It’s the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Western North Carolina Fibers/Handweavers Guild. Faye Russell announced at our November meeting that the theme for this year’s Winter Project is, therefore, Sapphire Blue. Make something for yourself, for someone you love, for the Mountain State Fair (in which case, make it in triplicate, to also enter the contest at Convergence and the Blue Ridge Show). Make it with fiber, in sapphire blue, or some other blue hue, or another color found in corundum-based gemstones. Extra-credit vocabulary word for this month: padparadschah, the very pricey salmon-pink sapphire. Bring your project to the February meeting for Show and Tell, or if winter slips away from you, to a future meeting during the 45th year. We’re a guild known for maximizing choices.