Show and Tell in September

 These days much of Win's work can be identified by her signature crochet medallions.  This time the flowers are surrounding small 'windows' of unwoven warp.

Win came in for some good-natured ribbing for bringing a piece of felting to the weaving group. She had a great time learning to make it and here Chris shows it off to good effect.

Jen had been adventurous and used one of the patterns from a workshop to make a scarf in a mix of wool and cotton.  She is musing about daffodils but others were thinking sage and primroses.

Rose had fulfilled a long-held ambition to weave fabric fine enough for a handkerchief.  Here it is, surrounded by tatting, also worked in a fine cotton. Now what to do with it?  And the rest of the fabric . . . more handkerchiefs?  Why?

The red piece is woven with an even finer weft than the white. Unfortunately the reed marks have not washed out in either piece.

More Show & Tell

 The first two items in this post came with our Richmond friends.

Note the fascinating braided twill. . .

and an interesting example of repp weave.

This is the detail of a wrap similar to the one Win had in the National Exhibition.  The side panels are alpaca.

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Among the 'tried and trusted' towels was this one from Joan. It would be such a pleasure to use.

Rose produced this lightweight wrap with bamboo warp separated by slub cotton panels of Bronson lace.  The weft is the same cotton.

National Exhibition 2013

Marlbourgh was well represented in the Exhibition with nine entries being accepted, one of them winning the Innovation award and one a Merit certificate.

This black alpaca wrap with a central cotton crochet lace panel incorporating crochet flowers was made by Win and very fittingly won the Innovation award sponsored by Kim Thittichai.  In the catalogue a different photograph shows it draped on a mannequin and it looks even better than it does here. Congratulations Win.

Chris's signature block weave mohair throw looked cosy and warm even though it is in cool colours. This photo under gallery lighting doesn't do it justice.  Below is her table runner, the end result of a group project on three-shaft petit point pick up weave. Very impressive Chris.

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 It was very satisfying to have four pieces of handwoven linen from our group on display.  June's runner is in the photo above and Win's below.

 These two runners are by Rose; the lower one was granted a Merit award from the Linen Trust.  Why that piece was singled out is a mystery because all the linen was beautifully executed. Perhaps it was because it was hemstitched.

The emphasis of the Festival was on Fashion and yardage of all varieties was asked for. This is Rose's piece in cotton, linen and silk.

The Felters were represented by Christine with this piece incorporating silver wire and mounted on perspex.  It was appropriately titled 'Every Cloud has a Silver Lining.' Note the red dot!  In fact our members had several sales to add to the satisfaction of being accepted.

Unfortunately I don't have a photo but Jan also represented the felters in the Runway Show. She entered a three-piece outfit named 'Hot Sunrise' comprised of a nuno felted pink skirt and navy top, complemented by a felt hat.  It looked great coming down the runway.

Well done everyone . . . but where were our spinners and knitters?

The Festival will be in Dunedin next year.  The time to start planning is NOW.

Tapestry Weavers

The Tapestry Weavers were meeting at Barbara's so I took the opportunity to drop in for some photos.

No tapestries in sight but cookies, coffee and grapes were being enjoyed in the sun.

Win had sent off her 'Mountains to the Sea' entry to Wellington and was leafing through a magazine for inspiration.
Look for the Australia/NZ Tapestry Exchange exhibit at Festival.

Jenny has a look at the eco-dyed merino top Jan is wearing and was updated on how it's done.

March Meeting Part 3 of 3

Show and Tell: Joan was pleased to finally get this finished as it was woven on an 8-shaft table loom. Evedryone really liked the mix of colours and the asymmetric design.

Jen has been making scarves and working through the patterns she discovered at our last workshop. Well done Jen.

 Rose had just finished her Cross Country assignment on Deflected Double Weave. The top photo shows front and reverse of one pattern and the bottom photo shows the difference after a minor change in the tie-up.

Nancy was just back from a cruising holiday and showed some paper quilling she learned on board.

Win also had an item to show but as it is under wraps until the National Festival in Porirua this month the photo won't be posted this 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.

OOOoops!

Sooner or later it happens to all of us.

This time it's Win's turn. After several successful alpaca warps,all of a sudden this one fought back. Yes, it was a different batch of yarn.

Win may not be able to hang out washing for a while; most of her pegs seem to be otherwise occupied.

And Rose is not immune to the odd overfilled bobbin.

Oh well, "keep calm and carry on."

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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.

July Show and Tell Part 1

Win's alpaca scarf is as light as a feather. She used a combination of loom-woven lace and hand-manipulated leno.

Another scarf from Win - alpaca of course.

And, for a change, Win had knitted a hat in the entrelac technique.

Joan is showing Betsy's runner, woven following the Maryanne Stamford workshop.

And here is a close-up. Very nice Betsy.

More photos to come.