We tried a bit of a change in format this meeting. We had reports only from executive members who had something to report. Rather than waiting to be called, they were up at the front, ready to give their reports. It made quite a difference in the time it took. The other thing we tried this time round was to extend the break time to 30 minutes. That gave us time to shop with the vendor, check out the library, check out the new bulletin board containing announcements, check out what’s happening at the programme committee table and do some old fashioned visiting with each other. It seemed a lot more relaxed and less rushed doing it this way.
After the break we heard from our speaker for the evening, Joni Newman. 
She told us that she has been sewing for most of her life, starting with making clothes and doing embroidery. She got her first sewing machine by offering to sew clothes for her mother on it. She showed us one of her first quilt, a Garden Twist, 
a pattern that was quite popular in the 80s. From there she branched out into a more art quilt approach, drawing her inspiration from nature. Her designs come from her own travels, places and things 
that she’s seen which she then translates into her designs. Both the Poppies 
and the Sunflowers 
are dimensional, with the blooms seeming to grow right from the quilts. The Columbines 
are quite small, and have beading added to them. She’s done numerous designs for the Row By Row quilts that are quite popular to collect while travelling during summer vacations. 
Most of them are done with her now signature stained glass technique. This next one is just plain fun. 
It’s called “It’s All About the Beer”. There were also some of her landscape stained glass quilts to be admired. I can’t remember the name of this one, but it’s gorgeous. 
And then there’s the moose, 
so incredibly detailed. One of my favourites from her quilts was one based on some of the songs by The Beatles. 
Can you name the tunes represented in each row?
After Joni finished her presentation, we had member show and tell.
Gail showed her “In the Coop”, 
Rose showed a bag she’d made, 
Micki Showed one of her UFO finishes 
and Susan showed her sampler fro a Jennifer Chiaverini book.
There are lots more pictures of the April meeting here on our Group photos page.
