Fraser Valley Quilt Show and flowers

We've had a very wet Spring here in the lower mainland, but despite this some wonderful flowers have shown their pretty heads.  This tree peony flower is in Rita's garden.

 Fraser Valley Quilters' Guild had their show on the May 14th weekend and several of my friends had some great quilts there.  The first one below is by my friend and neighbour Mary Shore.

 A bit farther down the aisle was this second one by Mary.

 This final one was also done by Mary, they are names Circles 1, 11, 111.  I believe they all came from a British magazine called Magic Patch.  She did an amazing job don't you think?

 My friend Ethel Snow took a fun Halloween fabric and decided to make a family album.  Ethel has a wonderful sense of design and humour.

 Carmie Kozak made this lovely colourful quilt.  Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of the whole piece.

 Several years ago Liz Faminoff came to guild and did a workshop, unfortunately I got sick and couldn't take it.  Ethel decided to put her twist on the design by adding the crows to the piece.  I think it was just what was needed for added interest.

 Karen Berry designed this lovely piece.  She was a featured guild member a few years ago.

 Dianne Stephenson machine pieced and machine quilted this quilt.  She is known for lovely hand quilting and was picked as the Canadian Quilters' Association Teacher of the year recently.

 We have a group called "Tinners".  This idea came from Debbie Matthews of the Pacific Spirit Quilters' Guild that I also belong to; Fraser Valley has run the program for several years.  This piece was started by Beckie Stewart to honour her Cocker Spaniel called Tiramisu.  Beckie designed the centre block, put it in a tin and didn't see it again until the end of the guild year when she got 8 additional blocks.  She then put them all together for this lovely quilt.

 Unfortunately Tiramisu passed away just before the blocks were finished.  What a lovely tribute to a family friend.

 My friend Sandi Hill did this charm square quilt.

 Lynne Fanthorpe made this lovely Seminole pieced quilt.

 Lynne is responsible for our guild having a machine quilting mentoring program.  All this quilting was done on a domestic machine.

 Her work is lovely.

 One of the featured members this year was Dougal Walker of The Freckles Collection.  She is known for her lovely stitchery quilts and is getting into some lovely art quilts.

 I love the whimsy of the fish quilt.

 This owl piece was just recently designed and finished.

 Beckie Stewart made this sampler of 6" blocks, she used a binder to keep them all organized.  She is an amazing piecer.

 Another piece by Dougal, her cat!  The photograph below is what she based the design on.

 Don't you think she got his freckled nose just right!

 Our second featured quilter was Cher Olsson.  Her original designs and machine quilting are truly lovely.  What a lovely interpretation of our Canadian Flag.

 Another west coast image, the Orca [or Killer Whale] found up and down our coast.

 A traditional pattern with a floral twist.  She designed this quilt at our Harrison Retreat one year for her mother.

 Another floral twist to a simple design.

 Finally in April I took a chance to enter a draw for a giveaway from Keep it Thimble.  http://blog.keepitthimble.com/ I was the lucky winner of this lovely tulip handbag by Heather Chandler. Pink, yellow and polka dots, some of my favourite things.!  Thanks Heather.

Above the Clouds, Haleakala

On our final full day in Maui we decided to drive above the clouds to the summit of Haleakala.

 The road is 39 miles of switchbacks and very steep terrain.  Driving through the clouds before arriving at the top.

 Looking back down the road we dove along.

 Not very much vegetation at this elevation

 Scanning across the summit.

 A very desolate place.

 Just to the left of the large rock you can see two figures walking the trail.

 The road appears to drop off the edge of the mountain.

 Beautiful clouds.

 A longer shot of the clouds with the mountain in the foreground.

 Observatories on the far peak.

 You have to walk slowly at this elevation.

 These plants are only found in this area and can live up to 50 years, bloom once and die.

 Not sure how old this one would be.

 Remnants of a bloom.

 A wood cut print you can purchase.

 If you look closely you can find signs of plant life.

 This flower was quite the show off.

 The Nene geese were almost driven to extinction but have recovered.

 Driving down below the clouds.

 A lovely lacey silver plant.

 Continuing down the switchbacks.

 Coming out of the clouds and seeing the island stretch out before us.

 Back looking at another lovely sunset.

 The last night on Maui.

 One last look for whales.

One last look at Maui as we fly back home to Vancouver.

 The sunset starting to be seen.

A glimpse of the wing of our plane and the sun going down.