Colour Award

Colour Award for the best use of colour

‘Prayers’
Meg Nakagawa

100% cotton on 16 shafts, consisting of 4 blocks of very simple structures.
Several people in my life have been gravely ill or have passed lately, and though I am not the praying kind I have latched on to the idea of prayer shawls, and making this piece has been my prayer.

All award winners' photographs taken by Caroline Crick, Caroline Crick Photography and Media

Merit Award

Merit Award

‘A classic Heirloom’
Florence Murdoch

Double Weave. A four shaft overshot pattern adapted to eight shafts for double-faced plain weave - no floats.

All award winners' photographs taken by Caroline Crick, Caroline Crick Photography and Media

Merit Award

Merit Award

‘90-91’
Joan Downes

Bobbin Lace (Torchon)

All award winners' photographs taken by Caroline Crick, Caroline Crick Photography and Media

Linen Trust Award

Linen Trust Award for the best entry in 100% linen

‘For Those Special Days’
Julia Murbach

Table cloth 100% linen, handspun weft. Runner in Bronson Lace for the table centre, 100% millspun linen.

All award winners' photographs taken by Caroline Crick, Caroline Crick Photography and Media

Creative Fibre Award

Creative Fibre Award for fibre art with an emphasis on artistic content, colour and design. Entry must be the original design of the entrant.

‘Hot Chilli’
Trish Cuttriss

Handwoven drall style twill scarf in 100% mercerised cotton.

All award winners' photographs taken by Caroline Crick, Caroline Crick Photography and Media

National Exhibition Overview

Here are some views of the National Exhibition at the Millennium Art Gallery; the exhibition opened on Friday and goes on until 29 April.

This is the view that greets you as you enter the gallery.

The Creative Fibre National Exhibition 2012 is Open

The Mayoress of Marlborough Thelma Sowman, who opened the exhibition, in conversation with Peg Moorhouse.

June McKenzie

Committee Member Wendy Inder in a different role as President of Bleheim's Inner Wheel who provided delicious food.

Rose & Joan

Creative Fibre Exhibition photographer Caroline at work.

STOP PRESS: Attention Exhibition Entrants

If you have sent an entry (or entries) to the National Exhibition in Blenheim, please be assured that it has been received. ALL parcels were received safely and in good order.

I have sent acknowledgments individually by email to all entrants who have email addresses but I am hearing from several quarters that some people have not received these. I can only surmise that, because I sent out about 130 emails over 3 or 4 days, all with the same subject line, that some email systems have read them as spam and not delivered them.

As well as the acknowledgment, each of these messages had, as an attachment, an invitation to the opening of the exhibition at 6PM, Friday 23 March. So if you have not received one, please know that all who sent entries in, whether selected or not, are welcome to come to the opening, though I know the distance precludes this for many of you.

At the Festival, the awards will be read out and photos of the winners will be shown on a big screen, and selected awards given out in person. There will also a list on the noticeboard.

Look forward to a really stunning exhibition!

Rose

Santa in March!

This is what greets you when you open your back door at 7.15AM when you are the receiver of the exhibition parcels!

Rose/Joan

Storytime

Keep your eye on the notice board when you are at Festival. One of the special treats will be Storytelling with Mary Sheddan. Mary developed her interest in reading and literacy programmes during many years of teaching. Her interest in storytelling began when she first met Dreamweaver, Elizabeth Miller, the pioneer of Storytelling NZ, and has since attended storytelling workshops in NZ and USA. Mary delights in sharing her stories and emphasises that storytelling is not just for children.

Let us not forget that stories are not just for children. The very good ones teach us where to go when we’re young, and remind us where we’ve been when we’re older. And the best ones help to keep us forever young. [unknown author]

Mary has collected fibre-related stories from myths and legends from many lands and will be telling some of these during festival. Take time from the busyness to sit and listen.

If you want your children to be brilliant, tell them fairy tales . . . If you want them to be more brilliant, tell them even more fairy tales. [Albert Einstein]

Joan

Special Interest Groups - Cross Country Weavers

CCW is one of the Special Interest Groups that will meet briefly during Festival. The members come from all over the country, many from rural areas, and communicate by mail so it is a great opportunity to meet new friends face to face — and new friendships are often the result of joining CCW.

Working in small groups of 6—8, members are given a topic each year and each will weave samples on that topic, sending a swatch, complete with the draft and relevant details, to each of the others and to the group’s librarian. As well, each member weaves a sample of their own choice to exchange. The exciting part comes when the large envelopes start appearing in the mail box, usually with a chatty letter from the sender.

Over the years each member builds up a great network of colleagues and a very useful resource. The library accumulates an even bigger resource as it collects samples from all the groups. This is available for all Creative Fibre members and groups to use for only the cost of the postage.

Find out more about how you can benefit from joining CCW.

Joan

Special Interest Groups - The New Zealand Felters

The New Zealand Felters will meet at Festival Friday 27th April at lunchtime. Check the Festival noticeboard for details of time and place.

NZ Felters is a group of feltmakers affiliated to Creative Fibre, with members from throughout New Zealand. They all share the passion for creating with wool and fibre.

They now have a website, nzfelters, featuring photos of events and regular updates giving the latest information on workshops, exhibitions and events. Do check out this informative and inspiring blog. Input from felters and comments from all visitors to the blog are requested to ensure the blog is relevant to all NZ felters’ needs, and so that the felters know their work is acknowledged.

To have details from felting groups posted, send to nzfelters@gmail.com.

Check out the latest information on the SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE FELTMAKERS CONVERGENCE on their blog.

Christine/Joan

Special Interest Groups - Creative Fibre Spinners

Creative Fibre Spinners is a nationwide group of spinners who keep in touch through a newsletter 3-4 times a year.

It provides a forum for tips and ideas.

Members take part in “show and tell”, supplying samples of their yarns and a brief description of how they were achieved.
A yarn library has been started. Members spin a particular thread from their own fibres and then receive samples of thread spun from that fibre by others in the group.

There are challenges which members can participate in if they wish. Fibre is supplied and a display is mounted at Festival of samples spun from that fibre.

Check out this year’s Festival display and come to the meeting to see if this forum is for you.

Kathy