June Meeting

The June meeting was held on a Saturday at the home of Joan McLauchlan, Wairau Valley. Joan had a loom set up for bead leno which was a mystery for some members and something of a nostalgia trip for others. Here are some photos taken by Chris, beginning with our happy hostess.

Warp threads are in groups of four, two of which are threaded together through a bead. These two warps work together, being lifted up on one side or the other of the other two warps.

The work in progress, with two yarns wound together on the shuttle.

The leno fabric while still stretched on the loom. The twist in the warp threads makes for open spaces between wefts.  When relaxed the result is a light lace-like fabric.

Show and tell items will be posted soon.

Table Runner in 8/2 mercerised cotton

This is show and tell on line because this runner will be delivered to its new owner before our meeting. The green stripes are in warp faced 3/1 broken twill and the red is in alternate blocks of double weave and twill. This is a beautiful yarn to weave with and I recommend it.

And an update on the LED light stick reported on recently. It works well for threading the heddles too. I just attach it to the reverse side of the beater and I can see to carry on a lot longer on a winter afternoon when the light disappears early.

It is good to be weaving again and hope you are all doing the same. Send me your photos to share.

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?

Saturday

 Important people wore fascinators. Joan and Chris had an important conversation.

 Chris gave us an important wave!

People, bags and fibre/textile work everywhere. At the far end of the foyer works made by our presenters. To the right of the cluster of people was one of our presenters, Kim, talking about her work and products.

As I said, everywhere!

The corridor to Trades Hall.

Vendors made bag ladies of us all. Isn't that right, Peg??

Donated (to the Cancer Society) hats.

And more people at our exhibitions.

There is more on the Festival Blog.

This post concludes my tenure as Blog Mum, as Marlborough Weavers blog will be handed over to Rose Pelvin. Thank you for visiting us in the first three years and a bit, and please continue to drop by and say hello.

Meg

Ready for Festival

Rose

Four Directions in Tapestry

Greetings fellow weavers.  We have a wonderful opportunity between now and 6 May to see the work of four renowned tapestry weavers. And it's lots of work. The whole of the Yealands Estate Gallery (that's the Art Society Gallery on High Street) is full of tapestries large and small, all expertly woven. Don't miss it.

Only a Week to Go

No, no, we haven't been weaving much. We've only one week to go before the Creative Fibre Festival 2012 in Blenheim starts!

Here are some articles and notices covering our Festival:
Marlborough Express
Love Marlborough
Marlborough 4 Fun events guide 

by Meg