June's House

When I was in Blenheim in April for the block weave workshop, I had the great pleasure of visiting June McKenzie at her home.  The house itself is a lovely old villa with a rambling garden, but what was so exciting was every room was full of June's woven work, not just scarves and fabrics, but garments and even upholstered pieces. 

So, may I suggest you make yourself a nice cup of something lovely, and "walk" with me?

 Possibly my most favorite piece of the day was this foot stool. 

Rain got heavier and the light very bad, so the colors in the photo above and below are not representative of these fabrics, but I knew you'd want to see the texture and the design.

Thank you for a lovely time, June.

You can see more of June's work here.


by Meg Nakagawa

Wall Hanging, by Judy Bool

My personal challenge for 2010 was to weave a wall hanging. An article by Betty Booth in Issue 21 of The Wheel magazine was just what I needed.

The warp was 22/2 black Cottolin and 16/2 black linen, wound together.
The pattern weft was the cottolin and linen wound together with an unspun woolen variegated yarn, used double, for the pattern rows. I also used a metallic yarn in this pattern row.

Finished size is 60 inches by 30 inches.

I am pleased with the final result - but would I weave another? Maybe. It was enjoyable laying in the fancy yarns but nobody told me that linen has a mind of it's own!

by Judy Bool

July Meeting: Part 2: Show and Tell

Scarves are still in!
Clockwise from top left: Win, Jan, Betsy, Chris and Joan.

Jan completed this tapestry in a mirror image design. Next time you see this it will be a book cover.

Joan made this double cordiroy rug in the glorious colours of rata flowers fallen on to a clump of bird's-nest fern. Her meticulous finishing of the warp ends is a work in progress.

Detail.

Win rediscovered an old favourite, dog roses in plain weave on a background of Bronson lace. She used Irish linen weft on a cotton warp.

by Rose Pelvin

Lake Rotoiti Retreat

This large and lovely throw in 8 shaft twill blocks is one of Chris's stash reduction projects, held by Jan.

Katie has done some superb finishing on her felted jacket. Back in June at our garment workshop we saw this jacket being fitted. It had started out as three sleeveless tops. Great conversion Katie!

This magnificent bag started the weekend as a pile of flax. By Saturday morning it was a bag and by the end of the retreat it would have plaited straps to make it into a backpack.

by Rose Pelvin

Happy Birthday Peg! by Rose Pelvin

Peg will celebrate her 93rd birthday on Friday 9 July. As you can see she is as sprightly as ever.

And here is one of her latest hangings. Now she is threading up a brilliant blue warp. Watch this space.

by Rose Pelvin

Denim Rag Rugs "Jeanetically Modified I, II and III", by Chris Beech

The denim rugs from my last rag rug session are now 20 years old and decidedly shabby, so I recently attacked the most boring part of my stash - a box full of jean legs [mostly the backs of legs as the fronts were full of patches and too tough to cut]. The result is these three rugs, woven without any fuss joining strips, but still very serviceable.

I used 12/6 cotton rug warp at 4 epi for the 2 tabby rugs, and 8 epi for the 4 end block rug, with denim strips cut approximately 2 - 3 cm wide. The cotton warp was OK, but I definitely prefer a seaming twine or linen warp, which have much less give in them, allowing very positive beating. The advantage of the cotton is that it comes ready dyed in a range of colours.

The tabby rugs are about 1.5 x 0.8 m, and used 190 gm of warp[for 2], and about 2.25 kg of rags each.

by Chris Beech

The Latest from Peg Moorhouse

A visit to Peg's at the end of April shows a recent swing back towards her signature damask weaving. This in spite of an ongoing maintenance issue with a complex draw loom with no instructions and no loom mechanic to call on... and a NZ-wide dwindling supply of the precious linen yarn she uses. Well done Peg! Keep up the good work.

Only at Peg's . . .or at Spotlight!

by Rose Pelvin

Cherry Blossom Blanket, by Meg Nakagawa

My mother, who lives in Yokohama, Japan, hates the winter and the cold. She tolerates it, just, until the Christmas and New Year holiday, but after the grandchildren resume their normal lives, her days are spent, among other things, planning flower blossom trips around Tokyo and beyond. (Flower blossom viewing is a centuries-old national pastime there.) In January, there are the winter peonies at Kamakura Shrine; February/March, plums; March/April cherry blossoms; May, irises and wisterias; June, hydrangeas, and so on, and so on all year round.

Having booked my first planned trip in nine years, (three trips in between were emergencies,) I thought to weave her something reminding her of the coming spring during the worst of the of the winter, when I'd be home. Since I was born in early April, and because they are my favorite, I wanted to weave a blanket inspired by Japanese cherry blossoms.

Here, you see the tentative pink and the white petals, along with the gray, cold sky, and some darker petals - they are the multiple-petaled blossoms. Cherry flowers last anywhere between a few days to a week, their petals often blown away in the spring wind, (sometimes called "petal blizzard",) , or washed away in the cold rain. By the time the yellow-green baby leaves come out, the flowers are over for another year.

I got this blanket off the loom just in time to take home with me in January, and fringed and wet-finished it in my mother's bath tub.

(That's Dad wondering how many more pics I need before he could get the blanket back.)

by Meg Nakagawa

Wall Hangings, by Peg Moorhouse

"Pleasure Garden"

by Peg Moorhouse

Friendship Quilt

One of the unexpected pleasures of acquiring a"new" loom (I will post about this later) was re-discovering the Friendship Quilt which was a group project many years ago. I did not take part in it but have sometimes wished I had. Ethne, who was the owner of the loom I now have, had taken part and her quilt, in a lovely muted blue - her "signature colour" - is now treasured by her daughter Judy. Each of the 12 weavers dyed the pattern weft in a colour of their choosing and distributed a ball of it to each of the others. They then wove 12 squares in an overshot pattern of their choosing, one in each of the colours. When all squares were finished they were exchanged so each person had 12 squares, all the same colour but each in a different pattern. What a great day it must have been when that happened! These pictures are of June's finished quilt.

Of the 12 participants, Win, Jenny, Joan and June are still active members of the group. Joyce and Ethne both died, far too young, a couple of others have moved away and some are still around, either very busy with other things or slowing up due to health/age concerns. But they will all remember each other I'm sure. Now I would like to track down as many of those quilts as I can and learn their stories.

by Rose Pelvin

Wall Hangings, by Peg Moorhouse

"Bright Pathways"

"Streams of Silk"

"Beach Memories"

by Peg Moorhouse, Rose Pelvin & Meg Nakagawa

Wall Hangings, by Peg Moorhouse

"Reversible Blues"

by Peg Moorhouse and Rose Pelvin

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

Wall Hangings, by Peg Moorhouse

"Moonlight"

"A Walk in the Bush"

by Peg Moorhouse & 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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