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.

Finished Quilt

In July of this year, we had an awesome time cruising in Alaska's inside passage. During the cruise, we had many lessons from quilt artist Carol Morrisey you can find her website at http://www.ocaroldesigns.com/
This week we received a picture from one of our quilters, Susan Botther.  She lives in South Africa and does beautiful handwork.  She has finished her masterpiece from the cruise and sent us the photo.

Great work Susan,  you are SEW CRUISING.

Cozumel

What happens in Cozumel, stays in Cozumel... a Quilt Retreat at Sea motto..... LOL

                                                          As last mentioned, Michelle went cruising for her birthday last week.  So instead of sending me photos she made me wait until today.  Here she is at the Ocean:  nice photo, Michelle.

                                                                                                                                                                      And this is her NEW best friend-  Senor Iguana.

But from the looks of these pictures, she had a GREAT time