Canada and New England Quilt Retreat at Sea

Fall came and went in the New England states in a flurry of a hurry.  Our trip was great but the fall colors weren't as plentiful as some would have liked.  I am from the deserts of the southwest, and therefore there are not 4 seasons, so to me it was glorious and beautiful. I couldn't stop raving about the deepness of the red leaves.

Patrick Lose- our artist/instructor was a smashing hit. The projects that he had planned for us to do were of the fall colors and the celebration of Halloween.

This was one of the projects.

Cocktail hour was a hit, as we were all able to get to know each other a little better. Our Non-quilters joined us as well.

Our classtimes were busy with anxious and happy quilters.

When we were in port we were able to explore the sights-sounds-flavors of the areas we had sailed to: museums, shopping, art work, music, historical buildings, and history of the towns.

This trip took us from New Jersey, to Portland Maine, Bar Harbor Maine, Halifax Nova Scotia, St. Johns New Brunswick and Boston Massachutes.

Hope you will join us on a cruise soon. We have a lot of fun planned for one and all.

  

Until then - We Are Sew Cruising-                      Jacquelyn and Michelle

Cruise Night with the Lizzie B Girls

Each of these fun and exciting quilt designers and artists live in very different areas of the U.S.

Beth Hawkins lives and works out of her home studio in Tucson, AZ. Liz Hawkins does the same in Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania.
Recently we had an open studio party and cruise night at Beth's place and met many new and excited friends that love The Lizzie B Cre8ive designs/fabrics and cruising. We are looking forward to planning and preparing for their cruise in Sept 2012 to the Eastern Caribbean. Rooms are still available for this trip.
Next week, actually on Sept. 28th Michelle and I will be in PA to meet Liz. She has introduced us to a wonderful shop 'The Quilt Block' http://www.thequiltblockinc.com/  in Exton PA - owners are Cynthia and Pam. and Michelle and I will be there to be part of a Cruise Night Party.
If you live in the area, please stop in at The Quilt Block between 4-8pm. The address is 95 E. Welsh Pool Rd.  Exton PA  phone: 610-363-0404

New England -Nova Scotia here we come

Hi, Good Morning and Aloha,

WE are packing our bags and gearing up for the Party w/ Patrick on the beautiful Explorer of the Seas - a Royal Caribbean ship. We set sail next month Sept 29th. 

Patrick has some fabulous plans for us to sew, learn and develop new techniques and it is sure to be a P-A-R-T-Y! 
You can look in your favorite magazine stand or quilt shop for his latest magazine issue of 'Quilting Celebrations'.  I really enjoy his patterns and always learn a new way of doing some things I thought were hard.
Here is a copy of the front page of the magazine-

Another group to look up in your spare time on the internet is The Yankee Quilter in Connecticut  http://www.yankeequilter.com/   Barbara and Cheryl are the owners of this great shop and our shop sponsors for this cruise. They have lots of surprises in store for all of you quilters and have also generously dontated a sewing machine as the Grand Prize.  I can't wait to see who wins it.

If you didn't book a cabin on this cruise, then please check out our website at http://www.quiltretreatatsea.com/ for more cruises that offer other fabulous artists and destinations. Michelle and I escort each cruise, and hope to help our quilters and non-quilters all feel relaxed and pampered.

We are 'Sew Cruisin'- Jacquelyn and Michelle

Amazing Alaska

 



4th of July we show our American Spirit



As I cruise to Alaska every year, one might think- enough is enough.  Not so in Alaska, the scenery is so amazingly beautiful, and the ports we go to never get boring.  I seem to always learn or see something I missed in earlier visits.

This year we had a bit of a rough start to our cruise, with the sea being a bit rough, it certainly didn't dampen the spirits of our quilters though.  Everyone got up, dressed and out to exercise in the nice cool air before class started.

Quilt artist J. Michelle Watts started our trip off with her wonderful new design.  She wanted the quilters to learn to stitch applique designs that had points and curves. Her method gives the appearance that the edges are turned and not left raw. Each student was busily engaged and most of them completed the block before the cruise ended.

Also joining us was David Taylor who taught his method of hand applique.  I was thrilled to learn that with his method I don't have to struggle or stitch the inside curves and how to avoid points as well. 





Post Card Exchange



These wonderful artists shared several of their award winning quilts with us during the trunk show. It was amazing to see the beautiful work and the intricate stitching. We had many folks who are curious about us when we are onboard and we love to invite them to join us for the trunk show.  

Mystery Quilt

What is a Mystery Quilt you ask?  I did too.  I never understood how the term Mystery could be related to a quilt, but I found out.  I took a class at the Quilter's Market quilt shop in Tucson last month. They were held on 2 consecutive Friday nights.

close up view of one block

So when I signed up for the quilt class, I asked for the supply list.  The 1st clue was the only thing listed, I was direceted to  chose yardage for the dark, medium and light fabrics. Ok, so 3 fabrics are chosen out of my stash.  Luckily I had enough yardage of a dark purple tone on tone print, orange/yellow batik print for medium, and an offwhite tone on tone fabric.  I think this was the hardest part of the task, as I had no final product to look at and was unsure how the pieces would be put together, so as the clues progressed during the class time, we could see the progress.  A lot of piecing and strip sewing.  A lot, and I mean a lot of ripping out seams, since I managed to sew a whole section of the quilt the wrong direction.  Well yesterday,  I finally got the top pieced completely together,  I am thinking of adding the 'optional' border so that it will be a larger quilt. 

By the way, if you want to make a Mystery Quilt join me next May for an Alaskan cruise with the Mystery Quilt teachers Jean Biddick and Jo Cady-Bull on our Quilt Retreat at Sea Mystery Cruise  Pass the link on http://www.quiltretreatatsea.com/ and come on aboard.

She's a Quilter

For those of you who know Michelle, she has always proclaimed to be a 'Non-Quilter'  according to her- " Mom is the quilter, I just do make the cruise arrangements"... Well, she can no longer make that statement.  Last Christmas she was at the shop where I work- Hearts and Hands Quilts in Green Valley, AZ.  She spent the day with me as we were getting ready for a Chamber of Commerce meeting, well anyway.... so she found fabric she wanted and then she wanted me to make her the quilt.  I told her I would buy the fabric for her as her christmas present and teach her to make the quilt.  Voila.... here is the result...

Pattern from "City Lights" made by Michelle Jackson, on Bernina 150 sewing machine. Quilt will be longarm quilted by Nina Keck of Hearts and Hands Quilts   http://www.heartsandhandsquilts.com/

New cruises- new instructors-new quilters

Hi to all,
Michelle and I have been busy at the Tucson Quilt Show.  We have had a great time meeting and welcoming aboard new Quilt Retreat at Sea cruisers for our 2011 and 2012 quilt cruises. We are happy to have met some of you that had previously registered for a cruise, and now we will be able to have a face with the name. 

Here's a peek at our booth.  We got a lot of nice comments.  The stringer was loaned to us by Nina at Hearts and Hands Quilts Shop. She took a long string of white lights and wrapped miles of  small strips of scraps around the wiring.  They shine nicely and attract a good bit of attention. 
The 'Sandal' quilt was a hit and prompted many to stop and ask questions about it.  Here is the story behind the quilt.  In 2008 I asked the quilters who were taking our inaguaraul cruise to please make a sandal block ( I provided a pattern). They were asked to applique the sandal to a 10" block of white cotton. Once I received the blocks,  I had the challenge of putting them all together and completing the quilt. Nina Keck- professional long arm quilter and owner of Hearts and Hands Quilts did the quilting.
Michelle and I look forward to sailing with you in 2011 and 2012, we are also now beginning to plan for the last half of 2012 and 2013 so that there will be many more cruises for you to enjoy and many more techniques for you to learn.