Visit The Textile Museum online

The Textile Museum at the George Washington University Museum is a tremendous textile resource online.

My introduction to the Textile Museum was their journal. Articles are scholarly and topics are thoroughly researched with extensive references.

The online collections are inspiring. 

There are hours of video presentations available. 

The Textile Museum online is a great resource for textile research and an inspiration for our own fiber work. 'Like' it on Facebook to get their posts added to your feed.

May Guild Meeting, this Saturday!

Heirloom Textiles Show and Tell

Date: May 14th 2022 (we meet on second Saturdays of the month)

Time: 10:00 am 

Hybrid meeting: Hoover Church of Christ Fellowship Hall on the lower level and on Zoom

Do you have an amazing tablecloth that was handed down through your family or an incredible embroidered bedsheet that your great Aunt Rose made? Share your Heirloom fiber works or tools either on Zoom or in person. 

Show us the things that are too big or too fragile to leave the house via Zoom or bring your fiber pieces with a family story if you are joining in person. We will take turns sharing and make sure everyone in the Zoom room and in person gets to participate.

This is our first in-person guild meeting back at Hoover Church of Christ and we are very grateful to them for sharing their facilities with the guild again. We'll be in the large auditorium so there is plenty of room to spread out and lots of air flow. If you haven't attended a guild meeting there, park in the small parking area that faces Lorna Road and walk down the steps to the double metal doors.

This week we will have one door prize for our in-person attendants, and one mail-to-your-door prize for our zoom attendants. 

Guild Study Groups

Sharing is one of the big benefits of guild meetings and that is especially true for study group meetings. Recently, a member mentioned online that she is interested in knitting with beads. A few days later at the spinning study meeting, Deborah Naramore (far left) brought six amazing hand-knitted and beaded shawls with packages of the beads she used, the patterns, and a tiny crochet hook to demonstrate how she places the beads as she knits. YouTube is great, but getting to ask questions and hold beautiful things in your hands is so much better.

The spinning study group is currently meeting in person on the fourth Wednesday of every month at 10:00am at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Hoover. There is a roll call a few days before every meeting on the guild members' Facebook group.

The crochet and tatting  study group meets on Zoom the third Tuesday of every month at 6:00pm. They also meet and share on the Crochet and tatting thread on GBFG's Ravelry forum.

Spin & Weave Night is a group of spinners and weavers that meet at night, the first Thursday of each month on Zoom in the GBFG Study Group Zoom room, 6:30 to 8:00pm. They use email and a Ravelry thread, Spin & Weave Night.

The band weavers study group has been on hiatus, but has been talking about resuming their meetings. They were meeting on the third Saturday of every month at the Hoover Public Library and those in person meetings may start back soon. This group communicates via an email group and a Ravelry thread on GBFG's forum, Band Weaving.

A new study group was recently organized by guild members who share an interest in quilting. They are meeting in the guild's study group Zoom room on the first Saturday of each month at 1:00. There is also a Ravelry thread, Quilting Quests, used for conversations and information sharing between meetings.

If you are interested in any of our study groups, contact them through the guild members' Facebook group or their Ravelry group thread by following the links above.

Spinning Study meets in-person this Wednesday, April 27

The guild's spinning study group will meet in-person this Wednesday, 10:00, at St. Peter’s Catholic Church. Park in the back, come through the big double doors, walk straight to the back wall and turn left. The room is big, so everyone can spread out. Everyone is welcome!

Rainy picnic? Why not!

The weather forecast says it is going to rain early tomorrow. The pavilion is going to be there, rain or shine. Bring a towel, bring a lunch, bring your Show and Tell in a rain-proof bag and come anyway. Plus there will still be door prizes, or pavilion prizes (because there are no doors), or rainy picnic prizes!

There's a new yarn store in our area!

 The Shelby County Reporter posted a story about Paper Crane Yarns, a new yarn store in Calera. Ashley Jeffcoat, the owner, is also a dyer. Supporting an independent yarn shop seems like a great excuse to buy yarn, or maybe a project bag!

Reminder about the date of the picnic

This is a reminder that the monthly guild meeting for April, the annual guild picnic, is not this Saturday, but a week from this Saturday, April 16. Monthly guild meetings are usually on the second Saturday of the month, but not this month. 

We hope you'll join us on April 16 at Oak Mountain State Park. More picnic info is here.

Watch this site for picnic information updates.