Friday, October 5^th & Saturday, October 6^th, 2012

A new convention jointly sponsored by:

Iowa Basket Weavers Guild

Midwest Basket Guild

The Wisconsin Gourd Society

Sinsinawa Mound Center

585 County Road Z, Sinsinawa, WI 53824-9701

www.sinsinawa.org/moundcenter

Overnight lodging and meals are available at Sinsinawa Mound Center. Discounts are available at nearby motels.

Basket Instructors: Linda Chmelar, Dianne Gleixner,

Karen Kotecki, Annetta Kraayeveld, Eileen Mirsberger

Gourd Instructors: Deb Ready, Terri Schmit

All information, including downloadable registration forms,

will be available on May 1, 2012 at:

www.thebasketweavershop.comOR

Questions? Contact Regina at rriley@premiertools.com

Janice provided a current treasurer’s report, noting that the largest amount of income to date comes from Basket Fest registrations.  Once we reach the Basket Fest dates of May 3, 4, and 5 the bills of facility rental, meals, teacher compensation, and miscellaneous expenses will be paid.

Our calendar for 2012 was discussed and is as follows:

4/10 – Pam Talsky, India Program/Pine Needle Bracelets  5/3, 5/4, 5/5 – Basket Fest at the Center of Excellence

6/12 – Summer Potluck and Open Weave

7/10 – Sandy Bulgrin, Wire Woven Bracelet  Mid-July – Demo at County Fair

8/14 – Guild Sponsored Project – Ann Snider’s Potpourri Heart

9/11 – Marla Sunstrom – Lidded Tea Basket

10/9 – Maureen Bartz, Beaded Basket

11/13  – Baskets of Love, with East Troy Basketry (Tentative)

12/11 – Open Weave, Make and Take (?)

It was decided to include a “Membership Business Directory” on our guild website as a number of members have businesses.  Keep posted on the progress of this and how to sign up for it.

The board reviewed the Guild Bylaws and voted in favor of adopting changes reviewed.  The bylaws will be presented to the membership in the near future.  Our project proposal form has a few minor revisions, approved by the board.

The guild membership list and/or treasurer’s report are available to members on request.  Members can contact Maureen maureenbartz@prodigy.net for a membership list or Janice jhollowell@charter.net for treasury report information.

Carl Lemke’s collection of books, molds, and various supplies has been reviewed.  This collection will be available to our members for purchase at Basket Fest, largely through the Silent Auction.  Some of his collection will be offered for outright purchase at Fest.

Christine has paperwork for our domain name registration and will renew.  She continues to work on updates for the website and blog.  One work in progress is the posting of multiple photos in slideshow fashion.  To be continued…

The board will meet in May, date to be determined.  Meeting was adjourned at 9pm.

As I write this we are having a blustery, rosey-cheek kind of day with cool temperatures and strong wind gusts.  It is a reminder of all that is spring: warmth, rain, wind, new growth, new beginnings.

We formally said “Hello Spring” at guild this past week with a visit from Pam Talsky on April 10.  It was an enjoyable evening with her presentation about her travels and basketry work in India in 2010, along with her project of pine needle bangle bracelets of wire, pine needles from India and waxed linen.  Beautiful bracelets of many colors were created.

Basket Fest is just around the corner and the committee is dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s with final plans.  Our teachers are excited about this event as are we!  A few spots remain in classes, if you’ve discovered you’re able to attend 1, 2 or all 3 days, contact our Fest Registration Chair Janice Hollowell for more information – jhollowell@charter.net

Please check our website and blog often,  as the beauty of it is, we can update information as we receive it.  We are interested in hearing from you about basketry related workshops and news.  Looking forward to crossing paths soon – Happy Spring Weaving!

Sally Turner (April 16, 2012)

Next Tuesday, April 10, will be our program featuring Pam Talsky, a longtime guild member, fiber artist, and weaver of natural materials, presenting photos and discussion of her travel to Dharmasala, India in November 2010.  She will also teach her pine needle bracelet, an idea inspired by her students of India.  Kits for the project needed to be preordered but Pam will have some extra available for $15.00 on a first come, first served basis.  You need not be signed up for the project to attend this meeting.  We’d love to see you!

Basket Fest 2012 is coming together and will be here in four weeks, May 3, 4, and 5.  There are a few openings in classes so if you find you are able to come even for a day contact Janice Hollowell (262)628-4306, or at jhollowell@charter.net to find out your class possibilities.  Can’t take classes but would like to visit?  Come shop our vendors and view all the great items in our Silent Auction.  Check our Fest Brochure online for times, lakecountrybasketguild.com, and scroll down to Basket Fest 2012 to view the brochure.

Please check our website and blog often for updated guild information and articles of interest to you.  Current posts – “Baskets and Gourds in the Midwest”, Basket Fest Vendors, and Alea Miller’s Story - “My World”.  More to come, soon!

Have a Blessed Easter everyone!

LCBG Board

* Food Pantry items for 4/10 – thanks!

As the display was being dismantled at the end of the month, one of the librarians expressed sadness to see it being removed since she stated she had enjoyed it every day.  She said she had noticed something different every time she looked at it and had actually changed the way she entered the building so she could make sure to pass the display daily.  (The pictures will be on our website soon.)

A big “thank you” to the following talented members who loaned their wonderful baskets for use in the display:  Maureen Bartz, Sandy Beck, Janice Hollowell, Debby Krzyston, Kim Leppin, Pat Martin, Patti Nunn, Ann Snider, and Sally Turner.

Hopefully the Guild will find new locations to showcase our talents and advertise our Guild and its programs.  If any member knows of any possible secured locations, please contact a Board member with the information.

Earlier this year our guild received a letter from Nancy Miller of Burnsville Minnesota, a fellow basketweaver.  She shared in her letter that she’s been a weaver for over 25 years and teaches basketry as well as sells her work at Art Fairs near her home.

She also spoke about her eldest daughter,  Alea Miller, who is a writer and who wrote her mother a story as a Christmas present.  The story is entitled “My World” and it is about life and baskets.  As Nancy states in her letter, “I hope you agree with me that to those of us who ‘live baskets’, it is very insightful.  I found it to be exactly that.

Nancy, on behalf of our guild, thank you so much for sharing your precious gift.  To our members and the basketry world beyond, enjoy!

Sally Turner

My World

“Baskets are like the world,” my father first told me as I sat on his knee, his large, steady hands holding me.  “Each weave is a person in your life, connected together to hold the rest of the world in place.”  He told me this many times throughout m life.  Whenever I would have a bad day or feel stuck in a situation, my father would tell me to check my basket.

My basket:  The weaves of people in my life who held my world together.  Each weave

formed beauty and structure, and they held the important things . . . life, family, death, and happiness . . . safely within their grip, preventing my important things from falling and breaking.  My mother and father were the first fibers forming my basket, and from there my basket grew with each addition to my life.

Eventually my basket was complete—or so my father declared.  I finished college, moved out, married, and had a family of my own.  I grew older and formed my own basket.  My husband and children became the first supporting fibers in my new basket, and new friends and work were woven around them.  Yet all these were still supported by my first basket and were reinforced by the fibers of my parents and the basket they helped me build.

I had never paid much mind to father’s talk of baskets, despite his insistence that they were an important part of life.  His mother had taught him to weave, as had her mother and her mother’s

mother, and so on for longer than I cared to count.  It was father’s connection to past generations.  And as hard as he would try to get me involved, I’d always prefer to spend time with my friends.  However, despite my apathy, his basket analogy would never leave me.  All he had to say was “Check your basket,” and I’d know what he meant.

My father was the first weave to break.   His fibers dried out and frayed one by one until he snapped.  My mother was next.  Her fiber was unsupported without my father next to her, and after ten years alone, she, too, weakened and broke.  One be one my basket’s fibers cracked, and soon my basket could no longer hold anything.  I floundered for a while with my empty, broken basket and struggled with what I would now do.My World

It was only my father’s words that gave me strength.  I knew what I had to do . . . I had to check my basket.  My father’s and mother’s basket was no longer there, but because of them I had other baskets.  I set to work strengthening those fibers, building and adding to them until they were as strong as my father and mother had made mine.  And, one day I pulled my daughter into my lap. Put my lips to her ear, and whispered, “Have I ever told you that baskets are like the world?”.

Basket Bees————————Debby Krzyston

Baskets By Marla—————–Marla Sunstrom

East Troy Basketry—————Eileen & Jim Mirsberger

Memories Woven Forever—–Ann Snider

Sally Turner Designs————Sally Turner

Vendor Hours for Basket Fest are:

Thursday, May 3——————3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Friday, May 4———————-7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 5——————7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Be sure to make time to visit the vendors and see the great variety of basket supplies being offered this year!

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching and we’ve got a great program slated for Tuesday,  February 14.   Lori Champeau and Karen Booth of Homestead Heirlooms will be teaching the Classy Personal File Folder Basket, a Kathy Libby design.  Kits needed to be preordered and prepaid, but Lori and Karen will have a few extra kits on hand for purchase, first come first served.  They will also have some of their fine leather products for sale during the meeting.

Basket Fest registrations are coming in and classes are filling.  Openings are available in some classes so if you realize you are able to join us on that first weekend in May, please contact Janice Hollowell at (262)628-4306 or at janicehollowell@gmail.com for openings and details.

During February’s meeting we’ll have a sign-up sheet available for March 13th’s Cedar Roses project.  This program will be free to members, but we’re needing a head count for materials.   Please check the March 13 date on our website under Guild Calendar for details.

Speaking of membership, are you current for 2012?  If not, or if you’re not sure, check with Maureen Bartz at (414) 282-4229 or maureenbartz@prodigy.net.

Looking forward to seeing you on the 14th…

LCBG Board

P.S.  Remember your Food Pantry items for Galilee!

Welcome to a new year!  Already the days have flown by as February 1 is at our heels.  This date is magical because your BasketFest 2012 Registration needs to be postmarked by February 1 for first day registration consideration.  If you haven’t done so already, check our website lakecountrybasketguild.com and click on BasketFest 2012 for the Brochure, Registration Form, and Promotion Order Form.

I personally extend my thanks to the two women who finished their terms on the guild board in December, Janice Larson, Co-President, and Karen Kotecki, Secretary.  Both ladies served during a time when as an organization we cherished our 19 years as a guild and looked to redefine ourselves in the present.  Our by-laws were examined and revamped, a document that continues to be a work in progress.  We transitioned our outreach to our members from a hard copy newsletter to complete electronic communication through our website and guild blog, again a work in progress.  How to meet our members’ needs and provide meaningful programs in our challenging economic times is no small task but with strong leadership, membership input, and willing volunteers we made it happen.  Kudos Janice and Karen!

New on board for 2012-2013 are Sandy Beck, Co-President, and Janice Hollowell, Treasurer.  We’ve recently had our first board meeting and both ladies have demonstrated their enthusiasm for both the guild and the art of basketry.  Be sure to read their notes of introduction in the guild’s blog (http://lakecountrybasketguild.com/newsweaveblog).  Welcome ladies!

Please check our guild calendar for what’s taking place each month.  There are some neat programs slated for this year, with a few openings I know will fill soon.  If we haven’t seen you in a while, or if you’ve yet to make your first guild meeting please come!  It is a great time of weaving, comraderie and fun.

As always, we want to hear from you about how we can continue to make our organization meaningful to you.  Feel free to contact any board member with questions, concerns, ideas.

Best wishes to you in 2012,

Sally Turner