One of our adenda items was the planning for CQA/ACC Quilt Canada 2010 in Calgary AB.
link for Calgary: http://www.canadianquilter.com/events/index_events_quiltcanada2010.htm
Also, watch for a new, more interactive website next year!
After the meeting, some of the board visited Western University at London, Ontario. It will be the site of the 2011 National Juried Show. The campus is beautiful. The residences will be available and the main show will be at London Hall. The Education building and Essex hall will provide classrooms, meeting auditorium and banquet hall. 
Below is the Local Organizing Committee and the Board members who visited the site to look at suitable rooms to meet the Quilt Ontario needs. 
There are a few modern buildings ... ...
Most are brick or stately stone
Following the site visit we met as a group to discuss and make the preliminary arrangements.The Local Organizing Committee is the backbone of the National Juried Show, both the Quilt Canada show and alternate year provincial shows such as Quilt Ontario for 2011.
We work 2-3 years ahead to start plans. If your guild would like a challenge and memorable experience, contact our president to make a proposal.
CQA/ACC website link: http://www.canadianquilter.com/
Contact for Board members and regional representatives is under 'Membership'
One was curious ...
At the yearly 
Some designs are quite detailed.
Their feathers are absolutely beautiful.
And, then we had a harvest moon.
This post is for my sewing friends: 
I worked freehand, which is the type of quilting I do. We did some border treatments,
and alphabets. 
a sun ...
Raw edge applique ... 
and a design outlined from a stencil.
It was made last spring for the Vancouver Cherry Festival and was recently on display at the La Conner Textile Museum's 
The animals that roamed before the ice ages were very different.
This is one little bit of animal life surviving today ... 
Some lakes support wild birds and fishermen. 
Wild baby's breath flourishes where there is a little moisture. 
Otherwise, tough grasses and bushes live on the dry hills. 
Bushes like this can be hundreds of years old. 
This model depicts a rhinoceros that lived during the Miocene period and was engulfed by a lava flow. As the lava hit the lake, it cooled and left a unique mold of it's body that is visible near Blue Lake at Sun Lakes state Park. A few bones of the large animal were also in the area. It was a young animal and was probably dead and bloated. The size would be 8 feet from snout to tail. This took place in the time between one and 25 million years ago. 
The funny part of all this is that no one believed my story of the 
We were told that a 'must see' is the Dry Falls. An unpaved road led down into a basin. Towering above us was the Dry Falls.When we looked up we saw a building on the other side. 
The building was the observatory overlooking the Dry Falls. Later we drove up to the observatory and the photo below is what we saw from that viewpoint.
This is a drawing of the falls in the time of the ice ages.
Standing below, the rock forms showed the heavy erosion of thousands of years ago.
The cliffs show the layers of rock formed over millions of years by lava flows.
Then, during the ice ages the layers were dug away by the massive flooding.
Basalt cliffs had huge pillars of rock.
If you look up, the cliffs hide caves caused by drainage and the powerful action of the falls.
From here, we drove to the Grand Coulee Dam, built in the 1960's. Its water supplies power and irrigation for the farmlands up on the plateau. Dinner was less than memorable. It was the first time I had chopped lettuce with 
On the way back to 
We stopped at the observatory on the way back and the moon was reflecting in the lake at the base of the dry falls.
The deep gorge had viewing spots where the native 
We crossed a bridge to farmland made lush from irrigation. On the other side, we visited the petrified forest (photos below).
Highway 90 was 4 lanes and we made good time.
Below is a diagram of the yearly floods that backed up and created Lake Lewis. The lake emptied in a week, littering the landscape with huge erratics and tearing out the gorge.
Ginkgo was once very widely distributed. Generally, it is leaves that are found fossilized. These trees in the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park is one of the few places where fossilized trees have been found.
Logs are displayed outside the museum.
Ginkgo is sometimes called the 'Living Fossil'. An ancient tree, it first appeared 150 million years ago. There are no wild Ginkgo forests. It owes its existance to cultivation in Oriental Temple Gardens.
The Ginkgo Petrified Forest is located on the 
We saw a few deer droppings and this little creature.
Ice age floods 
This example is blackened, perhaps by fire?
Outside the museum are petrified logs ...
Copies were made and are on display at the Museum of Petrified Trees. I've enhanced the photos to make the design more clear. They are 'prehistory' and typically depict: religion and community life.
A family? mom & dad and child
Hunting scene on top. Bottom? 
Symbol of ???
The designs show movement and inter-relationships.
A universal symbol that gives life - the sun
With special little views ...
The huge trees gave a feeling of the passing of time and the bleeding hearts 'said it all'.
As we headed into the 
Farms looked lush and green from spring rains.
This bear was having a leisurely munch on the young grass.
He/she got up and looked at the line of cars ... 
and then hid behind a bush and looked at me, I think he heard the camera clicking. 
The bear decided to take a closer look and walked down into the ditch and up towards our car door. 
As the bear climbed up the side of the ditch, my husband couldn't see him and didn't understand why I was saying that we needed to go NOW!
You find great little quilt shops in unexpected places.
The date was May 20 and trees are starting to turn green.
As we leave the BC mountains ... 
The sign says it all, we crossed from British Columbia to Alberta.
Snow gives outlines of the rock faces that you don't see at other times.
Weather can change within minutes, as you roll around the next mountain.
The Rocky Mountains are awe inspiring!The mountains show the effect of geophysical pressures when rock layers twisted like taffy and were pushed upwards. Ancient seabeds sit vertically. 
Here we have three different layers pushed up on each other.
Twisted and layered like pastry ... 
Once out of the mountains, we quickly were into the flat prairie lands as we headed towards Edmonton. 
This is what is known as 'The Big Alberta Sky'. 
A 'window on the world' a century ago. How the view has changed!
The prairie grain elevator, 
Saskatoon if often called the 'City of Bridges'. 
Several magnificent churches are in a row, facing the river.
This playful statue shows incredible movement.
A little bit of Canadian History ...
One of my best memories of Saskatoon is the Pelicans who gather by the weir on the South Saskatchewan River.
These are mostly young males. They grow a horn on their beak that falls off after mating season.
They spent much of their time gobbling the 'fast food'. The fish are dazed by the churning water and are easy prey.
This one was on tourist duty, posing on the shore. 
The American White 
And, always are the flowers ... 
Outside the 
Cropping a photo often reveals a visitor ...
and north ... 
The view is 'wrap around'. here we look back to the house on the top of the river embankment.
These trees grew in the river gorge - protected from severe winter cold. 
The date was the beginning of June and many wild flowers 
The beavers had terraced the side of the river embankment. In the early days, many farmers depended on the ponds built by the beaver. They were used for the cattle in dry summers.
This piece of land is rolling grassland, with the deep gorge below.
The boulders are ancient rock pushed along by the river over time. They are a soft stone with a variety of lichen crusting the surface. The lichen grows slowly and may be hundreds of years old. 
There are pits/holes in the rocks, formed by a softer 
Glorious sunset ... in the making!
In all it's glory ...
