Mid Island Weavers and Spinners (and other fibre enthusiasts) Guild

This is the Mid Island Weavers and Spinners (and other fibre enthusiasts) blog page. The group meets 6:30 pm the first Wednesday of the month during the fall/winter/spring (September through to June). Meetings are now being held downtown at St Andrews Church on Wesley Street at the corner of Fitzwilliam St Commercial St in their meeting room. Guests are welcome to come...bring your knitting, spinning wheel or other fibre addictions. Meetings usually consist of 5 minutes of business, show and tell (bring something), tea and cookies, and some sort of workshop, seminar or talk where you will learn something fibry and interesting.
We now have an email address: MIWSGuild at gmail.com

Thursday, November 4, 2010

suggestion for a dvd the guild should own for the library

Home > Spinning > Video >

Spinning Luxury Fiber DVD

In Stock


Price: $39.95
Quantity
DVD
Item #: 10SP09


ISBN: 9781596684591
Disks: 3


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Description

Spinners today have such an abundance of fiber choices, sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin – and to know how to handle these precious materials once you have them in your hands. In this extensive treatment of the best the fiber world has to offer, Master Spinner Judith MacKenzie shares what she’s learned from deep experience in both craft and industry, with a hands-on teaching style that will give you inspiration, confidence, and good results.

This three-disk set covers:

  • Silk, from cocoon to top to noil to magnificent blends
  • Alpaca, both huaycaya and suri
  • Camel
  • Llama
  • Paco-vicuña
  • Yak
  • Bison
  • Cashmere
  • Quiviut

You’ll learn how to prepare each fiber, how to spin it, how to finish your yarn, and the fascinating history and lore of each.

Preview

Weaving and Sewing for a conference

Donatella, Coco, and You

Judith Shangold's Jacket Spacer 10x10 pixels

Jacket by Judith Shangold

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Donatella Versace, Giorgio Armani, Coco Chanel, and Stella McCartney. Wait a minute! Fashion designers? This is supposed to be Weaving Today’s e-newsletter. Oh, but it is, and it’s your chance to be a clothing designer for an event in Europe.

Väv is a Swedish weaving conference that is held every three years. Approximately 10,000 participants and between 70 and 80 vendors are expected to attend. Imagine that shopportunity! There will be exhibitions by professionals who were trained in Borås and are now employed as weavers, designers, and artists. There will also be displays of contemporary textile art and lectures from well known weavers and designers such as Ulla Cyrus. Some of the lectures will be given in English. Now if this doesn’t already have you scheming a way to get to Sweden next year, how about this? Smart textiles. This is a new wave being studied at a Swedish university that is exploring the combination of craft with technology.

Spacer 10x10 pixels Vav Conference

Väv - Swedish Conference

The focus at next year’s Väv conference is clothing sewn from handwoven fabric. So here’s your chance for international acclaim: Handwoven and Väv magasinet are cosponsoring a joint runway fashion show to be held next September at the conference. We’ll be looking for five tailored and five loom-shaped garments from our readers to represent our weaving community. Whether you are an experienced seamstress who is already thinking of a one-of-a-kind dress that you will “stitch in the ditch” and press with a “tailor’s ham” or a weaver who prefers loom-shaped clothing, get your loom warped and your designing mind engaged to create your best-ever handwoven garment.

Digital photos must be submitted to our website by April 1, 2011, and we will soon be posting complete information on weavingtoday.com. Because we will select the finalists from photographs, we urge you to take special care with your photography. The selected items must be sent to Handwoven, and then we’ll ship them off to Sweden. Oh, one more thing! The winning garments will also appear in a special garment issue of Handwoven scheduled for September/October 2011. For more information go to www.svenskavav.com. (Hint: you might want to grab your Swedish dictionary first.)

Monday, October 25, 2010

Room for anyone wanting to take clothing Workshop

I'm on the Qualicum Weavers and Spinners Guild Workshop Committee and we are offering a seminar put on by Jo Swallow. We still have lots of room if anyone in your guild is interested.
I've visited her studio and she is a wealth of information .
The workshop will be held at Qualicum Bay in the Lighthouse Community Centre. I'm attaching a copy of some of the information that's been sent out. There is nothing to prepare or bring other than what's listed.
Just contact me if anyone would like to come. I'm taking some of my handwoven clothes for critique..should be fun.
Thanks, Jo

Upcoming Fall Workshop:

Jo Swallow

s Weavers Wearables

October 30, 2010

11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Location : Lighthouse Community Hall in the Board Room

Qualicum Bay

Cost : $20.00, payable to QSWG, as soon as possible to ensure your place.

Reminder: If you have paid, and cannot attend, it is your responsibility to find someone to attend in your place or forfeit the workshop fee.

Call Jo, Mary or Jackie to find a replacement on the waiting list?

Number of spaces available: 15 or more

Please make your cheque payable to Qualicum Beach Weavers and Spinners Guild .The final payment date for this workshop is Oct. 18 at the next Q.B.S.&W. Guild meeting at the Loft.

Outline of this course includes sharing for an hour our own woven samples and creations …. What worked and what did n

ot. This should be a lively learning experience as Jo will comment and volunteer suggestions.

Jo Swallow is a dynamic teacher and is very willing to explore patterns, fibres, etc. She is hoping to get weavers to wear what they weave in a fashionable way.

She will have a display of her own handwoven clothing, design booklet handout , as well as her book with “real” swatches which she has for sale. She has prepared an informative lecture for the afternoon.

You will need to bring your lunch, a notebook, samples of weaving, yarns and some of your woven wear if you wish and perhaps a camera for photos.

Schedule for the day

11:00 -12:00 sharing and question period

12:00-1:00 lunch and short break

1:00- 4:00 Weavers

Wearables Seminar

If you have already signed the interest sheet or if you’ve just decided to attend please sign below and return to Jo Williamson.

Email address is :

arway@shaw.ca

Phone 250-757-8402 for any questions you may have.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

ANWG


Once again, ANWG will be awarding conference grants (previously called scholarships) to selected members of ANWG member guilds. As in most recent conference years, 10 grants of $400 each will be awarded to cover conference costs -- registration, housing and meals. Three alternates will also be selected in the event that one or more winners are unable to use the award. The ANWG Board approved the following criteria for conference grant selection:
Applicant must not have previously received a ANWG confer-ence scholarship/grant
Applicant must indicate that acceptance of the grant would make a financial difference and enable conference atten-dance
Applicant must be an active and supportive member of her/his guild
Applicant must be willing to share the conference experience with their Guild members
In addition to the above requirements, preference will be given for:
An applicant who has never attended an ANWG conference
An applicant who has been weaving less than 5 years
There is no application form, rather, a nomination letter from the Guild President or ANWG Representative must be sent to the Con-ference Grants committee addressing the above criteria. A statement from the nominee must also be included. Only one applicant per guild may be nominated. The deadline to receive applications is October 31, 2010. Awards will be announced by December 15, 2010 (note: conference registration is due to open on January 1, 2011).
Applications should be sent electronically (preferred) to Alison Ad-dicks, Conference Grants Chair, addicks@centurytel.net or by postal service to: Alison Addicks at 2075A Johnson Rd., Rice, WA 99167-9741.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Another Weavers slae coming up

This information came with attachments which I haven' t figured out how to get to the blog so maybe Liz will be able to post them. Heather

If cooler fall temperatures have you reaching for ‘warm and woolly’ accessories, then you’ll want to drop by the Weavers Sale in The Loft Art Gallery in Mill Bay to see what’s new. For the third year in a row, the Tzouhalem Spinners & Weavers Guild sets up shop for the whole month of November in the Gallery above ‘Valley Wines to Vines’ in the Mill Bay Shopping Centre. Walls that usually hold framed pictures will be the backdrop for wonderful handmade textiles: scarves, shawls, felted hats, knitted slippers and toques, tea towels, table runners, bags, bookmarks and more, all created right here in the Cowichan Valley. With the festive season coming up, do bring along your Christmas list. Since many of the items on display are one-of-a-kind, the Weavers Sale could be the perfect place to shop for The Perfect Gift! You may, of course, treat yourself to a special treasure as well.

Meet the group’s talented members during the Official Opening on Saturday, October 30, between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. Throughout the remainder of the Weavers Sale, a Tzouhalem Guild member will be on hand from 10:00 a.m. ‘til 3:00 p.m. to welcome visitors to the upstairs Gallery.

They’re also there to encourage folks to try out the on-site looms, just to see what’s involved in throwing a shuttle, changing a shed and weaving a pattern. Other demonstrations, such as Japanese braiding, inkle band weaving, spindle spinning and basket weaving, are scheduled for the four Saturdays in November.

For more information on the Weavers Sale, please contact Alison Irwin at (250) 746-6330 or Els van Dam at (250) 743-0851.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Cowichan Fibre Festival

Get ready for the annualCowichan Fleece  Fibre Fair is Saturday, October the 23, at the Island Savings Centre (aka Cowichan Community Centre) in Duncan, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

October 23rd, 2010
10am – 4pm
Island Savings Centre
2687 James St.
Duncan, BC
Wearables
Come and wear your art!
For more information:
Annie Fulton
250.246.4600
awfulton at shaw.ca

Knitters’ Circle: Free knitting lessons with needles & yarn. Ongoing demos, displays. Special fibre activities for the kids! 
Vendors! Rovings, yarns, dyes, spinning wheels, needle feltingsupplies, and more. Locally handcrafted knitted,felted and woven articles of wool and alpaca, duvets,and many other items perfect for Christmas gifts. 
Join our Spinners’ Circle! Bring your own wheel or come and learn to spin on one of ours.


Click here to see what Jane Richmond said about the Fair last year.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

VIFAS winners listing for those who didnt get there



JURIED COMPETION WINNERS’ LIST

Awards Presented at the Fashion Fiesta, Saturday, September 11, 2010 Vancouver Island Conference Centre, Nanaimo, BC

CHILDREN’S CATEGORY:

1ST: Evelyn McNabb - Home Sweet Home, child’s and doll’s sweater, knitted
2ND: Heather Sinclair -Fuzzy Fun Jumper, pieced and felted
2ND: Evelyn McNabb -Granny Gear Sweater, knitted
3RD: Isabel Colebrook - Red Riding Hood Capes, knitted

ACCESSORIES CATEGORY:

1ST: Lynette Meek -Feather and Fan Reticule, beaded knitting
2ND: Mary Gillespie - Woven Emerald Scarf
3RD: Marguerite Band- Woven Silk Shawl

EMBELLISHED CATEGORY:

1ST: Leni Balaban - Biker Vest
2ND: Leni Balaban - I Dreamed I was a Pole Dancer

VALUE OF AWARDS

1st -$100
2nd- $50
3rd-$25
Best of Show -$50
People’s Choice -$150

AWARDS GENEROUSLY DONATED BY THE MID-ISLAND WEAVERS’ AND SPINNERS’ GUILD

REPURPOSED CATEGORY:

1ST : Sylvia Dwyer -Autumn Leaves Coat

OPEN CATEGORY:

1ST : Jo Swallow - Shangri-La Cape, woven
2ND : Pat McLeod - Red Vest, woven
3RD : Edith Haack - Spring Jacket, woven

EVENING CATEGORY:

1ST: Ayami Stryck- Cape, Nuno felting
2ND: Ayami Stryck-Daphne, Nuno felting
3RD: Eileen Miles-Shetland Mystery Shawl

BEST OF SHOW:

Ayami Stryck - Cape, Nuno felting

PEOPLE’S CHOICE:

Ayami Stryck- Daphne, Nuno felting

Our heartfelt thanks go to all those who entered and helped make our Fibre Arts Showcase and Fashion Fiesta a success. Best wishes to you all for a year of Fibre Fun! Congratulations to the winners! Our deepest thanks to the Mid-Island Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guild who believed in our effort from the very start by recognizing artists’ work with their generous donations for prizes.

Read more about the Vancouver Island Fibre Arts Showcase. Cindy Scraba, of Cindy's Threadworks, sends her impressions here: http://www.cindysthreadworks.com/blog/2010/09/15/vanc-isl-fibre-arts-showcase/

We deeply appreciate the support of the following donors. Your generous gifts enabled our Silent Auction to successfully raise funds to help our event break even. We couldn't have done it without you!

  • Aglow Salon
  • Alison Kermack
  • Charlotte's Web
  • Cherry Patten
  • Cindy's Threadworks
  • Crafts By Design
  • Darlene Rogers
  • Ellen Larson
  • Eva Ryan
  • Gemini Fibres
  • Gramma's Quilting Cupboard
  • Gunilla Gansen
  • Harmonique Spinning Wheels & Looms
  • Interweave Press
  • Jane Stafford Textiles
  • Jeanette Roberts
  • Jennifer Tindall
  • Jens van Draby
  • Jo Swallow
  • Joe Cunningham Ford
  • Jubu Bead & Gift
  • Ken-Dor Garden Centre
  • Laura Fry
  • Linda de Beeld
  • Mad About Ewe Fine Yarns
  • Maggie Simms
  • Majacraft
  • Mary Gillespie
  • Our Glass Shop
  • Pagan Creations
  • Parksville Home Hardware
  • Pharmasave
  • Piper's Pub
  • Qualicum Bay Fibre Works
  • Save On Foods
  • Stedmans
  • The Wool Shop
  • Thrifty Foods - Nanaimo
  • Treenway Silks
  • W. Cushing & Co.
  • West Coast Images

Thank you to the following donors for financial support:
Mid-Island Weavers and Spinners' Guild
Toronto Dominion Bank, Parksville
Aileen Fabris