the displays she arranged around the walls of the Convention Centre . . . big walls! . . . big job!  Well done Chris; some very pleasant memories of shared projects were stirred up.

Remember the making of the Friendship Quilt?  Some of the participants in this project are still current members. Others have moved on but are not forgotten.  There were many conversations around this piece at Festival, trying to work out whose square was whose.  This finished article is Win's.

And a few years later there was an exchange project with table mats. This time there were two groups of six making mats with a cottolin warp and linen weft with a lace weave of choice as a pattern.  This set was made into a tablecloth with crochet inserts and border, and the names of the participants are included in the borders.

And here is a reminder of our more recent teatowel exchange. These are not the exact towels we exchanged; hopefully they are being well and truly used in all our kitchens.  What will we do next I wonder?