When Shirley McIntosh returned from Australia she began to ask her friends from around the South Island for teabag strings so she could start the project.
"I saw a three-cornered shawl done in Australia, it was done with teabag strings, but it had the long ends on it, and I looked at it and I thought I could make something a bit more perfect."
As the strings came in, she began to work on a tablecloth.
Dot Grey helped to start the cloth, by tying the strings together and made a perfect job doing so, Mrs McIntosh said.
She learned how to tie the strings together herself, and eventually she was ready to begin knitting the tablecloth, using a pre-designed pattern.
News soon spread about Mrs McIntosh’s project and she was interview for TVNZ’s Seven Sharp.
"I'm not a talker, but I'm happy to show."
She said being on TV created a lot of interest and bought joy to so many people, which she loved to see.
Now the 89-year-old had completed the tablecloth, she hoped to put it to use for her 90th birthday, she said.
When Mrs McIntosh started the project, she thought she was going to create a few dish cloths but she had collected so many teabags that she would like to think about starting something else.
"So if anybody's got ideas, I'd be more than happy to hear," she said.
