Making Felted Balls – 21 February 2023

Three of our members (Flo, Marilyn P, and Caroline) each taught a different method of making felted balls.  

Marilyn teaches the needle-felted method.

Caroline teaches the wet-felt rolling method.

Flo teaches the Shake-in-a-jar method.

Thinking of our Challenge for this year – “Vibrant Embellishment”, we also considered ways the balls and other solid felted shapes could be used as embellishment, for instance, cutting them, threading them, and how they could be enhanced with embroidery, beads etc.

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Show and Tell – 14 February 2023

Elizabeth’s Knitted Hedgehogs.

Brenda’s Knitted Jumper and Beanie. Helen’s Knitted Teddy Bear.

Rachel’s Hand-dyed, Hand-Spun, Knitted Shawl.

Fran’s Weaving – woven on a Triangle Loom, and Crocheted together.

Rachel’s Knitted Cotton Shawl.

First Meeting of Year – 7 February 2023

We discussed our In house challenge for this year.   It is to be “Vibrant Embellishments”.   We also had a stash swap.

We brought along examples of items we had that were vibrant, or embellishments, to get us started with thinking about the Challenge.  Rachel had hosted a dyeing day last month, and she brought the vibrant wool that she had dyed.

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The stash swap.

Audrey Retrospective Exhibition 16 -22 November 2022

Audrey was born and raised in Australia but lived most of her adult life in New Zealand. Her husband Bill was a radio engineer and also very creative. He made Audrey many tools to use in her fibre work. They had two children and a few years ago celebrated 55 years of marriage. 

Over 25 years ago she had the idea to start a creative fibre guild in Johnsonville and rallied a group of local ladies and has been a vital part of the Guild ever since.

She wrote and published a book on Knitting Finishing and was very generous with her time teaching spinning, knitting, and weaving. Audrey’s work speaks for itself here in this exhibition, it is clear she held herself to very high standards and the Guild members were encouraged to do the same.

This exhibition was conceived of while Audrey was in the Cashmere Home.  We originally planned to make items using materials and pieces from her stash, and then take them to her at the Home to share with her, however she passed on to be with her beloved Bill earlier this year. We asked our members to make anything they liked but to firstly include items that were previously Audrey’s and secondly to hold themselves to her high standards. Our tributes to Audrey are now at this exhibition, accompanied by many examples of her work, several of which have won awards in national competitions.

She made many of her own outfits, sometimes in collaboration with her sister Edna, also a talented fibre artist and seamstress. There was always a hat, a scarf and often a broach. She has a distinct style, often playful and exactly what she wanted to wear. Most of these outfits were made starting with wool straight off the sheep’s back, or with raw silk, so cleaning of the fibre, dying, spinning fibre all had to occur before knitting or weaving could even start.

So as Onslow Fibre Crafts Guild goes forward, we hold her memory dear and aim to educate and support our members to excellence in the fibre arts. Enjoy these items on display and be inspired to go on and nurture your own creativity in whatever avenue you choose. If it’s in the fibre arts, we’re always happy to have new members.

At the entrance of the Exhibition…….

Just a few examples of the many items Audrey has created over the years.

Details of hand-woven garments.

Knitting and Spinning.

A sampler for Education purposes.

Some of the items that members created using materials from Audrey’s stash, that were displayed as part of the exhibition.

AGM and Audrey Challenge – 8 November 2022

Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer at the Onslow Fibrecrafts Guild AGM.

The Challenge to members for 2022 was to make something using some of Audrey’s stash which she had donated to the Guild.  Any item and technique could be used and the item could be started from scratch; finishing something she started; or including her work as an embellishment. 

Audrey was the founder of Onslow Fibrecrafts Guild in 1994, and we aimed to reflect Audrey and her high standards of worksmanship in what we made.

Challenge Categories and Results:

All Over Favourite – Four Joint Winners: clockwise from top left – Winifred (front and back images), Rachel, Fran, Esther.

Most Quirky/Unusual – Flo

Most Beautifully Crafted – Tomoko

Most Reflective of Audrey – Rachel

Dorset Button Workshop – 25 October 2022

Caroline taught a workshop on how to make Dorset Buttons.

She suppled the group with a table full of resources.

Concentrating hard……..

Being able to use the large screen at the Collective Hub adds to our learning experience.

Show and Tell – 11 October 2022

Helen’s elephant that she has knitted for charity, with fabric-lined ears.

Kay’s hand-spun, knitted and felted bag containing knitted Christmas decorations to be sent to her son overseas.

Tomoko’s Corriedale wool spinning plied with cotton boucle.

Rachel has modified a dress by adding an eco-dyed panel into the front and as a shawl.

Various yarns which Rachel has spun and is deciding which to weave together into a blanket. The orange and blue yarns are hand-dyed.

Esther’s Beanie, Knitted with Brioche stitch, and learnt at the FibreEd event in New Plymouth.

Spinning Wheel Workshop with Mary Knox and Shan Wong – 27 September 2022

Mary, joined by her colleague Shan, took a workshop on Spinning Wheel maintenance. She first talked about the essential aspects of maintaining a wheel, and then she and Shan helped members with their individual wheels. There were many happy members with smoothly-running wheels by the end of the session. A very big “Thank You” to Mary and Shan!

Mary and Shan’s website: https://nzspinningwheels.wordpress.com/ To follow, sign up on their website.

Show and Tell – 20 September 2022

Helen’s Knitted Scarf

Elizabeth’s Knitted Stash Cardigan for charity

Kay’s Floor Rug for her son. Pattern: “10-stitch Blanket

Micky’s Hand-woven Tartan rug. Her third weaving on a floor loom.

Flo’s Inkle Loom Woven Braces and Belt

Micky’s Romney wool – spun and plied with thread in preparation for a garment.

Micky’s Knitted “Laurilie Scarf” which includes garter st, mosaic knitting and lace.

Flo’s Handspun Alpaca

Micky’s Hand-woven Tea Towels

Helen’s Knitted Bear with Woven Inkle loom Scarf

In Memory of Queen Elizabeth II -a Members’s Friend’s Knitted Figure

Show and Tell – 9 August 2022

Marilyn P’s ‘Feather & Fan’ blanket.

Flo’s inkle loom braids.

Elizabeth’s double moss stitch knitted scarf.

Maureen’s ‘Wool & Honey’ jumper and ‘After the Storm’ cardigan.

Glenis’ mixed media creations using air-dry clay, copper wire, felt and beads.

More of Glenis’ mixed media creations.

Kay’s double-knitting socks for her son, and her spinning for a floor rug.

Elizabeth’s hand-quilted cot quilt.