"Timeless Treasures", by Rose Pelvin

These are from my exhibition, "Timeless Treasures", at Fibre Spectrum, Trafalgar Street, Nelson, for the month of May.

by Rose Pelvin

April Block Weave Workshop, Part 2

Some of us were greatly helped by looking at her woven samples to understand the theory; all of us were in awe of her samples, each of us having different favorites.

 Joan could not believe she put on a brown warp for a sampler, but she did get lovely results.

 Chris's consultation with Maryann paid off; she got nice bright samples.

Judy was hard at work.

 Marjike experimented with polychrome Summer & Winter.

 Maryann demonstrated pick up.

Win was tentative at first, but became very brave.

Win's sample: reversed 3-end twill in the background.

This was woven with a textured weft yarn. Says Win, "It should be woven with the pattern on the reverse side to minimise lifting of sheds."

"In the pale weft section the part between the 2 motifs is done by 'pick up ' method," by Win, who previous thought "pick-up" was a dirty word! 

Joan, you're not still talking about the brown warp, are you??

by Rose Pelvin, Win Currie & Meg Nakagawa

April Block Weave Workshop, Part 1

On 14 & 15 April, we welcomed Maryann Stamford from Queensland, Australia, to teach us about weaving in blocks. At times some of us felt our brains were scrambled, but the many woven samples Maryann showed us helped, and in the end we came out excited about new possibilities.

 Let's see how how we can weave the word "GUEST" on a guest towel.

 Anne, Betsy and Judy filling in squares...

 Barbara and Joan creating separate blocks...

 Chris and Marjike figuring out the lifting order; do we see a smile on Chris?

 

 Chris gets her profile draft converted into a weaving draft by Maryanne.

"Oh, and we know how to weave this now!"

by Rose Pelvin & Meg Nakagawa

Sneak Preview, by Rose Pelvin

Advance notice that I have an exhibition at Fibre Spectrum in Nelson for May. I've called it Timeless Treasures as I'm bringing out some of my linen pieces that have been 'maturing' in a dark alcove for a while. I do have some new work in the form of braided cords for necklaces, and in between there are scarves - where would we be without them.

by Rose Pelvin

Creative Fibre Festival 2011 and 2012, by Chris

The annual festival of Creative Fibre, or NZSWWS, (New Zealand Spinning, Weaving and Woolcrafts Society) opens in beautiful Thames tomorrow, Thursday 28 April. To everybody going to Thames, have a lovely time, and look out for the Festival 2012 team - they'll be the ones in funny hats proclaiming Love Marlborough. Because...

The festival in 2012 will be held in Blenheim, hosted by our big-sister organization, Marlborough Creative Fibre guild, and today, we are happy to announce the official launch of our website/blog, Facebook page, and Twitter.

This blog will be updated as details of the festival are finalised and information/material are made available. So, please visit regularly.

by Chris Beech

March Meeting: Thick and Thin

The topic for the March meeting was thick and thin. Unfortunately my camera batteries ran out before I could photograph many of the examples people brought in. These are the few I did get.

June's "Scotch Thistle" in thick and thin yarns in three-shaft pick-up, which she assured us is an easy technique. Sides A and B.

Tricia's scarf with the yarns she used to make it.

A favourite blanket weave from Rose. In this case, the 'thick' is boucle.
(EDIT: Rose wasn't sure about this photo, but Blog Mum understands the difficulty of photographing fluffy textiles with autofocus. Plus, what weaver can resist the lovely loops in this cloth, right?)


by Rose Pelvin

February Meeting: Setting the Programme at Tricia's

We met on Saturday at the home of Tricia who is one of our group's co-leaders this year. Unfortunately Sue, the other leader couldn't be there. What an inspiration to be faced with colour, colour, colour, yarns, yarns, yarns and books, books, books! Thank you Tricia for allowing us to delve into your treasures and inspect everything. As Chris pointed out, there could be a whole workshop/study on your cushions alone! Sorry I didn't get to take photos of show and tell. I must have been awe-struck!

Tricia checks the agenda for the day

June is fascinated by the array of Rowan yarns

Noeline and her daughter Sonya sitting with Anne. So glad you haven't moved to Christchurch yet Anne.

Joan made herself comfortable to have a browse among the books.

Sonya's socks which she knitted herself.

by Rose Pelvin

Meanwhile, Blog Mum has been tardy in organizing the multi-part post from the last meeting of 2010 held in November. They will be coming soon-ish.

Handmade for Christchurch

A group of mothers established Handmade for Christchurch. Here is their Facebook page, and here is their information if you'd like to donate your hand work. (Don't click on the flier; I can't remember how to put a link to it.)

Here is their TradeMe (NZ eBay) page. For now only residents of New Zealand and Australia can bid, but they are working on an alternative PayPal option.

Donations will go to the Salvation Army and Women's Refuge.

If you'd like to help us spread the word, please feel free to copy the picture above and post, (I have their permission,) but please also attach at least one workable link.

Creative Fibre at Heritage Day, Brayshaw Park, Blenheim, February 6th 2011

Jan showing Inkle Weaving

by Chris Beech

Creative Fibre at Heritage Day, Brayshaw Park, Blenheim, February 6th 2011

Win demonstrating tapestry weaving

by Chris Beech