Newsletter – April 2024

Members enjoyed a very productive and enjoyable meeting in March. Thanks to Lois and Krista for all the great photos and notes.

NATURAL DYEING

Terry Caswell presented a program about natural dyes for yarns. She even had a pot boiling for onion skin dyeing!  Terry talked about a variety of natural dyeing techniques and demonstrated dyeing with onion skins. She talked about using walnut shells and turmeric, as no mordant is needed for those. For other dyes, alum is a readily available and relatively safe choice for a mordant. Tannin is another mordant that does a great job on cotton especially. Did you know that dyes can be “pushed” into different shades by adding things like baking soda or rusty nails to the dye pot? Vinegar can also help set dyes. A great resource for info and products is Maiwa. (https://naturaldyes.ca/maiwa-guide-to-natural-dyes ). Don’t forget that there are lots of great books about dyeing in the Guild library.

FIBRE ARTS FESTIVAL – April 13, Wellness Centre on Brealey Drive

Be sure to come out to this wonderful, annual Guild event. Darlene has knocked her socks off preparing for it this year. The Festival is returning to its pre-COVID 19 location, to the great excitement of vendors and attendees alike! If you can offer some time Friday after 5 p.m., to help move things from the Artisans Centre to the Wellness Centre, or to help set up there, please contact Darlene. And if you have any time to help out on Saturday, even for a couple of hours, we would love to see you! Of course, do come and be an attendee too!! The vendors will appreciate your business. We all want them to have a wonderful show.

ELECTIONS

In June the Guild Board will have some positions available for the next 2-year term. Presently the positions of President, Vice President, Secretary (thank you to Krista for 5 years of service!!) and Weaving Equipment Manager (thank you Merrilyn for doing this for the past few year!) are up for grabs. There may be more too, as we get closer to that time. Nominations, appointments or even elections, will take place at the AGM, the third Monday in June. Please give some thought as to whether you would be willing and able to serve on the Guild Board. The work is not onerous. It involves one 40-minute (usually shorter!) Zoom meeting per month, aside from the all-member Guild meeting which many of you attend regularly anyway. It’s fun to be involved, thinking up interesting programs, making decisions about classes and equipment and generally being involved more closely with the life of the Guild. Hope you’ll give it some serious consideration. From my viewpoint, the 2 years has flown by!!

SHOW AND SHARE

Joyce shared information about her visit to the Textile Museum and the exhibit about Freedom Quilts that guided enslaved people to freedom in Canada. Kate used a pot holder loom to make a woven piece representing the view from her studio and mounted it on a piece of the siding for her studio. She’s continuing to play with her pot holder loom.

Lynn brought an in-progress felted piece honouring cave painting, that includes some embroidery. She also shared some examples of natural dyeing.

Diane shared a card she made using some weaving and embellished with buttons.

Darlene showed off her finished Guild challenge, a crocheted and felted purse with embellishments.

Lois shared a sweater made many years ago with naturally dyed wool. She dyed the wool at Lang Pioneer Village Museum and knit up a Kaffe Fassett pattern. She also had her Guild challenge – a purse – which is made from tea towel seconds and embellishments.

Douglas changed up his usual projects and tried out some Swedish lace. He found a project on Ravelry and made a pair of scarves. He also had a doll he made for the Guild challenge.

Anda showed off some mug rugs she made in a class with Lois. She explored huck patterns, rose path, and Ms and Os.

Marie’s challenge used fibre from her bag and some of the alpaca donated last year. She did some wet felting to make a mini pair of mittens to display on a wreath. No Photo!

Denise made her Guild challenge using a second-hand jean jacket and lots of embellishments from her bag. No Photo!

Caroline shared a woven strap she made for a purse. It’s not quite finished as she would like to add some embellishments.

Rebecca brought a skein of silk yarn she dyed herself. She speckle dyed it, then tied it in knots to create a resist, before dipping it in black dye.

Terry brought a scarf she made for the challenge. She used surplus warp, then made different sections, all with a story behind them. What a great way to remember all the projects of the past!

And Krista, who never mentions herself in the minutes, brought a lovely scarf (knitted?) as well as several skeins of yarn she dyed. With what Krista?

Ann was inspired by a trip to the darkness of the Arctic circle. She used black yarn, some embroidery and embellishment to make a beautiful wall hanging.