October Meeting

Our topic for the meeting was 'cushions' presented by Tricia.  She had numerous examples of cushions she had made and each one had a story.  Other people brought along their handmade cushions, ancient and modern, and we talked about them all.  I din't take photos of this part of the meeting.  I did snap the show and tell though.

These linen mats of June's are so perfectly finished they could be used on either side. The yarn is a '3 cord mercerised linen' which has been maturing in the back of June's stash for some time. The mats were displayed at the Area Exhibition in Westport and looked lovely.

Also displayed at Westport was this cylindrical tapestry of Jan's.  She had gone to a great deal of trouble to mount it in this fashion and was surprised to learn that for the exhibition it was deconstructed and displayed flat - after which it was painstakingly reassembled the way Jan had sent it!  Those who saw it displayed said it looked superb.

Our newest weaver, Jen, has taken a giant step up and threaded her widest and finest warp yet.  This is a teatowel made with 8/2 unmercerised cotton and you can see from the close-up that she has been clever with designing stripes and changing direction of the twills. We all thought the colours were lovely too.

Tricia's garment is a work in progress. The fabric is the first she wove when she came to Blenheim and each time we see it it has been enhanced in some way. Note the shaping of the shoulders. Joan, who is modelling it here, was impressed with how comfortable it is to wear.  Tricia has added the embellishments as ideas have some to hand from various sources, and says there is more beading to come.

 This wrap is made by Rose with panels of alpaca and silk in plain weave and panels of lace weave in 16/2 mercerised cotton. The weft is also the mercerised cotton.  It has been notoriously hard to photograph as it is a really dark navy.  The panels are outlined in fine silver thread, each end being finished off with a little square 'diamond' purloined from a bracelet when the right beads could not be found. These are shown in the photo below but you will have to excuse the washed out colour of the wrap.

Another piece was the large throw rug shown in the previous post.

Joan also showed us some treasures she brought back from her travels and I will post photos of them next time.

Happy New Year

2013 began for the Weaving Group with a gathering at Burnside, Joan's home up the Wairau Valley. What a great way to start the year. And people have been busy as there was a lot to show and tell.

Win had persevered with the alpaca 'dog' she had on the loom in the previous post, and look at it now!  Who would think it had caused so much anguish.

Win had also ventured into weaving with linen. Note the hand manipulated lace at top and bottom as well as the loom controlled lace in the centre.

Yet another fibre. This time it is Judy with silk scarves. They're gorgeous Judy. If only we could touch them!

That's enough to ponder on for now. More photos from this meeting in a few days.

October Meeting

Win Not only did her homework by planning a blanket inspired from delving into the ancient magazines; she actually wove the blanket!  A very generous size, it was woven in two pieces and joined invisibly. It is lighter in weight than it looks and lovely and soft due to lots of mohair boucle. 

 Having to be 'on duty' at various displays and demonstrations has its benefits. Rose found a set of mercerised cotton and linen tablemats that have been 'maturing' for a while. The threads were drawn, the hems pressed and tacked into place so it was easy to sit and hemstitch a couple of them at the big stamp expo where we showed our wares.

And talking of the stamp expo, we just have to show one of the visitors we had. Her name is Fern. Isn't she beautiful? and the New Zealand Falcon had just been voted 'Bird of the Year' so it was quite special to see her up close.

Back to business . . . Rose added two more 'luxury yarn' scarves to her collection.  Here is a really lightweight one with 70% alpaca and 30% silk in white and a soft beige.

And this is 80% merino and 20% cashmere. A lovely handle.