June 2024 Newsletter

Hello Fiber Friends,

June has arrived, marking the return of summer and the call of the outdoors. Our Guild takes a break over the summer months, with no scheduled meetings during July and August, though there will be plenty of opportunities to gather together (keep your eye out for announcements from Sharon Allen!).

As this year closes out and I prepare to leave both the presidency and the area (*see note below), I've been reflecting on all the ways and places we have gathered as a group this year. We started off the year by hosting a booth at the Evergreen Quilt and Fiber Arts Show in Ferndale. A steering committee and many volunteers came together to create a space that allowed us to showcase both our Outreach programs and the talents of our members. It was a rousing success on both levels and raised money for the guild as well as the members who sold their work and met (exceeded!) our goal of exposing more people to the fiber arts and engaging them with our outreach projects. We are looking forward to participating again in September 2025 and encourage you all to think about weaving/creating work to sell in our booth.

January ushered in the new year and a host of gatherings that brought guild members together to think about what is important to us about the guild and how we can nourish and continue to support the growth of our group. The first was at our monthly meeting in January; bad weather kept the meeting Zoom-only and canceled our speaker at the last minute which lead to a delightful and very touching discussion amongst ourselves about the value each of us gets as a guild member. The stories that were shared all spoke to the same thing - the best thing we get from this group is community.

We were fortunate to have the opportunity the following weekend to attend an online retreat put on by the Handweavers Guild of America. A group of us met at Sharon Allen's to watch a series of panel discussions about challenges facing guilds and ways to strengthen and grow our guilds into the future given all the changes of the last few years. We had some exciting and visionary conversations after the presentations were done and it led to the creation of some committees to address specific aspects of this.

Those committees continue to meet, and we will hear from them at our upcoming meeting; I'm looking forward to hearing their ideas for keeping our guild active and vibrant. On a more informal level, now that the weather has warmed a bit, Wednesday Weavers (aka Driveway Weavers) has resumed, and we've been coming together with our various small projects and show-and-tell pieces to enjoy good conversation, camaraderie, and inspiration. It is also a great way to stay connected through the summer when there are no monthly meetings.

The location for our monthly meetings has been inconsistent this year and the board recognizes this is a problem. We hope to present some ideas and ask for input (and volunteers for a committee!) at our June meeting. Having a consistent location will increase our visibility and make it easier for people to find us.

Leading us forward in that location next year will be our new President, Meg Spaulding. She has stepped forward with enthusiasm, experience with other guilds and some great ideas for handling the many facets of guild-building and sustainability. I think 2024-25 will be an exciting year and I'm looking forward to it!

​

LeslieAnn Bestor
WWG President 2023-24


To read the entire newsletter please click here.
To see details about our upcoming meetings and events please click here.
To see who our board members are please click here.
To browse through our "Resources" page please click here.

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