I apologize for the long delays between posts. I am still spinning, but lately much of my content creation energy has been devoted to a different project: the Cedar Springs Fiber Arts Center and Retreat. I have plenty of blogs and videos planned for someday when I have time again!

For those of you unfamiliar with this project, here is a brief summary. Cedar Springs Fiber Arts Center and Retreat is envisioned to be a venue where people from the fiber arts community can gather to share their knowledge, skills and crafting expertise with each other. We purchased the property for the retreat last year.

In the intervening months, we’ve encountered so many roadblocks and delays and setbacks. Looking back at my original timeline, I actually thought the wood shop (where Mike will have more room to craft his art, as well as teach lessons in woodwork) and the store (where customers could actually shop for Spanish Peacock spindles in person) would be completed by now.

How naive I was. We still haven’t closed on the loan to start construction yet. We are hoping to break ground in September, but then autumn and what could be a cold, snowy winter, will be close behind.

And the loan isn’t enough. Because of soaring material costs, the construction proposal was, well, pricey. Too pricey for our lender, in fact. So we are faced with difficult choices about which pieces of Phase One (the store, the wood shop, and the messy arts pavilion) would be postponed. That pavilion? Where the dyeing and felting and fleece skirting classes could happen? Where we could host mini fiber festivals or farmer’s markets? As integral as the messy arts pavilion is to our vision of Cedar Springs, it has to wait.

Adding insult to injury, soaring interest rates (with more hikes on the horizon) necessitated a change to the loan type which means we have to pay interest and principal on the loan from the very beginning. Originally we would only have paid interest for a year while construction took place.

Did I mention that the loan is still contingent upon completion of an appraisal? It’s possible the appraisers will decide that our Phase One construction plans won’t improve the property’s value enough to justify the cost of the loan, meaning we’ll have even less money for construction. Meaning even more delays to getting the Cedar Springs Fiber Arts Center and Retreat underway.

Unless we can figure out another source of capital.

We started a Go Fund Me over two years ago to crowdsource financing for this project. Unfortunately COVID-19 launched shortly after our fundraiser did! Despite the Go Fund Me’s tragic timing and lackluster performance, it has given us faith that other people support this project as well.  For those that have already donated, we can’t say thank you enough. If you would like to support this cause, you can visit the Go Fund Me site above or contact me directly for other ways to pitch in. For anyone who wants to help but cash is tight, please help spread the word. Share on social media, tell your guilds and fibery friends… shout it from the roof tops! This dream will happen.

You can learn more about the Cedar Springs by watching our YouTube playlist. Join us on this adventure!