respecting the past

last night I presented a very small portion of the VHSG’s Permanent Collection

to members of the Victoria Handweaver’s and Spinner’s Guild

before I carefully wrap them up individually and return them to their trunk

I decided to show some of them here

a declaration from the City of Victoria, signed by the Mayor

opening the conference Heirlooms from Handlooms – dated 1977

the committee sash and pin from the ANWG 1997 conference

Straits and Strands

twenty years later we will host another ANWG conference in 2017

Treadle Lightly

a wonderful piece of Victoria history

designed and woven by Chris Howland

the sample length for Glenlyon-Norfolk House private school uniforms

granddaughter Jillian, with brother Iain, on her first day of kindergarten

in the tartan still used todayHazel Murray’s Fool’s Hat

as seen in Spin-Off magazine’s publication

  Tops with a Twist

right – pine needle basket with attached lid by Vivian Allenby

left – 8 harness huck box woven with handspun silk and copper wire

 by Helen thomas

and lined with red silk

the woven piece is a border panel in upphampta technique by Gertrude Fielding

woven on her Woolhouse 50 harness drawloom

“Mala’s Welsh Sample” 16 harness colour and weave

woven by Jean Barrickdamask place mat designed to match Swedish dishes

woven by Master Weaver, Anke Keizer-Bles

Anke is no longer able to weave but she still loves to talk “weaving”

I visit her every week – for the past 7 years

damask place mat woven on 10 harnesses with 40/2 bleached linen

woven by Anne Ayre

Anne also is no longer weaving but one of my students now weaves on her loom

8 harness Summer and Winter woven by Florence Daniels

one of the original guild members

she taught weaving for 50 years, many of the early members were her students

(double-click on the picture to read more)

wallhanging in boundweave woven by Ruth Anstey

the guild’s annual memorial lecture is named in her honor

and the learning continues