GBA Spring 2006 Newsletter

 

A Letter From the President

Hello Basket Weaving Friends! The first thing that I’d like to do as President of GBA is to thank Cindy Lampman
for her hard work and leadership as our President for the last two years. Cindy has left some very big shoes to fill.
I want all of you to know that I will do my best to fill those shoes.

I’m really excited about our Summer Workshop on June 24th and hope that you will be able to attend.
It will be a day filled with weaving, good food and lots of laughs. Many thanks to Theresa Barton for her hard
work and energy in organizing the Summer Workshop.

Congratulations are in order for all who worked on Imagine All The Weaving. What a super convention!
I’m just grateful for the experience.

As Convention Co-chairs for next year Pattie Bagley and Hannah Sommer, along with their team, are already hard at work planning for our next convention, which is sure to be a special treat. I hear that red will be the in color for 2007!

It’s not too soon to begin weaving those basket ornaments for our Festival of Trees project. December will be here before you know it! Last year's tree was absolutely splendid and I know this year's will be equally impressive.

I saw many of my GBA friends at the North Carolina Convention in March. It was my first time there and if you
have not been to North Carolina I encourage you to go – it’s a wonderful convention.

Keep weaving and keep smiling! See you at the Summer Workshop.

Patti

Announcements

Historian

The office of GBA Historian is currently vacant. The duties consist of keeping a file, or scrapbook, of GBA events. Copies of convention brochures, newsletters, and pictures are examples of items that would be saved. The Historian is also a member of the GBA Board.

If you are interested in serving please contact Patti Patterson at 770 602-4695 or patti.patterson@ssa.gov.

Dues

Have you paid your dues yet? Please look at the label on this newsletter. If it has the date of 2/28/2007 after your name that means that you have already paid. But if there is no date after your name, your dues have not been received. Remember, to be eligible for “First Day” your dues must be paid by July 1st. Don’t delay! Mail your $15 dues to:
GBA
1785 Azalea Springs Trail
Roswell, GA 30075

New Basket Book

Laura Lee Zanger has a new book titled Luck of the Draw, Fun Activity for Small Weaving
Groups or Basket Guilds. The book has a set of cards describing different baskets to weave.
The cards are shuffled and each participant draws a card to make one of the following shapes:
round, square, market, wall or cathead. The center weave and the embellishment is the same for each.

The weaving group decides ahead of time which colors and embellishment they will use. Augusta
Guild tested the baskets in January using mustard and brown colors with a sunflower embellishment.

Shown here is a picture of the baskets with ladybug embellishments. The book comes with directions
for each basket as well as more detailed instructions. $10 per set.

Featured Instructor

GBA has been fortunate to offer classes by Award Winning Basket Artist and instructor, Pati English, at our conventions in 2005 and 2006.

Pati is a Resident Artist with the South Carolina Arts Commission and her work has appeared in Southern Living Magazine. She teaches workshops at her studio in Seneca, SC as well as several state conventions and workshops. For more information on Pati, including dates for her workshops go to: www.basketsmyspecialty.com

Guild Updates

For information on when and where a particulat guild meets, please see the list on the main page

Mountain Weavers (Blairsville):
Mountain Weavers & Crafters have been busy since the beginning of the year. Several of us either attended the wonderful GBA convention in February or visited to take advantage of the great vendors! We have taken a field trip to Warne, NC to gather vines, learn how to remove the bark and weave wonderful free form baskets. Susan Annesi, shown at left, has been one of our featured instructors. We made tissue holders just in time for the spring allergy season! Some of our future events will include a field trip to the Gourd Gathering in Cherokee NC, a class to make note cards using naturals, pounded leaf transfers on wall hangings and of course, baskets and more baskets!
Our community outreach program this year is to benefit the SAFE House in Blairsville and we are planning our second annual Fall Festival for September or October. We will keep you informed of the date, as we get closer. We have many talented members who also do wood turnings, yard art, and fiber art. Our first event was tremendously successful so we hope you will come by and support our group!

Greater Atlanta Basket Guild (Marietta):
GABG Members greatly enjoyed the 2006 GBA Convention. Over half of our members attended which could be a record. Beautiful baskets have appeared at show and tell. In the meantime, others are traveling, attending classes, handling family duties and of course, weaving!
Weaving has been priority the last few meetings, enjoyed by all. We’ve had some wonderful programs including Della Boyd’s waxed linen Snowman in February. In March Nancy Skinner taught one of the neat kits from XYZ Baskets and Cindy Lampman instructed her own classy Wine Tote in April. Our May program will be a cathead basket by Pattie Bagley. As busy as we get, we always look forward to our end of the year picnic in June and this year a September Workshop at Red Top Mountain. Better come visit us to get in on the action! We’re even sporting a brand new GABG T-shirt!

Flint River Basket Weavers (Albany):
We're still weaving from BJ Crawford's book, the Weekend Crafter-Basketry. At our next meeting,
we'll "space dye" the reed, as called for. Most of us have not "space dyed" so we will be learning together. In May, we'll have a road trip to Betty
Cooper's in Allentown where we'll visit a gourd farm, weave a small basket, and eat! We have no other plans for the summer, except to go to GBA Summer Workshop in June. Our members are scattered all over the state, so only a few get together for our meetings. We do try to keep in touch though. One member, Holley Miles, has been in Houston since November for cancer treatment. She may get to go home soon. She has moved to Dafuskie Island, SC, but her address is Hilton Head Island. When she gets home, maybe we'll all go there to visit!
Marilyn Miller is one of our members and was at GBA in February. She has now moved to Valdosta, to be closer to medical treatment.
Our Guild is planning to take part in "The Grape Stomp Festival" at Still Pond Wineries, in Arlington. We'll have a booth, weave, and maybe sell a few things.

Gwinnett Basketweaver’s Guild (Lawrenceville):
The Gwinnett Basketweaver’s Guild has been very busy. Twenty-one members went to the GBA 2006 Convention and made some wonderful baskets. Here are some of the baskets our members completed at Convention.

The program for our April meeting was Pattie Bagley's Little Nine Patch. It's a great little spaced-dyed basket and was fun to make. In May Dot Glover will be teaching her Salt and Pepper Shaker Basket. We are ordering kits to make a very cute Angel Lamp in June. Recently we held our annual election. These were the results:
Patti Patterson, President
Haidee Mechley and Andi Szanti, Co-Vice Presidents
Nancy Skinner, Treasurer
Pat Christman, Newsletter, GBA rep
Pat Christman and Cindy Dixon, Co-Historians
Tracey Reidy, Member-at-Large

Several of our members attended the North Carolina Convention and returned
home with beautiful baskets. As always we are looking forward to our annual
retreat at a cabin in Helen, GA. later in the summer. It's always exciting to see
all the baskets made during retreat at our first meeting in the fall.

Basketweaver's Guild of GA (Roswell):
It’s unanimous! Our Guild thinks the GBA convention 2006 was the best yet and we would like to thank everyone who worked so hard to make it a success.
Our March meeting was an “outing” to The Signature Shop & Gallery on Roswell Road in Buckhead. This combination craft shop and gallery features “affordable handmade objects by local and national crafts people in the traditional craft disciplines of clay, fiber, metal, glass and wood”. The shop carries baskets woven by Jo Anne Russo and Polly Harrison. Polly exhibited several of her pieces when our guild did the large basketry show at Bulloch Hall several years ago. She weaves with unusual material such as plexi-film, recycled rubber and men’s neckties. The shop is featured in the February issue of Southern Living on page 26 in the Georgia Living section. After visiting the gallery we had a wonderful lunch at the Swan Coach House. See the picture above. It was a terrific day!
In April Cindy Lampman taught a very pretty wine tote basket and after class we had lunch at the Olive Garden. Cindy will be leaving for Alaska in May and we wish her a great time. Patsy Jabaley is going to the Ohio/Indiana convention later this month and is sure to have a weaving good time.
We are especially excited about our June meeting when Jan Henry will bring her collection of exquisite baskets to share with us. She is a world-class weaver and the author of White Oak Basketry, an illustrated guide. If you are in this area we invite you to come and share this great opportunity.

River Country Basket Guild (Augusta):
Spring has definitely sprung here in Augusta. The Masters, (famous golf tournament), is now a memory with that gorgeous Phil Mickelson as the winner. Easter was perfect with the Easter baskets that we made from Laura Lee Zanger’s original pattern, using marble strips from Venie Hinson. They made egg hunting extra special for each and every child.
I (Tammy) am currently teaching a “Newspaper” basket that is huge with lots of escutcheon pins. The base is wooden and so far we have done lots of hammering! The basket is so big that I use one as a laundry basket. This project will take us several weeks to complete. Laura Lee says that the basket base could be preparing everyone for Nantuckets, since those are the baskets that really have my heart!