Guild Calendar
No meetings during the summer. Meetings resume in September
See the website for full calendar including study group meetings.
President’s Message
We had a lovely strawberry social at the May meeting and voted in most of the board for 2026-27 year. We have an open position of Outreach Director as Kati Robb moved to the role of Education Director, thank you Kati! The Outreach Director acts as the liaison between ANWG, HGA, and other organizations. The role also includes coordination of the WeftOver Sale, which includes announcing donations at meetings and helping with set up and take down. This event always garners volunteers, so the work is well distributed. If there is a request for PHG community involvement, the Outreach Director will bring it to the attention of Board for decision. As with any Board position, the amount of work needed is dependent on what you want to take on. If this is a role you would like to take on, please reach out to me at noragessert@yahoo.com.
Speaking of WeftOver Sale, we will begin to collect donations at the September and October meetings. The sale is scheduled for October 10th at MAC. More details to come so start to look at your stash, what can you donate be it fiber or old tools? The funds raised are used to offset the costs of meetings and workshops.
I was talking to a member recently, and we agreed, it is hard to weave in the heat. I know many of you weave regardless, but the heat really takes it out of me even without a layer of wool across my lap. Let’s hope the heat wave breaks soon; I have a blanket to start.
I hope everyone enjoys their summer and we will see you all in September.
Nora Gessert
Guild News
Summer Volunteer Opportunities
Sign up sheets are now posted for these summer demonstrating events:
Woodstock Farmers Market on Sunday, July 19
Cedar Mill Farmers Market on Saturday, August 8
Nordic Northwest Event at the Nordic House on Sunday, August 9
The Kids Zone at MAC on Saturday, August 15
Later I will post the sign-up sheet for Art in the Pearl, Labor Day weekend, Saturday to Monday, September 5, 6, 7.
In addition, The Oregon State Fair will run in Salem from August 28 to September 7. The Salem Fiber Arts Guild organizes those demonstrations and sign-ups and they are always looking for volunteers. Our Portland Guild has not sent many volunteers in the past years and they could use the help. Let’s show them that we are willing and able to promote weaving and other fiber arts state wide!!! The day you volunteer you get a free parking pass and entry to the fair. You can spend all your time in the air conditioned exhibits buildings or take some time to browse around the fairgrounds. Curley fries anyone? Or Dairy Women’s ice cream cones? Contact them directly at fairlifeoregon@gmail.com to sign up for a shift.
Watch upcoming newsletters for more information or contact CookiMessmer@comcast.net
Weft Over Sale Donations
Planning has begun for our Weft Over Sale in October! Donations can be brought to the September and October meetings. Your donations of yarn, smaller looms, accessories, and weaving books/magazines make this sale a special and fun event each year. And we’re looking forward to another great event.
Questions? Contact Kati Robb at korobb0519@gmail.com.
PHG Fall Sale
Save the date! The PHG Fall Sale is scheduled for 13 & 14 Nov, 2026 at the Multnomah Arts Center. Applications and information will be posted in the August newsletter, but you should be weaving away by now!!
Legacy Orientation Session
An orientation session will be held at 3pm on Thursday, July 9 at Ruthie’s Weaving Studio, 4701 SE 24th Ave, Portland OR for anyone interested in becoming an assistant instructor for Legacy Beginning Weaving Classes. For more information or RSVP for a headcount, contact Sue Walsh at sugar2311@comcast.net.
ANWG 2027 Conference Update
Your ANWG 2027 conference co-chairs and committee leads have been busy moving the conference preparations forward over the past month. We are quickly developing the design for the conference agenda and all of the in-person instructors have received and signed their contracts. The schedule for the different sessions is approaching a final version. A request for virtual instructors was released early in June and review of Zoom-based sessions that have been submitted will start in the next couple weeks and be completed by July 1. If you are interested in reviewing these proposals, please contact the education committee chairs at education@anwgconference.org.
Our biggest effort for which we need assistance is around publicity and social media. We are seeking a co-chair a few members for that committee. This committee will establish a schedule of topics and a process for creating social media posts. Ideally, these will occur every couple weeks or so, whenever new blog editions go out. We also are looking for a collection of “reposters”, people who follow different blogs, Instagram accounts, Facebook groups or other social media communities. Amplifying our communications will ensure that news about ANWG 2027 gets out to the biggest audience possible.
Please stay posted for new details about the conference that will unfold over the next few months as we start sending out specific blogs about conference details. As a teaser, many of you may have seen the recent podcast from Longthread Media about the redesign of Marguerite Porter Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book. We have been in communication with Caroline Cooley Browne, Marguerite’s granddaughter, who is heading up that project and hopes to see a new edition of “the green book” reissued in summer 2027. We are working to bring Ms. Browne to the ANWG 2027 conference to do a session that talks about the work involved to develop the new edition, including the reweaving of all of the samples in the books for new photographs. More on that soon.
Your co-chairs and a number of committee members are working on additional events external to the conference, including a river dinner cruise. We sampled such a cruise the end of June by purchasing our own tickets to check out the cuisine before recommending it to conference attendees. Who said that planning an ANWG conference is all work and no play! Keep an eye out for opportunities to sign up as a volunteer for the conference. We will need lots of folks in different roles throughout the actual conference.
Dan Steves & Edith Gummer
ANWG 2027 Conference Co-Chairs
Bulletin Board
Latest ANWG Newsletter
The Association of Northwest Weavers Guilds has posted their April 2026 newsletter (plus April Update 1 & April Update 2). Check out the creative ways other Northwest weaving guilds are getting their members together for fiber activities. All ANWG newsletters are available here.
Looking to Buy or Sell Weaving Equipment or Materials?
Check out the Items for Sale page.
Fiber News and Events
Damascus Fiber Arts School presents Tapestry Talks
On Saturday, Jul 18, at 10am Pacific, our guest will be Rebecca Smith. In this talk, Rebecca Smith will share how she transitioned from being primarily a tapestry weaver to making transparency weaving her primary focus. The talk will cover the similarities and differences between these two weaving traditions, focusing on the technical skills that they have in common while showing the unique characteristics of transparency weaving. See Tapestry Talks – Damascus Fiber Arts School for more information..
HGA Convergence
August 12-16, 2026
New Orleans, Louisiana
https://www.handweavers.org/convergence
ANWG 2027 Conference
June 14-19, 2027
Portland, Oregon
https://anwgconference.org/
Handweavers Guild of America
Textiles & Tea
Tuesdays
Handweavers Guild of America, Inc.’s (HGA)‘s Textiles & Tea takes place every Tuesday at 4 PM (ET). We’ve invited some of the most respected fiber artists in the field today to join us for an hour long conversation where we will discuss their artwork and their creative journey. Make a cup of your favorite tea and join us as we talk about fiber, creativity, inspiration, process and so much more.
Newsletter Contributions
Send news items and fiber events to Tim Prins by the 25th of the month for inclusion in the next month’s newsletter.
Rental Equipment
PHG has equipment available for rent to current PHG Members. Click here for more info.
PHG Board and Chairs
Please click here for a list of PHG Board Members and Committee Chairs.