Ten members in attendance. Margery D., was our visitor.
Call to order:
Suzanne B. opened the meeting with thanks to Karen H. for the newsletter, Becky M. for chairing the September meeting, Lizanne S. for the September samples and Gregory W. for the September program.
Treasurer’s Report:
Juanita B. informed us that we currently have a balance of $867.04 in our account. At this time, we have 20 paid members. Past members who have not paid dues for the current year will be contacted by phone to ask about their intensions for maintaining membership. The guild decided in September that we would donate $100.00 to the church. Cheryl suggested that we increase the amount because the church now houses our library. The members agreed and suggested an increase of $50.00. Susanne asked for a vote on the suggestion and it was agreed to by all. Juanita will write the check.
Librarian’s Report:
Jane F. is updating the book list and diligently cataloging the material that Dotty S. donated to the library last year. She is also spending as much time a possible with the new grandson.
MAFA Report:
Cheryl M. has volunteered to be the rep for the next year. Our web page on the MAFA site can be found at www.mafafiber.org/warpedweavers.
Study Group Report:
The September meeting was held at Karen H.’s home. The topic was boundweave done on an overshot threading. For November 8th, Jenny has arranged a field trip to the WGGB show in Ellicott City. On December 13th the group will meet at Carol L.’s home to learn about figures in boundweave.
Old Business:
The library display was quite beautiful at the Abington branch this year. Displays will be placed in the Bel Air and Abington branches in October 2010. Barbara S. has signed us up already.
Karen H. is accepting submissions for a display that will hang at the Harford County Center for the Arts Gala on November 21, 2009. A new WWG brochure will be developed and printed. Copies will be available at the Gala.
Library demonstrations for National Weaving and Spinning Week were done at Fallston, Aberdeen, Abington and Jarrettsville. Demonstrations will take place again in 2010 but Fallston may be taken off of the list due to a lack of positive response to our efforts.
Congratulations to all who entered and won prizes at the local and state fairs.
Barbara S., Karen H. and Lizanne S. manned a booth for WWG at the Cromwell Valley Crafts Fair. A few items were sold and many spectators were entertained by the weaving demonstrations. Ann M. had a booth for her baskets.
Hugh H. told us about opportunities for volunteering at the Steppingstone Museum.
New Business:
There will be a change in the calendar for March. Because the 28th is Palm Sunday, the meeting will be changed to March 21st. Barbara S. will contact the church.
Show and Tell:
Jane F.: A display of books about the Mills of Harford County
Karen H.: Information about the wearing of scarves in Paris and the Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory
Barbara S.: Information about a museum in Solomons, MD
Carol L.: Rya loom bench seat cover
Gregory W.: Bought a new 24” loom
Margery D.: Yarn purchased by her daughter in Denmark
Program:
Carol L. began the program by passing out copies of Copyright Law for Handweavers, an article she found in Handwoven magazine. She assured us she had obtained permission to copy the article for our group’s use. A very lively discussion ensued. Bottom line – design your own products if you want to sell them or get written permission from the designer before trying to make any money.
Jane F. enlightened us about the many types of mills in Harford County. The number of mills increased from one in 1692 to more than 100 in the late 1800’s. Today, for commercial purposes, there are no working water driven mills and only a few electric sawmills. Eden Mill and Jerusalem Mill remain open as museums.
The study group used their usual meeting time in November to visit the weaving exhibit of the Weavers Guild of Greater Baltimore at the Howard County Art Center in Ellicott City, MD. The exhibit, entitled Time and Shuttles Fly: 60 Years is in part a juried show of fabulous, creative woven articles and a display of 60 unique scarves. The number 60 represents the number of years since the establishment of WGGB. Each item represented great thought and skill, and merited lingering examination. We felt wrapped with inspiration [!] and highly recommend the free exhibit which will be on display until Dec 11th.
We lunched at the Trolley Stop in Ellicott City and discovered that our waitress worked for many years in the now defunct woolen mill nearby. Perfect day in every detail.
The December 14th study group meeting will be at Carol’s home.
The clock is ticking for the Warped Weavers Guild ROUND TUIT Challenge. Complete the project you’ve been meaning to do – clean out that stash, pick up that pattern from the shelf and create the piece you’ve been thinking about. The ROUND TUIT Challenge will take place at our May 23rd meeting, so pick up that ROUND TUIT and get started!
Nadine Sanders, a teacher at the last MAFA Workshop Weekend, will be leading a tour to Scotland in April of 2009. She will be sending us brochures with details about the trip.
MAFA will be hosting another Workshop Weekend in 2011. If you are willing to work with the organizing team please let Cheryl know.
Other opportunities for helping the organization can be found by checking out the following website: www.mafafiber.org and click on “Help Wanted”
I needed a pair of lightweight lease sticks for my 12” wide sample warp. I used the cardboard tubes from dry cleaner trouser hangers, threaded them with a continuous length of twine that would tie them while holding the cross. They worked perfectly.
Nine members were present. We welcomed a new member, Judy T. Becky opened the meeting thanking all of the members who have generously given their time to the guild.
The Guild can be enjoyed online at the www.mafafiber.org website. Karen H. has also linked this guild website in Facebook. Please email Karen with any news or items of interest that she could include in the newsletter.
Jane F., guild librarian, announced new materials donated to the library: Dotty S.’s study group notes, her rug weaving group’s newsletters and titles withdrawn from the public library. Jane is compiling Dotty’s notes by topic into a list for our use.
Gregory W. advised us that the public library will soon use a Shared Collection process. This will provide some control over the holdings available at a given branch.
Opportunities for guild activity in the community were reviewed. Displays will be placed at the Abingdon branch by Lizanne S. Demonstrations of spinning and weaving can be seen on October 3rd at the Fallston branch 11am-1pm, featuring Becky, Lisa and her daughter Julia; at the Abingdon branch 2-4pm-Gregory and Lizanne; on October 24th, at the Aberdeen branch 11-1pm – Barbara; at the Jarrettsville branch 2-4 pm – Juanita and Cheryl.
Warped Weavers Guild will have a booth at the Cromwell Valley Park Harvest Festival on October 10 &11. Guild members will demonstrate their fiber art and sell handmade items.
Becky announced the Guild Challenge. Each of us received a Round Tuit and the challenge to bring to completion a project that we have put off for far too long.
The guild will make a $100. donation again this year to the First Presbyterian Church, our meeting place and home to our library.
As we began our show and tell round of news, Karen passed a plate of delicious snickerdoodles. We heard that Dotty and Henry are well and have had guild visitors, Karen F. is thriving in CA, Hugh, volunteering this weekend at the Steppingstone Museum Fall Festival, is well and busy.
Karen led the show and tell: two woven, fringed blankets to be given to her grandchildren; Ann – a triangle loom woven plaid shawl, a blue ribbon winner at both fairs; Carol’s story of her new 46” 8 harness loom and its first project; Gregory’s story of the indigo experiment; Judy alerted us to a Weaving 101 TV series beginning Monday, October 5th at 7am on the DIY channel.
Gregory presented a program on circular sock machines. She demonstrated the operation of the two machines. We enjoyed trying our hand at the knitting. Gregory shared her stories of buying the machines, devising efficient methods of knitting matching pairs and meeting other interested circular machine enthusiasts. Thank you, Gregory for a really great program.
Study group met at Karen’s house to continue delving into this year’s topic of boundweave. She had woven a sample of overshot as boundweave after a number of tries and false starts. (After all, if you could do it the very first time, what would be the point of the study?) The group also discussed expanding their plans for next month’s outing. Juanita showed us a skein of beautiful rich brown yarn she had dyed using black walnut; Lisa had a book of interesting weaving projects (and news of another upcoming wedding in her family!). We all offered suggestions to Cheryl for her “undye-able” bamboo.
In November, study group is headed for Ellicott City and the Weavers Guild of Greater Baltimore show as well as to Baltimore Clayworks.
The Warped Weavers Guild is giving you a ROUND TUIT. We all have projects we’ve been meaning to do — when we get around to it. So, here’s your ROUND TUIT!
This year’s challenge is to complete a project that you’ve been meaning to do. Maybe you have the yarn sitting at home in a bag. May be you have the pattern bookmarked on your bookshelf. Maybe you have the vision tucked in a corner of your brain. Dust off the yarn, the pattern, or the vision, and create that piece you’ve been thinking about for months or years. With your entry, please include a description of what element of the piece you needed to “dust off”.