The meeting was called to order at 9:35 by President, Marilou Moschetti. She welcomed all, including guests and new members.

-Marilou read a letter of appreciation from Ukraine for the box of warm hats and scarves that were created by guild members and sent last winter.

-Susan Penney, our treasurer, gave a brief general report or our bank balance and will issue a more detailed report quarterly. Now that expenses are rising for CNCH, there is a likelihood of our SCTAG dues rising as well for next year.

-Shar Brunston, our CNCH liaison, announced that registration for the San Luis Obispo conference, Aug. 3-6, is open and 5 classes have already filled and have waiting lists. The sooner you register, the more chance there is of getting into the class that is your first choice.

-Plea: Marilou made an impassioned request for someone to step forward to be secretary next year. If no one volunteers, she will randomly choose a member to take notes at the meetings. Being an active voter and decision-maker on our board is an important role of the secretary, too. If you have questions or need more information, please contact Kris Nardello, the current secretary. spderwmn@cruzio.com

-Bruce Fihe, our Webmaster and vice-president, is working on making on-line workshop registration possible through our website. There are still details to be worked out, but look for that capability by September. Beta testing is already happening!

-Mibs Somerville, hospitality chair and workshop coordinator, is currently working to set up 2 basketry workshops for the week following the Santa Cruz County Fair, in September. Jane Milner will be teaching them and they will be appropriate for both beginners and more experienced guild members. Sept. 18-19 and Sept. 21-22.

-Marsha Hein, librarian, announced that there were books available for perusal and check out that are on spinning and art yarns to go with the day’s presentation by Brenda Collins on designing art yarns based on a photograph, movie role, song title, etc. There is a newly donated DVD on Shibori as well. She also passed out questionnaires for feedback on whether we really need a library as it is not used very often. All members were asked to complete it either on-line or in person at the meeting.

-Bruce announced a May 17th celebration at the Los Gatos Sons of Norway lodge on May 20. Many Norwegian crafts and fiber arts will be demonstrated, as well as special Norwegian cuisine will be sold and dancers will perform.

-The Santa Clara County Fair will have many categories for textiles arts this year and all members are encouraged to enter their work. The fair is 10 days long running from July 26-Aug.6, however, the last few days overlaps with the CNCH conference, so don’t wait to attend.

-Next year’s workshops are:
January- Youngmin Lee, Korean bojai
March-Janette Gross, Wedge weave
May-Botanical Printing

-June meeting is at Anna Jean Cummings Park in Soquel on June 14 from 10-1:30. Bring your lunch, and a chair, if possible. This is a time to de-stash all those extra half-used cones of yarn, bags of spinning fibers gathering dust and weaving tools. Anything fiber-related is appropriate to sell, swap or give away. We’ll be in the first covered picnic table area on the right as you enter. Plenty of parking!

Interest groups:
Be Weave It Or Not floor loom weavers-Joan Vierra announce that they had received 5 boxes of donated yarns which needed to be sorted and identified by fiber. She’ll be scheduling a work day for that in early June. Members may also contribute yarn from their own stash as a way to recycle it to someone else. Amy Chirman hosted a visit to her studio for the whole large group this month. Next month, Roberta will host the whole group.

Twisted Sisters tapestry group-next meeting May 18th at the coffee roasting company next to Safeway in Felton.

Eccentrics tapestry group-continues to meet weekly via Zoom. Several members have entered the ATA postcard exchange this year and are waiting to find out their partners. Each person participating weaves a postcard-sized piece which is then sent through the mail to the partner. The goal is to encourage friendships among members around the world.

Frequent Flyers spinning group- a Fricke drum carder was donated and is available for free.
Coarse carding cloth would make it good for felters.

Basketeers basketry group-wrapped rocks project in April and will be meeting at Ellen Nielsen’s in June making simple baskets with materials they already have

Dyeversities natural dye group-Castro Adobe dye demo May 7th. Please pre-register for a tour on their state parks website for the open house. Any guild member is welcome to demonstrate any fiber technique.

Sew ’n So’s stitching group-met at Elizabeth Schillings home in April.

Show and Tell
Jen Dyer brought 3 lovely wool blankets that she had woven on her Glimakra loom with the same warp used for all. Helpful hint to those that own that loom: a shower bench used in the back when threading heddles worked perfectly.

Rachelle Weiss displayed a gorgeous shawl that may be worn several ways. It was woven from cotton warp and bamboo weft.

Janette Gross brought several wedge weaves. The most recent uses natural colors of churro wool to symbolize the deterioration of the permafrost in the Arctic. She is still looking for a name for it. “From Chaos to Wisdom” was just accepted into a show of Scandinavian-inspired arts and it is woven of overspun yarns dyed by Martha Stanley and uses runes done in the soumak technique as embellishment. She spent a lot of time researching the meanings of these Viking Age symbols carved in stone and figuring out how to weave them in the wedge weave technique.

Marilou Moschetti created a lovely crazy quilt from wet- and nuno-felted samples she had made over the years.

Melodie Bobisuthi introduced our presenter, Brenda Collins, who spoke and showed slides of art yarns she had created inspired by Star Trek characters, song titles and photographs. She challenged us to use our emotional reactions, textures, colors and art yarn spinning techniques to design our own yarns.

The meeting was ended at 11:40.
Respectfully submitted,
Kris Nardello, secretary