Whatcom Weavers Guild Newsletter W eavi ng in W hat com si nce 1971 December Newsletter Will it snow this week or not? The first cold blast is due from the north - we may have our first snowfall before Christmas. Do you have lots of warm and wooly hats and scarves and mitts and wraps for friends and relations? This is our time of the year! I love the beautiful yarns which come flooding in at this time of the year - serious over-stash time! Most of the shows are behind us or well in flight right now - if you are involved, good luck with your Holiday selling. What news at the Guild? Read all about our plans for 2014 in President Sheri Ward’s news item. The December program is a fun time for all, maybe even learning a new skill from some of our resident experts? See page 4. News of a great workshop on page 3, and a call to become involved in 2014 Fibers & Beyond on page 5. After five years, I unfortunately have to step away from organizing the publicity for F&B - family calls! So we are looking for a new publicity coordinator for this great show. I have lots to share and will happily continue to be involved in getting it done, if help is needed. Do you have ideas? Would you like to learn more about the show and do your part to make it a continuing success? The Show Committee is just the greatest chance to meet new friends and work together for the success of our Guild - please give it some thought! The best of the season to you and a joyful end to 2013! Pat Fisher, Newsletter Editor [email protected]. Guild Board 2013-2014 President: Sheri Ward / [email protected] Past President: Karen Perry / [email protected] Vice President & Programs: Marilyn Olsen / [email protected] Secretary: JP MacConnell / [email protected] Treasurer: Cathy Thompson / [email protected] Workshops: Patricia Knight / [email protected] Librarian: Megan Kinman / [email protected] Membership: Toni Wade / [email protected] Education: Barbara Snow / [email protected], Karen Perry / [email protected] Hospitality: Donna Hunter / [email protected], Cathy Taggett [email protected], Crystal Trunkey / [email protected]. Member-at-Large/ANWG Rep: Jenni Jimmerson /[email protected] Newsletter Publisher: Pat Fisher / [email protected] Wool Show: Tracy Vandermay / [email protected] Fibers & Beyond Chair: Kathy Green, [email protected] Web Site: Maggie Weyers / [email protected] Page 1 of 7 Programs for 2012/2013 Meetings held at St James Church (lower level) 910, 14th St., Bellingham. Second Wednesday of each month, September to June Agenda: 6.30pm Social time 7.00pm Meeting start time 9.00pm Adjournment December 11 - Fun felting for all Guild mailing address: PO Box 403, Bellingham, WA 98227. Website: www.whatcomweaversguild.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ whatcomweaversguild Whatcom Weavers Guild We aving in Whatcom s ince 1971 President’s Message by Sheri Ward, Board President We hope the season of festivities brings you great joy in the gathering of friends and family, as well as serving to refresh your inner creativity. As you may know by now, the guild has received $10,000 for our help in hosting the ANWG conference in Bellingham last June. The conference made a record profit, $75,000 total, and this is our portion. There’s no rush to spend the money, but we will definitely be thinking about ways those funds could be used to improve the guild. At our recent board meeting, we approved a budget for 2014, which includes an appropriation for website improvement and a larger budget for programs. It also leaves our dues at their current level, which likely would have increased without the ANWG money. In addition, we are exploring ideas for guild retreats and some offmeeting events – outing to Vancouver (Maiwa, the Museum of Anthropology, maybe other locales), Seattle (fiber shopping, maybe a museum or other shows), and dye days (most likely in the summer). If you have ideas on how the guild could improve, feel free to talk to me or any board member. The board is also looking at possibly changing our meeting times, and we are open to your ideas on this. Would you like more daytime meetings, especially in the winter? I’ve heard from a number of people who are not fond of driving on those dark winter evenings. How do you feel about some meetings on Saturday? What other thoughts do you have about this? At our December meeting, you’ll have an opportunity to indicate your preferences, anonymously if you like. For 2015, ANWG is making grants available to individual guilds and study groups rather than holding a conference. Details about the “Creative Challenge” grants are available at ANWG’s website, http:// northwestweavers.org/ Grants can be up $600, and are available to a guild or study group within a guild, to be used between June 2014 and March 2016. They are looking for proposals that would promote weaving and related fiber arts and the traditions of weaving. The deadline for applications is March 14. A guild can submit more than one proposal, and there will be a total of 25 grants given. Let your imagination wander – what activity would you like to see? Let’s put some ideas together! For 2017, the conference will be in Victoria, BC, hosted by the Victoria Handweavers’ and Spinners’ Guild, at the University of Victoria. Many thanks to the Victoria guild for taking on this project. And for a totally different topic: our storage unit has some shelves that are hard to reach without a ladder. Please don’t take risks by standing on a box or that little red stool. As it turns out, the front desk has a light-weight sixfoot step ladder they will loan out. Just stop at the front office and ask. There will not be a board meeting in December; the next meeting will be on Jan. 16. Normally, board meetings are held on the Thursday one week after our general meeting, at noon, at my house, 809 11th Street, Bellingham. It’s located almost straight down the hill from St. James Church. Members are always welcome to attend. Happy Holidays! Page 2 of 7 Whatcom Weavers Guild We aving in Whatcom s ince 1971 December Daytime Weavers from Sondra Rose The 4th Wednesday of December comes on the 25th, so guess what? Daytime Weavers will not be meeting in December. But remember that we will be meeting in January when we'll try to work on some things inspired by Gail Harker's program at the November Guild meeting. Sondra. 2014 Membership Dues, from Cathy Thompson Membership dues for 2014 are due in January, which is still a bargain at $25. The New Year promises to bring new programs and workshops for the membership. As always input as to what the membership interests are is always needed to help meet those expectations. Include any suggestions and comments along with your check. Please mail your checks to the WWG PO Box 403, Bellingham, WA 98227. I will also be at the meetings to accept dues. Cathy Thompson Treasurer Basket Making Workshop with Linda Dinus Two day weekend workshop on January 25/26, 9.30am to 2.30pm. Linda Dinus, one of our Guilds accomplished basket makers, has generously agreed to share her knowledge in a Learning Curve Workshop. This workshop will show how to make a basket from native materials and reeds. Some baskets may be completed in one session and some may take two sessions. There will be 4 instructors available. Beginning through experienced students welcome. This class is currently full. Please contact Linda Dinus or Patricia Knight if you would like to be added to the waiting list. Location: Cathy Thompson’s – 2177 Zell Rd, Ferndale Date/Hours: January 25th & 26th ; Class Hours TBD Cost: $21.00 Payable to Whatcom Weavers Guild (Cathy Thompson-WWG Treasurer, PO Box 403, Bellingham, WA 98225) Supplies To Bring: Pruners to cut materials; Awl or sharpened screwdriver; Squirt bottle full of water; Bucket for soaking materials; Large towel. *Bring a sack lunch. Any questions please contact Linda Dinus 966-4027 [email protected] or Patricia Knight 927-4497 [email protected] Submitted by Patricia Knight, Guild Workshop Coordinator Page 3 of 7 Whatcom Weavers Guild We aving in Whatcom s ince 1971 December meeting program At our September meeting's small group sessions, the consensus was to do something hands-on and fun at the December meeting. And this is just what we're going to do. We'll divide into interest groups and you'll have the chance to create a fun felted project. If you who would like to participate, please bring the following: a small tray or cookie sheet, a plastic bag, a small container for soapy water, and old towel and rubber gloves (optional). We will be making some small felted flowers and, if you'd prefer or like to also do, Donna will show us how to make felted beads by shaking them in a small bottle of soapy water. If you want to do this, please also bring a bottle with a lid that is triple the volume of the bead you'd like to make. Donna will bring several colors of wool for you to use for either project. Kathy Green will be offering you the chance to needle felt a holiday ornament. She'll bring the supplies for this event and also have on hand some additional supplies you can purchase if you want to make more at home. Also, for show and tell, you may want to bring anything you have that you (or someone else) felted. Of course, you can also bring anything else you'd like to share as well. And, as promised, we will have holiday cookies! Don’t forget, our theme for this year is ‘International’ - if you have a program with an international theme you'd like to present, please contact me. Marilyn Olsen, Program Chair ([email protected]) SMALL LOOMS CLINIC Whatcom Weavers Guild and Allied Arts of Whatcom County are hosting a series of “Small Looms Clinics”, starting in November, 2013. Members and the public are invited to bring a small loom and weave, or just come to observe, learn and have fun. Bring your inkle, rigid-heddle, table loom, portable floor loom, frame loom, card weaving, kumihimo… This is an opportunity for WWG outreach, as well as a time to weave, and enjoy time with other weavers. Spinners welcome too. Clinics are scheduled for the 4th Saturday of the month, 12-4, through winter and spring 2013-2014. Allied Arts is located downtown at 1418 Cornwall, between Magnolia and Champion, near NW Handspun Yarn, Dakota Art, plus numerous cafes and coffee shops. Parking is FREE downtown on the weekends. Allied Arts is open 12-5 on Saturday. They have a variety of yarns for purchase, at their “Arts Thrift Store.” Yarn donations as well as sales are encouraged. For more information, contact Carol Berry, [email protected] Page 4 of 7 Whatcom Weavers Guild We aving in Whatcom s ince 1971 Fibers and Beyond 2014 The Fibers & Beyond Show needs some committee chairs for next year. Here are the needs: Publicity - very, very important. Pat Fisher has lots of information and will continue to help, so please consider this position. Set-up and Design - We have layouts from previous years for inspiration. Hampton Inn staff set up the tables for us, to our design. Volunteers help do the set-up and layout. Tags and Show information sheets - just need to organize and print information for the Show participants, to hand out with tags before the Show at one of our regular Guild meetings. Review of items - we would like to have more than one person review items to make sure there are no errors in the various crafts. If you have a particular craft (weaving, knitting, beading, basketry, etc) you could easily help in this area. Please contact me, Kathy Green, [email protected] if you want to volunteer to chair one of these committees. It is always a fun event and we have fun people involved! Social Networking at the Guild - Facebook! Whatcom Weavers Guild is now on Facebook. Please join us at www.facebook.com/WhatcomWeaversGuild for a new place to connect and share. We have posted some photos on our page of last month’s Fibers and Beyond show – have a peek you just may see yourself there! Page 5 of 7 Whatcom Weavers Guild We aving in Whatcom s ince 1971 Notices and other interesting stuff - from Guild members and other interested folks Jansen Art Center - Lynden Check the website for the Jansen Art Center in Lynden for upcoming basketry, felting and knitting classes. www.jansenartcenter.org Submitted by Donna Hunter. Vida Nueva/Women's Work news WOMEN’S WORK STORE President Hotel, 604 South First Street Mt. Vernon November 7, 2013 – January 2014 Thursday – Saturday, 11am – 7pm Women’s Work is a collaboration of Vida Nueva Rugs, Corazón Scarves, and Milagros Peru. Our goal is to provide economic enterprises to women, offer high quality handmade items to the community, and raise awareness of the women producers and their lives. For more information contact Ginny at 360-424-5854. The Women’s Work Store is a program of Mt. Vernon Storefronts Submitted by Donna Hunter Page 6 of 7 Whatcom Weavers Guild We aving in Whatcom s ince 1971 Classifieds For Sale: Four pound bags of raw alpaca fleece. Light brown/tan from 2 animals. Grower is an alpaca lover but not a fiberist. There are four bags, selling for $12 each bag. Marcia Ford (360) 734-8399 or [email protected]. Also For Sale: Ashford Standard spinning wheel with lazy kate and 4 spools. Nice dark oak finish. Asking $215. Marcia Ford (360) 734-8399 or [email protected]. Happy clicking! Interesting websites and links • • • • • • • • • • Blazing Shuttles (Warp source). http://www.blazingshuttles.com Craftsy (crafts and sewing online classes). www.craftsy.com Handweaving.net (zillions of drafts!). http://www.handweaving.net/Home.aspx Syne Mitchell’s WeaveZine. http://weavezine.com/ Complex Weavers. http://www.complex-weavers.org/ Weave Tech. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WeaveTech/ HGA (Handweavers Guild of America). http://www.weavespindye.org/ Webs (Yarns for weaving and knitting). www.yarn.com Halcyon Yarns (supplies and yarns). www.halcyonyarn.com Ravelry (knitting and crochet community). www.ravelry.com Do you have a favorite you would like to share with your fellow members? Send it to me—Pat Fisher, Newsletter. Contact: [email protected] Upcoming Calendar Dates To Remember December 11 January 8 January 25/26 February 12 March 12 April 9 May 14 June 11 December Guild meeting January Guild meeting Basket Weaving Workshop February Guild meeting March Guild meeting April Guild meeting May Guild meeting June Guild meeting (last of 2013-2014 year) Page 7 of 7