Crafting Group Meets at Girard Library

By Jennifer Ball

From left: Ella Kuhar, Denise Neff, Cathy Zitler, Michele Scott, Amber Huffman.

The idea is simple. A place to gather for people who have unfinished crafting projects. That is why the Unfinished Fabric Objects group meets at the Girard Library on the 2nd and 4th Monday of every month. The group’s acronym is UFO, “nothing to do with little green men,” member Amber Huffman joked.

The meetup welcomes anybody from kids to adults of any gender and welcomes any portable craft at all. The crafts range from quilting to crochet. The club is totally free of charge, and nobody is in charge. It’s just a group of a few women who like to meet a couple times a month to work on crafting. The group started in the spring of 2011 and is still going strong.

Huffman was working on cross stitching, while another girl in the group works on Swedish weaving. The group meets informally from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. It’s a casual group. Come when you can, leave when you want. “We do a little bit of crafting and a whole lot of talking,” Huffman joked. “Some women just needed a place to do some crafts.”

Another member of the group, Ella Kuhar, was working on crochet. Huffman says it’s the people in the group like Ella who just get it. “I could talk to Ella for hours about cross stitch, and she gets it,” Huffman said. They even have their own language. For example, WIPs are works in progress.

The projects are normally unfinished crafts found at home. “You find it in your closet and you want to finish it,” Kuhar said. The group is also there to teach people how to do things.

You don’t have to be from Girard either. Huffman comes from Virden. Another member Michele Scott comes from Springfield.

The purposes of the projects range from quilting for family members to charity work. Cathy Zitler was making hats for premature babies in the hospital to hold their heat in. Norma Roghe has put her quilting work in the state fair and has won ribbons on them. “I’ve seen a few of her quilts. They’re just gorgeous,” Huffman said.

Denise Neff crochets a blanket during the meeting. A few women meet twice a month to work on unfinished craft projects.

The group has also made sweaters, hats, baby blankets, and school bags for a mission project called World Mission. They make hats for Santa’s Workshop and the food pantry in the winter time. It’s just a place for people to get together to make crafts and to help each other with their unfinished projects.

If you are doing a craft, and encounter a problem, the group is there for you. It is just as much a teaching group as a crafting club. “There will be someone here to help with whatever problem you have,” Scott said.

“You get started on something,” Huffman said. “Then you look over and say, what are you doing? That looks interesting!” A couple of years ago she wanted to submit something to the State Fair, but she’s still not done. “You can tell a crafter when their closet holds unfinished projects,” Huffman said.

Source: Crafting Group Meets at Girard Library Crafting Group Meets at Girard Library

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