Alaskan Quilting Cruise---Sewing Room & Juneau

Naturally on a Quilting Cruise we all spent time in the sewing room....in our case aboard Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas, we had the entire Moonlight Bay Conference Center for the duration of the cruise. It was great to see the signs up, "Private Gathering for Scottie Dog Quilts."

Each quilter had her own table to herself. Cutting and ironing stations were set up in the middle of the room. Carol is chain piecing her blocks.

Liz taught "Keyholes" from Anka's Treasures' book, On a Roll Again. Here she is showing Paula some fine point of construction. Crystal on the left is concentrating on her "Hello Betty" pieces.

Look at Alayne's face. Is she happy with her batik quilt? Well, if she complained most all of us would be quite happy to take this beauty off her hands!

Here Karen has the borders on hers and is done! She used a constant in the center of the blocks. All the quilts turned out wonderfully!

Here Karen is showing off one of the projects I taught on our cruise....Winding Ways table runner. All the kits were cut with our AccuCut machine---this means the pieces were precisely cut with registration notches which make sewing the curves a piece of cake. Really!

I love the modern Folk Art look of this runner.

In Juneau most of us visited Martina's Quilt Shop. Martha, the owner had so many special touches for our group. First off, right inside the door she hung a little Scottie Dog Quilt with a sign "Welcome Scottie Dog Quilters!" She had pattern designers there (and we all got a free autographed pattern!), there was a big washtub full of ice and a bowl of watermelon (Yum!) and bottled water. She had a wonderful selection of patterns, fabrics and our quilters bought and bought! Then to top it off she not only gave all our quilters a discount, but she had goodie bags for everyone. We posed for a picture with Martha (in the white sweater) and her wonderful staff. Many thanks, Martha. If you are in Juneau be sure to stop at Martina's Fabrics.

While some of us were shopping in town others were exploring Alaska's natural wonders on a Zip Line. Here Lewis takes off.

More tomorrow!

Green Featherweight, Anyone?

Are you green with envy because all your friends have a Singer 221 Featherweight sewing machine? Do you wish you could have one too?

Every once in awhile we have someone inquire if we know of someone who wants to buy one of these beauties. They have one to sell.

Well, if you are in the market, I know of a sweetheart of a deal for you. One of my good friends is looking for a good home for her Green (and I do mean GREEN) featherweight. She just had it painted and it has all the gold trim....sews like a dream. Made in March 1939 and completely refurbished it has a clean case and some extras. At $500 I think this is a great deal. If you are interested you can contact the owner directly at: quilterina@gmail.com

I don't have it at the shop, it still resides with it's owner so be sure to email her.

August 7: Leaving Seattle

Friday, August 7: Leaving Seattle

We (Mr. Scottie Dog, Liz & Steve & Sydney and myself) spent Thursday night in Seattle at a Park 'n Ride hotel. Up early and breakfast in the room, we convinced the Hotel Shuttle driver to take us to the pier early. We'd been told we could board between 1 pm and 3 pm, but we thought if we got there early...... We had our personal luggage AND 10 pieces of luggage from the store.....3 foot lockers, 4 cardboard boxes, 2 duffel bags and one very large, flat cardboard covered piece with cutting mats and rulers in it. (on the way home this multiplied to 16 items!).

Crystal and Rob were at the pier with us and we were allowed to check in about 10 am. We were shown to a waiting area and although they said we couldn't board until 11 am, I think we were on the ship by 10:45.

We had our carry-ons (including sewing machines!) so we went to the pursers' desk to meet Maria, the best Group Liaison you could ever want. (every part of the shop was beautiful!)

Maria got us into the Conference Center....it was totally reserved for our group for the entire voyage! We dropped our luggage and made our way to Deck 9.....home of the Windjammer Cafe where we ate most of our meals buffet style(Dinner's we ate in the Dining Room). Then out to the open deck so we could say goodbye to Seattle and Hello to the first ever Scottie Dog Quilts Alaskan Quilting Cruise.
With Sydney as we leave port.

Sydney doing a little jig as we leave. Kaia is another of the 3 little girls we had with our group.

I couldn't resist putting one last picture. Here are Liz and Larissa (with the Space Needle in background)...they look so beautiful and so very excited to be going on a cruise together. Friends since 3rd grade, roommates right after high school, their children are friends....heartwarming.

Next time: out to sea, sewing & Juneau!

Alaskan Quilting Cruise First Report

I'm sitting in a hotel in Portland, OR tonight after disembarking the Rhapsody of the Seas....our home for the past week. Scottie Dog Quilts' Alaskan Cruise is sadly over....we had sooooo much fun! Here is just a small part of our group before dinner one night. Don't we look nice!There's so much to tell.....exploring Juneau and the wonderful welcome we received from Martha at Martina's Quilt Shop....she had a welcoming sign for us, fresh fruit and ice cold bottles of water waiting. Lovely gift bags for each of us and a local designer was there to give us each one of her patterns and graciously autographed each one.

We sewed, we laughed, we chatted, we ate, and ate and ate (and took the stairs too!). Lots of beautiful new jewlery was purchased, we sewed some more, we ate lots more....well, you get the picture. We went on excursions (one of us was detained by Canada Customs and nearly ended up in the hoosegow........hmmmm who, I wonder).......even to the Fancy-smancy Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC for High Tea.....we had three tea tables. Yummy, yummy!

More quilt shops.....boxes of fabrics sent home! A great time was had by all!

Since I am not home yet, just two pictures and I promise I'll give all the details in a couple of days. I'm tired, but oh, we had so much fun! Start saving your pennies and dimes for our Mexico Quilting Cruise in 2011.

And the winner is.....................

Ok, I said I was going to randomly pick a winner for my 200th blogpost from those who left comments. I did count the comments that registered on FaceBook too since my blog gets posted there. Drum Roll pleeeease................................................and the winner IS.............................. Hannah. OK, Hannah, please send me your address via email and tell me which little bag you want. Hope you like it. I'm off to Alaska tomorrow.

The Next Generation of Quilters

Last week we had a lively bunch of quilters in the classroom. For three days they giggled, sang, questioned...oh, and they sewed! Five young ladies, the next generation of quilters. Kid's Camp was in full swing. Here they are on day three with their cell phone totes. Styling!

Busy sewing their rag quilts...everyone a winner, everyone beautiful....each of them finished. One of the girls came with her own sewing machine, purchased with her own money just a month or so ago. This is her 4th Kids Camp and she says she has a lifetime of sewing ahead of her.

Emma at the ironing board.

Some of these ladies had been to classes before, one not, but they all did well. Miss Sydney was at pre-school these days, but arrived in time each day to say hello, offer a hug and ooh and ahh.

Next Kid's Camp will probably be Thanksgiving Week.