Cranberry Country Weavers' Guild is an organization of handweavers dedicated to the exploration and educational aspects of preserving the art of handweaving and other fiber arts and their relationship to weaving
Our meeting place is theWest Bridgewater Public Library, 80 Howard Street, in West Bridgewater , Massachusetts . We meet the 3rd Wednesday of each month except for the months July, August and December.
The meetings consist of a business meeting and an educational program or hands-on workshop
about a technique of handweaving or project. We meet from 10:00am- 2:00 ,sometimes, 3:00PM.
HAPPY 40TH ANNIVERSARY,
CRANBERRY
COUNTRY 1971-
WEAVERS! 2011
Driving Directions to the West Bridgewater Public Library
Directions to West Bridgewater Library:
From the North:
Take route 24 south to exit 16A.
Follow route 106 east for approximately 1.6 miles.
At blinking yellow light past High School, (middle/senior high school)
turn left onto Howard St. Follow curve to right, pass two houses and WBPL, #80 Howard St.,
is brick building on right.
Park in front lot or left side lot of building.
From the South:
Take route 24 north to exit 16A Follow route 106 east for approximately 1.6 miles.
At blinking yellow light past High School, (middle/senior high school)
Turn left on to Howard Street Follow curve to right, pass two houses
and WBPL, #80 Howard St., is brick building on right.
Park in front lot or left side lot of building.
or...From the South:
Rte. 495 to Exit 7 for Rte. 24 North. Take Exit 16A for Rte. 106 East into West Bridgewater. Pass through 1 set of traffic lights (at Hockomock Ctr.). Pass West Bridgewater High School on left. At blinking yellow light past High School, turn left onto Howard St.
Follow curve to right, pass two houses and WBPL is brick building on right. Park in front lot or side lot of building.
From the West:
Follow route 106 east.
Turn left on to Howard Street (right after the Middle / Senior High).
Follow Howard Street to 80 Howard St. Follow curve to right, pass two houses and WBPL is brick building on right.
Park in front lot or side lot of building.
From the East:
Take route 28 north from Bridgewater to route 106 west.
Follow route 106 west through the center of West Bridgewater.
Turn right on to Howard Street (right after the Police and Fire Station).
Follow Howard Street to 80 Howard St.
From the East Bridgewater/Whitman area:
Take Rte.18 South to Rte. 106 West. Continue past intersection of Rtes. 106 and 28 at lights
and proceed past WB Police station to blinking yellow light on 106 (before WBHS).
Take a right on Howard St. The WBPL is around the curve on the right.
This page was last updated on: September 13, 2011
The Cranberry Country Weavers Guild is a contributing guild member of the New England Weavers Seminar held every two years. The New England Weavers Seminar will be held in July 2011 at Smith College in Northampton MA. Photos of the guild's exhibit at the conference from 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009 and 2011are below. For more information about the New England Weavers Seminar Click the link button for N.E.W.S.
SEPTEMBER 21, 2011
Weave A Loom Basket – A Hands-On Session with Susan Anderson
Our Program: Susan will present an overview of the basic basket weaving techniques that guild members will use to make a simple “Loom Weavers’ Basket” from a variety of rattan, reed and seagrass materials. Basic plainweave and twining techniques will be demonstrated, along with shaping suggestions. A simple ‘cut and tuck’ technique will be used to complete the basket and several handle/hanging options will be discussed. Once dry, completed baskets can be ‘finished’ by following the instructions provided for making black walnut dye/stain (packet included with kit). Please arrive on time! Our program will start promptly at 10:30.
What to Bring: • materials fee of $6 for a kit • optional basic basket weaving tools: cutting shears, awl, clothespins, and a ruler
About Susan Anderson: Native to the Bridgewater region of Massachusetts, she has been weaving baskets and restoring handwoven chair seats and wicker furniture for over 30 years. Attracted primarily to the history, pattern, texture and usefulness of hand-woven furniture and baskets, she eventually turned her hobby into a professional restoration service that came to include adult education, after-school enrichment and volunteer service programs. Susan is a positive, enthusiastic, cheerful and patient instructor who finds her work most enjoyable and rewarding when she can share her skills with others. Most often she can be found running workshops and events at the Soule Homestead Education Center, working on fundraising projects for similar non-profit organizations, participating in craft shows and festivals, and demonstrating her unique talents and skills at education centers throughout the region.
Also in our program: Didn’t get to the New England Weavers Seminar this past July? Not to worry. Over lunch, Cranberry members who attended NEWS will give us a recap of their experiences and show us some entertaining and inspirational photos of weaving and good times.
Cranberry Weavers Guild exhibit of the jackets woven by members . These photos were taken by C. Wooten at the New England Weavers Seminar held in July 2003
MEMBERS PHOTO GALLERY
Carol's First place award winning jacket NEWS 2003
Programs
and meeting dates- September 2011-May 2012
HANDWEAVERS GUILD OF AMERICA
CONVERGENCE July 2010
October 19, 2011
Around the World Experiences with Weaving– featuring several Cranberry members and their photos
Kathy Eklund and Jane Perkins will kick off our roundtable, enlightening us about their experiences traveling through Sweden in September, visiting a number of textile-related sites and attending the Vävmässan (a.k.a. “Väv”), the international weaving conference. Held every three years, the conference aims to span topics from ancient textile history to the future of textiles and design and is usually attended by 10,000 people! The focus of this year’s Väv is clothing sewn from handwoven fabric.
Other speakers in our roundtable will include Lida Cavanaugh recapping her weaving-related experiences on her travels to Scotland (including an excursion with the “Singing Weaver),” Susan Mancini on teaching women in Uganda to band weave using mini-inkle looms, and other Cranberry members who will share their adventures. If you would like to present a short talk and show pictures of your own experiences with weaving around the world, please contact Catherine Avril by September 30th. (617-910-9445 or cr.avril@gmail.com). Feel free to bring your own samples of weaving from around the world to share in a show-and-tell to follow our roundtable presentations.
HANDWOVEN TEA TOWEL EXHANGE
In addition, we will learn about our guild’s 2011-2012 Tea Towel Exchange. We hope that everyone will want to participate! It’s an opportunity to end up with two towels per participant, in exchange for some pre-prepared yarn. And there’s even a chance to win a surprise gift in a raffle among participants! Make sure to take home information handouts for all the details, as well as a special bag, at this meeting if you plan to participate.
What to Bring: • Bring samples of weaving from around the world that you’d like to share in an informal show-and-tell after our roundtable presentations • COLOR photocopies of a sample of your weaving for a hands-on activity in November – . Taking one handwoven sample, make TWO copies of it and have the image of the weaving fill up as much as possible of each 8-1/2” x 11” sheet (“regular” paper), i.e. minimizing the outside edge margins. . Consider copying your sample on colored paper (not essential, but nice). . Make sure to put your name on a post-it and stick it to your copies.
• Your Tea Towel Exchange bag containing your yarn (with a completed tag) to swap
NOVEMBER 16, 2011
Our Traditional Holiday Celebration Come celebrate the holidays and good cheer among friends! We’ll start out with a hands-on project using your printed weaving samples (collected at our October meeting). Each member will make a seasonal item to adorn her home or to give as a small gift. Following our short crafts time, we’ll enjoy our always lavish and delectable buffet and animated gift swap of handmade items. Join us for the fun and inspiration!
Remember, we’ll also be starting our Tea Towel Exchange by swapping bags of pre-prepared yarn! (Details provided in handouts at the October meeting.)
Note: What to bring to our Holiday Party: • a dish to feed four hungry friends • your own plate, silverware, and utensils for serving your dish • a wrapped, handcrafted item to swap • your Tea Towel Exchange bag containing your yarn (with a completed tag) to swap
Looking ahead . . . . Our March program will involve working with pieces of handwoven cloth. If you want to weave something in advance for our project, plan on having two pieces, approximately 12" x 15" each: twill fabric made from relatively fine yarns, such as 8/2 cotton or tencel. (Commercial fabric pieces will also be made available for those who don’t have handwoven fabric at the time.)
2013 Programs
Please save the following dates for the 2013 meetings:The programs for these meetings will be announced in the January newsletter. Remember, if the West Bridgewater Public Schools are closed for snow, then so is the library! And that means our meeting is cancelled for that month.
• January 18, 2013 • February 15, 2013 • March 21, 2013 • April 18, 2013 • May 16, 2013 • June 20, 2013
Warp Painting Workshop at Prochemical and Dye in April 2005
Hope Pike 1908-2006
Photos from past NEW ENGLAND WEAVERS SEMINARS
Carol and her First Place award winning shawl
Nancy and Florrie at NEWS 2005
Key note speaker, Anita Meyer and Nancy R. discussing dye techniques at the Pro Chem booth 2005 at Merrimack College
Our Annual June Picnic 2005
Kathy helping Betty
take her fabric off
the loom
held at Smith College, Northampton, MA July 2009
2011 JULY
The New England Weavers' Seminar: "Weaving our World " took place at Smith College in Northampton, MA
Ro Spinelli, Nancy Perry, Rita Steinbach, and Carol Wooten After the Runway Fashion Show
Ro, Nancy and Carol on the "runway".
Carol with her "BEST IN SHOW" award jacket
part of the Faculty Exhibit
Bycretia Chase's Pin jacket , titled: "Brest Color Pink", (middle) is Woven and has a handpainted lining.
Maureen Chapman's award winning tablecloth
Kathy's runner in the Gallery Exhibit
Judy at her loom.
Florrie, Lida and Avis checking out some items at a meeting
Becky from Becky's Vav Stuga, Shelburn Falls, MA
visiting the guild to give a program
Ro and Joia during the 3-day
60 mile walk for breast cancer research
Last August
Rita and Carol's jackets displayed at the Fashion show
Ro and Judy at the gallery show
The New England Weavers Seminar 2009
Detail of Carol's award winning jacket
Carol's Hand dyed warp vest entry
Winter white triangular shawl woven by Ro
Skirt woven by Nancy
Some of our members at lunch at NEWS
Cranberry's Guild Exhibit "Weaving GREEN"
By the end of the Fashion Awards at this year's NEWS, Carol Wooten , had earned enough points to be named "WEAVER OF DISTINCTION". This is a very high honor in our weaving circles. Congratulatioins Carol!
This Award is well deserved!
A section of the Gallery Exhibit, Handpainted warp scarf- (red Ribbon award) Woven by Carol
Ro , at the end of the 2009 60 mile- 3-day ,Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Walk July 2009
Catherine, working hard at her loom, 2009
Warp dying workshop at Prochem's lab
More MEMBER PHOTOS
Florrie Smith 1928-2009
Meetings begin at 10:30 AM
sharp in the Meeting Room at the
West Bridgewater Public Library, 80 Howard Street, West Bridgewater,MA.
Please park on the left-hand side of the building.
Associate members are reminded
to pay $5 per meeting
attended. Attendance is included in yearly dues
for regular members.(see "join us" button for details of membership)
Jane at her Rio Grande loom, during HGA Convergence in Albuquerque, NM in July 2010
