Goodbye 2015!

2015 was a fantastic year for the Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild! We had a year of learning about fiber arts through programs, workshops, study groups, and most importantly, sharing with other Guild members. The Guild is now the biggest it has ever been, and our member have diverse fiber interests. Plus, it has been lots of fun.

Our last meeting of 2015 was the annual holiday potluck at Mary K's house. We had a feast, showed off our projects, and exchanged containers of various sorts suitable for holding fiber and fiber tools.

The December meeting also marked the hand-off from the 2015 board to the 2016 board. Thank you to Karen, Debbie, Deb, Janice, Mary K, Mary S, and Nancy for leading us in 2015! And to the 2016 board! I am looking forward to another great year of fiber and friendship.

The 2016 and 2015 presidents, Mary and Karen

Nancy models her (Alabama crimson) new sweater

Lunch

Deb and her present in the gift exchange- a bowl made of paper

(Photos courtesy of Nancy)

New Blog Editor, Emily Levitan!

from Mary Spanos - 
 
It has been a pleasure to maintain the guild's blog for the past two years and I am very pleased to now hand it over to Emily Levitan.

I wish I could remember everything that I meant to post but forgot during these past months. One thing that I can remember is that a former member of GBFG, April Klich, has moved to the west coast and has been writing a really great blog about "knitting, spinning, and straight up making with a focus on playing and finding joy in the process." If you have a chance during the holidays, you might enjoy spending a few happy minutes seeing what April has been up to.

And, now, I pass the keyboard to Emily...

Spinning Study Group meets December 23

The Spinning Study Group is scheduled to meet on its regular day, the fourth Wednesday, December 23. Bring your lunch or plan to go out, we won't have a shared lunch this month.

This will be a nice time to take a break from the holidays and sit and spin or knit or crochet or tat with friends.

Everyone is welcome. I hope you can join us.

Guild Newsletter, December 2015

Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild P.O. Box 660723, Birmingham, AL 35266-0723   www.greaterbirminghamfiberguild.blogspot.com

Newsletter of the Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild

President’s Column                                                   Hello Fiber Friends!   Hope this finds everyone on track with their handmade gifts for the season! If you attended last month's meeting you know that my November got totally rearranged by a precious 5 lb 2 oz beauty! I guess she couldn't wait to see Grandma and showed up one month early! Momma and baby are great and Grandma is surviving also! Who knows what our Christmas will look like but my favorite gift has already been opened! Guess I can table my knitted gifts for this year!   Holding Bridget and thinking about her future makes me fully realize how many women in our lives have done the same thing....even if we always think we are the first. She is the best of many, many generations....as are all our children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren. I think of the family traditions and stories that will be shared and know that our past is safe in the future. I will share my love of fiber with her and maybe it will speak to her heart or maybe not. But she will know Grandma was a crazy, sheep loving, knitting, spinning fool!   I have enjoyed my tenure as President and look forward to the New Year and new leadership! Be sure to say "yes" if asked....it can lead you to all kinds of new adventures! I am hoping to make the Christmas party after all.....it's always so much fun and Mary is a wonderful hostess!   Take care and I hope whatever Holiday you celebrate this season is wonderful!!! See you at the party!   Love,   Karen Ford       December Program Notes Holiday Party   The guild’s annual holiday pot-luck is scheduled for Saturday, December 12 at 11:00 at Mary Kaiser’s house in Hoover.  (See directions below).  We’ll be sharing salads and desserts, and the guild will supply beverages.  In addition to celebrating the season together, we’ll have our election of 2016 officers, a tribute to our out-going president, Karen Ford, and a gift exchange.  To participate, bring a container for yarn or tools wrapped in a brown paper bag.  Use your creativity and ingenuity to find or make a useful container—as we know, fiberists use lots of bags, boxes, envelopes, pouches, and many other things to hold our fibers, tools, and gadgets!   [Check your newsletter for directions to Mary Kaiser's home. If you can't find your copy of the newsletter, contact me and I'll email them to you (be sure and give me your name in your email as I shouldn't give directions to anyone I do not know). - Mary Spanos]   Proposed 2016 Officers   The nominating committee proposes the following members for 2016 offices.  Anyone else may submit their name for election.  Election of new officers will take place at the December meeting.  President           Mary Kaiser Programs           Jennifer Lackey Workshops         Mary Spanos and Elizabeth Young Newsletter         Deborah Kattus Membership       Jana Ford Treasurer            Nancy Lavender Secretary            Jan McMahon Web                     Emily Levitan Past President    Karen Ford     The Guild on the Web Between newsletters and meetings, keep up with the guild on the web at: the guild blog at www.greaterbirminghamfiberguild.blogspot.com, maintained by Mary Spanos, blog@greaterbirminghamfiberguild.com, the guild Facebook page at www.facebook.com/greaterbirminghamfiberguild, maintained by Emily Levitan, fb@greaterbirminghamfiberguild.com, the guild group on Ravelry at www.ravelry.com/groups/greater-birmingham-fiber-guild, maintained by Kathryn Pitt, rav@greaterbirminghamfiberguild.com.     If you don't want to miss new posts to the guild blog, you can choose to receive new posts by email. Go to the blog and look for "Follow by Email" on the right hand side of the page. Type your email address in the window and click "Submit." If you want to have something posted on the blog, send it to blog@greaterbirminghamfiberguild.com.    You can post to the guild's Facebook page yourself! Emily shares information and posts that she receives on the guild's Facebook group page and keep Facebook users up to date on what is going on in the guild.    Ravelry isn't just for knitters anymore. Crocheters, weavers, and spinners all upload photos, project information, and patterns. Kathryn is managing the GBFG group and has posted helpful information on participating in the Ravelry guild group on the blog, find it at http://greaterbirminghamfiberguild.blogspot.com/2015/04/gbfg-on-ravelry.html     Membership Renewal Because our membership has grown so much, it was decided by the Board that having a membership form would be a good idea.  This is so we can keep track of all our members to make sure you receive the newsletter and other communications.  It will also give us an idea of what fiber arts the members are interested in so we can plan workshops and programs accordingly .  Please submit the form with your check when you renew your membership for 2016.  These need to be mailed to the GBFG address or give to Nancy Lavender at the meetings.  The new membership year starts in January 2016 but you may submit this before then if you wish.   Member information form 2016 Name:                                             Email address:                                     Ravelry name:                                      Phone number:                                     Address:                                                                                      Fiber crafts you do:     ☐ Spinning        ☐ Knitting        ☐ Weaving        ☐ Crochet        ☐ Sewing        ☐ Tatting        ☐ Quilting    ☐ Embroidery     ☐ Other (please describe): Are there any programs or workshops you would like to give? Are there any programs or workshops you would like take?                          Study Groups Meet Monthly Spinning Study Group:  4th Wednesday of the month from 10 am to 2 pm at St. Peter’s Church in Hoover.  Please check out the GBFG Blog  for cancellations or schedule changes. Nancy Clemmons is interested in sharing her love of tatting with others by teaching one or more in her home. Please contact her if you are interested. More groups may meet in the future.  Watch the newsletter for more information and let a board member know if you are interested in a study group.   Newsletter News...   Each month, I am planning to have items coming from YOU, our Guild members. These will include short book reviews related to any fiber art; a tip you have discovered and used that make your fiber art a little bit easier to execute; any fiber related articles; and a fiber question you would love answers or suggestions from other guild members. Please send your ideas, suggestions, book recommendations, questions to me (Deborah Kattus ) by the 20th of the month to go into the following month's newsletter. Email me at dkattus@charter.net and put GBFG Newsletter in the subject line.   Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild   The Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild is comprised of individuals dedicated to the dissemination and preservation of fiber arts.  Meetings are the second Saturday of the month, 10:00-12:00 (no meeting in July). Visitors are welcome.  The Guild offers programs almost monthly, focused workshops several times a year, and equipment rental (see below).     2015 Officers and Board    Karen Ford – President Mary Kaiser – Program Debbie Scott – Workshops Emily Levitan - Membership Nancy Lavender – Treasurer Janice Weinstein - Secretary Mary Spanos – Website Deborah Kattus - Newsletter Janelle Zorko Schultz - Past President     Rental of Guild Equipment & Materials   The Guild has available, for rental to members, the following: Lucy Neatby's DVD knitting collection.  See  http://www.lucyneatby.com/dvd_contents.html for description of DVD contents. Drum Carder Laura Fry's Magic in the Water  book and DVD. There will be a $30 deposit per DVD (Lucy Neatby) and $100 deposit for the drum carder. Deposit for Laura Fry's materials still to be determined. The rental fee for all items is $5 per month rented. Equipment can only be checked out at Fiber Guild monthly meetings and a check-out list will be posted inside the door of the cabinet. Deposit checks will be held by Nancy Lavender, treasurer, until returned in original condition.

Copyright © 2015 Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild, All rights reserved.

It's Guild Holiday Party Time!

The guild’s annual holiday pot-luck is scheduled for Saturday, December 12 at 11:00 at Mary Kaiser’s house in Hoover. (See directions in the newsletter.) We’ll be sharing salads and desserts, and the guild will supply beverages. 

In addition to celebrating the season together, we’ll have our election of 2016 officers, a tribute to our out-going president, Karen Ford, and a gift exchange. 

As we all know, fiberists use lots of bags, boxes, envelopes, pouches, and many other things to hold our fibers, tools, and gadgets! We all love and treasure our favorite "containers." So this year our gift exchange is all about containers (our target price is $15-ish)!

If you would like to participate in the gift exchange, bring any sort of bag, box or container for yarn or tools wrapped in a brown paper bag. Use your creativity and ingenuity to find or make a useful, and maybe even wonderful, container!

I (Mary Spanos) happened to get Pia's Cusick's hand-knit Christmas ornament at the guild party many, many years ago. It lives on my desk year round.

 

First Friday Study Group meeting this week!

The First Friday study group will meet tomorrow night, December 6, at 6:00 pm at Jen Lackey's home. Get in touch with Jen for directions.

This is our new evening study group and we are very excited to offer an opportunity for folks to gather in the evening to focus on their fiber work and share their successes and troubles with fiber friends.

Also, Jen says there will be gingerbread cake with lemon sauce!!

Hope to see you there!

Notes, links, and video from the November Guild meeting

Miriam Omura gave a fascinating and inspiring presentation on dyeing and weaving ikat, including the work of several ikat artists and her own work with dyeing and weaving double ikat. Double ikat designs are  painted on both the warp and the weft before the cloth is woven. Miriam's work is beautiful and amazing, and it was inspiring to see it and hear about her process.

Visit her web site to see more of her work: http://miriamnorris.com/

Miriam showed us two videos from other artists who work in ikat. You can see those videos online:

Andrea Donnelly, https://vimeo.com/49450900

 and

Hildur A. Jonsson, https://vimeo.com/62646272

Miriam had great handouts for us with instructions on two ikat methods and you can download copies of those from here.

Show and Tell is one of the best parts of every guild meeting, it is inspiring to see what everyone is working on. At this meeting we had a real treat from Jen Lackey who shared her sock project with us a couple months ago on this blog (you can see that here). She left the last few stitches to knit at the meeting and then shared the magic moment of separating the hidden, internal sock from the external sock. Congratulations Jen!