We all gathered for our first meeting of the year, September 10th. It is so hard to believe that the summer is over, and we’ve already had our first meeting. Time is going by so fast, I don’t even seem to be able to catch my breath. Anyone else feel like that? We were warmly welcomed to the first meeting by our new President, Lorna.
We had the reports from the various executive members, which took a bit of time being the first meeting. After a break of tea and goodies, (someone suggested that adding in a glass of wine might be a good idea), we welcomed our speaker for the evening, Cynthia McNair. 
She began her talk explaining that she started as a porcelain and china restorationist, while living in England, before moving to Canada. After moving to Canada, she joined a quilt guild, and began her quilt journey making traditional quilts. 
This bargello is an example of one of her traditional pieces. She soon began to branch out into the more “artsy” landscape style quilts. This one being one of her first. 
She then branched out into other landscapes besides florals. 
She did this one of buildings growing from the ground, as it seems they do when a city has a building boom going on. She went on to talk about exploring dying and painting on her fabrics, including a technique called “ice dying” She gave us a brief explanation of the process. 
This scene is based on a piece of ice dyed fabric that, when she looked at it, reminded her of a sunrise. Here’s another ice dyed piece, with some stencils added to it.
She became inspired to branch off onto a different journey after a trip to Israel. This gorgeous piece was just one of many she showed.
She was a wonderful, informative and fun speaker. Her work is beautiful, and her English accent added to the fun, as did her husband Stewart, who came along as her quilt holder-upper assistant, also with a charming English accent.
After Cynthia finished her talk, we had members show and share of what they’d been working on over the summer. Nancy P. showed her completed Twisted Log Cabins, 
made from a workshop from last year. Amalia showed her quilt. 
I’m not sure of the name, but it had tons of little tiny little squares in it. Cynthia N. showed three McKenna Ryan designed cat themed wall hangings. 
This is just one of them.
Susan D. showed her Austin wall hanging 
and Mibsie B. showed her quilt based on the pattern 
Jumping Jacks, perfect for a little girl.
Lorna brought her finished Canadiana quilt, made from the mystery design that ran all last year. She took it and put her own spin and interpretation on it. 
There are many more pictures from Cynthia’s trunk show and also from the members’ show and share that can be found at the LFQG Picasa photo page. For some strange reason, it is dated August 30th, 2015, and I have yet to figure out how to change the title of the album. I’ve also just discovered that the link I tried to put in here isn’t live. I have to figure out how to change the privacy setting on the album. I’ll put the link in here once I’ve figured it out.
It was a great first meeting to the year. If the rest of this year is the same, we’re in for a great time!
