Chillin and Cruisin

Nothing like a tropical vacation to reduce stress (grin) Only negative, it was COLD and not so tropical.

Never-the-less, we packed up our bags last Monday with high expectations. Six days and five nights away from it all (sounds like the title to one of my favorite movies). Even though we were wearing sweatshirts, the sun WAS shining and nothing was going to dampen my spirits. We work hard, we play hard. Carnival Ecstasy here we come!

As we checked in our luggage and credentials we were ushered into a photo trap, one of many we would experience this week, those wonderful professional photos that are oh so tempting to purchase to 'remember your cruise' I'm proud of myself for only purchasing one! But wanted to document the date and the fact that we were wearing sweatshirts to head to the Caribbean ...

As we walked the gangway to board our ship we noticed the luggage being loaded - see the purple bag? guess who that belongs to?

Naturally it takes a while to board all the passengers, our luggage, and the supplies needed to sustain us for the duration of our trip so it lends plenty of deck time to overlook our favorite home port of Galveston. As you can tell, it was windy and cold!

I just wanted to document that I am truly a dedicated quilter! See, I even brought my own pillows with home made pillow cases and my newest quilt with high hopes of finding time to finish hand sewing the binding (got about half of it done). I love the 'touch of home' and I was very thankful for the added warmth!

After unpacking it was time again to visit the upper deck to watch the longshoremen undo the ropes and release our vessel for our magical week at sea.

One of the wonderful things about crusin' is the pampering. Each night the bed it turned down with chocolates on the pillow and a cute little towel critter for your enjoyment. There is also a FunShip Guide that tells of the following day's activities - everything from what time you eat, to entertainment on board, to information about the ports of call.

This is our 4th cruise in 15 years, the most recent being this same ship 8 months ago. One of my favorite things to do is take photos of the sunsets and sunrises. This is the first evening with the sun setting over the Houston ship channel.

Tuesday was our day at sea. And it promised to be a beautiful day. There was plenty to do aboard the ship, or the choice to do nothing at all. Since we were traveling with a large group from our church there was the opportunity to get to know the other couples better as we ate, went to shows, or just visited in the many gathering areas on board.

Tuesday night was "formal night" and we decided to be Island Casual instead of formal - this is the Lobster night and to be served in the fine dining room the basic requirements were "no jeans" so that's what we opted for. Again, one of the wonderful things about cruising is the food - you can literally eat 24/7 on board. Everything from fine dining to buffets to pizza, and it's all good!

The weather remained cool for our trip limiting some of our outdoor activities. Never did break out the new bathing suit to sit by the pool, and it did hamper my desire to get up early to be on deck for the 'crack of dawn' - however, I did manage to snap this photo out the porthole window in our stateroom. Small disappointments but I was determined that nothing was going to wreck havoc with my need to get away from it all!

Wednesday our destination was Progreso, Yucatan Mexico. Again, we were wearing sweatshirts and sweaters, but it wasn't as cold as when we left Galveston!

Just inland from Progreso is Merida. Our church Calvary Chapel Houston supports a mission there and as a group we had made previous arrangements to be able to go visit the church and school. So we loaded up 4 large vans and had a road trip!

The mission church was beautiful, just like the children in the school. It was a blessing to see the facilities and the smiling faces.

After our tour we headed downtown Merida for a little shopping....

....and outdoor dining. We really appreciated the leaders of our group who had been to the area multiple times on mission trips as they were able to suggest places to eat.

Those of you that have followed my blog for any length of time know that I'm a "bag lady" - I just love bags, love making bags, and in Mexico, loved the treasure hunt of shopping for bags!

I wasn't disappointed! The one on the upper left is a glasses case so that gives you a little size perspective of my acquisitions from Merida.

All too soon it was time to return to our ship and once again watch the process of disembarking from the pier at Progreso.

The next morning, Thursday, we arrived in Cozumel Mexico. Finally a day that was considerably warmer and very promising of adventure!

Cozumel has the bluest water and is known for it's beautiful coral reefs full of tropical fish. In years past we have enjoyed the beach as well as snorkeling. This year we opted for something different.

We joined two other couples and spent a wonderful day shopping and exploring the downtown section of Cozumel.

The three amigos would line up together outside the shops on the sidewalk and patiently wait while us gals did our thing. Naturally, they did their own shopping, and we would call them in when it was time to barter for our treasures. It was a wonderful day of laughter and enjoyment.
And a little embarrassment as "one of us" was a little uncomfortable with the serenading of the band at lunch...

Again, I was known as the Bag Lady and it became quite a joke among the fellows "don't look now Karen, that store has bags!" I added a few to my collection and feel like I've come home with some wonderful memories.

I love the bright colors of Mexico. There were so many things to see and enjoy. And for once I think I was really practicing "be where you are" as evidenced in my neglect to take a lot of photos opting instead to just soak up the memories and enjoy the moment.

It was so refreshing to get away and take time to relax and leave the cares and pressures at home. Everyone needs an escape from reality once in a while, but not everyone can escape to a tropical island. I am reminded that we really don't have to runaway to find refreshment. God says to 'be still and know that He is God' and He promises to never leave us or forsake us. Life can be difficult at times, sometimes seeming like everything is crashing at once and that we've been forgotten or abandoned. It's during these tough times that we just need to take a deep breath and realize that we are loved. Cast your cares on Him, for He cares for you.

Still celebrating!

What a better way to celebrate an anniversary than with an anniversary cruise! And just like a honeymoon -- no children or cute puppies allowed on this date. Poor Pixxie, she really tried her best to sneak in the suitcase!

We just returned from a 5 day cruise that left out of Galveston on Monday -- left late! I was afraid we weren't going to get to go -- at 10 AM we were called by the cruise line to say that the Galveston Port was closed due to fog. We were to board at noon and sail at 4 PM, they asked us not to come until 4 PM!

Finally we were at the terminal What a long day, hurry up and wait... and wait we did, in LINE! Check in seemed like miles and miles, but finally we were on board and ready for our holiday.



Our waiter learned it was our anniversary and they joined in our celebration. The first night we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the Houston Ship Channel.

We were on the Carnival "Fun Ship" Ecstasy and it certainly was fun! Our main activity the first day at sea was to just totally relax. No cell phone, no email, no appointments, no obligations...except our dining (grin) that was at 6 PM each evening, something we really looked forward to because we had such wonderful couples sharing our table and a wait staff that was both professional, personable, and entertaining!


On Wednesday our port of call was Progreso, Yucatan Mexico. While there wasn't a fabric shop in sight there certainly was plenty of 'eye candy' for this quilter! The beach vendors were as numerous as the sands. And colorful! Hats, floaties, jewelry, trinkets, mangos, singers with guitars, henna tattos, and ladies wanting to talk you into a $10 massage. It was almost overwhelming, one by one and two by two they kept coming. It was almost tiring having to smile so much and say "no thank you"...just part of the scenery that makes Mexico what it is! Colorful with beautiful people -- especially the children.



These ladies were so beautiful -- I loved their dresses, wishing once again that Mexico was known for fabric by the yard, I would have come home with a trunk load! The colors are just breathtaking! And the handwork on their linens are to be truly admired.

We did enjoy our morning in Progresso. It was soooo hot that we decided it would be in our best interest to "rent" some shade. We parked ourselves at a beach side restaurant and enjoyed the sights! Do we look relaxed? We were certainly doing our best to de-stress!!


Our only disappointment this week, if there was any, was missing the sunsets due to our scheduled dinning -- but we did enjoy our dining experience so much that we figured you could only have so many sunset photos anyway... On Thursday we managed to get up early enough to enjoy the sunrise as we were pulling into port in Cozumel Mexico.


One of the reasons we chose this particular cruise to celebrate our 29 years was due to this port of call...in 1980 we spent almost a week in Cozumel for our honeymoon. While both the island and ourselves have changed a lot, there was still the romance.


We spent the day at a local park that catered to our every need. Beach chairs, umbrellas, floaties, a nice buffet -- and yes, we did get in the water on this excursion. This was the view from my chair, and yes, I had my own palm tree!



Before we knew it, we were headed back to Galveston. We enjoyed watching the tug boat come along side our ship this morning once we entered Galveston Bay -- and the dolphins that liked to leap in front as if they were the ones leading the way!

If you'd like to see more photos of our cruise I haven't disappointed you -- check out my webshots . Keep in mind, this was more of a relaxing cruise for us instead of one filled with lots of excursions -- but I think you'll still enjoy the slideshow...

Getting off the ship proved to be a hurry up and wait experience almost like our entry. Guess even on vacation you can't avoid lines. Our skies were now overcast and we were thankful that the rain held off until we arrived home and were welcomed by Pixxie.

Only a few hours later afternoon turned to night as the sky became black with a downpour of rain. I believe the last I heard on the news our area got around 9 inches of rain in just a matter of hours. We've had our yard 'flood' before but never like this -- it just kept rising and rising - to the point you couldn't see where the road ended and the ditch began. If you look closely to the far right you can see the little wooden board that marks our driveway. Across the street our neighbor's cars almost have water in them. There was no high ground to be seen on that side of the street.

This photo shows just how deep our ditch is - that's a full size rake stuck down in the ditch! Not long after this photo was taken I noticed three pre-teens walking down the street in their rubber boots. They found our wooden railing and in turn each jumped into the ditch. In their fun I'm sure they didn't worry about what they might be jumping into -- I was thankful that hubby had just racked out the ditch and drain pipe earlier to aide in drainage -- it also keep these fun loving kids from landing in twigs, limbs, and a pile of leaves!

As our day comes to a close we've unpacked the bags, started a couple of loads of laundry, made a grocery store run (fortunately prior to the storm!) and are settling back into our 'normal' routine. Hum...yet things have changed after our adventure. For one, I do feel more relaxed and less stressed. I've had some quiet time to reorganize my thoughts and a few priorities. Kinda feeling like myself again -- guess vacations and a little romance are good for that...I highly recommend it!

Birthday Shop Hop: How to Make a Pillow Case

I really haven’t had the opportunity to sit down and chronicle our Idaho trip, but thought I’d jump ahead in the narration and share what my dear hubby did for me on my birthday. He drove me over 50 miles to take me to a quilt shop!

We had a wonderful week at the Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch near Stanely Idaho. Horse back riding (tales to follow), white water rafting (also on my birthday) as well as time to just chill out on the porch or to hike up the mountain behind the lodge, and the food – oh my! I don’t think I was really prepared for “fine dining”…

My birthday was on Weds 7/23 and my husband arranged to borrow one of the two vans that had been rented to haul our 10 member clan around Idaho. He knew I’d checked the handy dandy quilter’s traveler’s yellow pages way back when and that there was a shop in Hailey – The Fabric Granary…so off we headed for a morning adventure.

Did I mention it was cool in Idaho in the mornings? Here’s a photo of me on my birthday wearing a sweatshirt! I tell ya’, that doesn’t happen much to this Texas gal! It warmed up pretty quick for a most beautiful day!

The fun thing about visiting new quilt shops has to be the eye candy. I love seeing the shop samples on the walls – actually saw one just like one I’d quilted for our local shop. It’s like being in a familiar environment – lining the walls were fabric lines that I was familiar with from back home (it was great to see some of Robyn Pandolph’s fabric, she’s a local designer in my neck of the woods). But the real treasure hunt is trying to find something unique to take home as a souvenir…and since I make a lot of scrap quilts I usually look for fat quarters to add to my stash.

While I was visiting with another customer and the shop clerk (quilters make friends easily ya’know) my husband was actually looking around (he’s gotten extremely good about noticing fabrics, patterns, quilting styles, etc.) All of a sudden he appears behind me as I’m choosing a half yard cut for my memories and declares “I’ve found some fabric you need to buy me.” I thought he was joking.

He wasn’t joking! My husband is a big car fan having had owned a paint and body shop back in the day, He raced some in his younger days as he turned NASCAR and NHRA fan. Well, low and behold he found fabric with ’57 Chevys all over it. Yes, he had to have this fabric….

So for my birthday, I bought a half yard of a really cute juvenile ladybug print that will find it’s way into the next scrap quilt and a yard and a half of Chevy print to make my wonderful husband, who drove 50+ miles ONE WAY to a quilt shop, a pillow case….

Here’s the recipe for making a pillow case with no exposed seams. The exact measurements are not given as you will need to measure your pillow. (We have very small orthopedic pillows so my size is smaller than the norm). I hope you enjoy this pattern and seeing my birthday fabric purchase!

Pillowcase

Fabrics:

¾ yard main print or 1 ½ yard if directional

1/8 yd for accent trim

1/3 yd for band

Assembly instructions:

1. Trim the 1/8 yd of fabric to the desired width, I use either 2.5 inches or 3 inches.
2. Fold the accent trim in half lengthwise, wrong sides together and press
3. Lay the main fabric right side up, with the raw edge on top – pay attention to the direction of the fabric and which side you want the opening with the trim to be on
4. Pin the trim fabric to the right side of the main fabric, matching raw edges
5. Pin the right side of the band fabric to the right side of the main fabric layered with the trim
   

Next, sorta flip the band fabric out of the way where you can see the main fabric again, gently fold or roll the main fabric up to the pinned area – the loose side of the band fabric will encase this roll and be pinned to the back forming a tube. (The right side of the band fabric will be on the wrong side of the main fabric on this side)

1. Sew across the width over the pinned seam, forming a tube.
2. Reach inside the tube and pull out the main fabric, pressing well – ta-da, no exposed seams!
3. Sew the side seam with a French seam or serge
4. Sew the end with a French seam or serge

French Seam:

1. Match raw edges with wrong sides together
2. Sew a 1/8” seam, it is important to sew a small seam!
3. Press well
4. Reposition to right sides together with sewn raw edges inside
5. Sew again this time with a ¼” to 3/8” seam.

Enjoy making your own pillow cases!
Professional Quilt Model not included

We Interrupt the Vacation Narration for a Brief Lesson on "How to Come Back From Vacation Gracefully"

I’m sooo easily distracted! While on my “mountain top” vacation I decided that it would be fun to start a blog – so that’s the first thing I did when I got home. Little did I realize how addicting this is! And how time consuming

I’m already being convicted that I have to focus and reflect on TODAY - which means “going back to work”. For most folks, that’s a dreaded sentence, but for me, it’s a joy. Ya’see, I’m a longarm quilter and my work is fun – but it is easy to get distracted from it.

Ah, but I can’t get visions of beautiful Idaho out of my mind. The cool mornings, the no humidity, no clocks, no appointments, just rest and relaxation. Even though that was so yesterday I will still write about it, but just not today.

Today I’m trying to focus. Trying to go back to work gracefully. Hum…how does one do that? Well, perhaps by setting small goals that are easily accomplished.

First challenge was how to multi-task the dirty laundry from the suitcases and the double-knit polyester quilt that needed to be loaded on my frame. That wasn’t easy. About the time I got really going good on the freehand all-over swirls the dryer buzzer would go off and demand my attention. That’s okay; it was a good compromise of working and working Working at household tasks and working at business obligations. Day one back to reality accomplished – well, at least I was working – I didn’t say everything was finished. I sorta got interrupted when hubby suggested an afternoon movie – who could resist such a hot date ~ and a chick flick at that – Momma Mia!

Day two in coming back to reality. It was still hard not to get distracted, but the customer quilt was completed, so I felt better. Today, however, is a little harder…

I just finished loading a quilt on the machine…but an unfinished class project is calling my name….the last class is tomorrow night and it’s “show and tell”….oh my…so here I am back to the task of coming off vacation gracefully – key word – compromise.

I try to be good to myself and go to the chiropractor about once every 4 to 6 weeks – working on a longarm is very very physical so this is actually a necessary part of my business. When I go, I then “rest” for the rest of the day as to not mess up my dear Doc’s work. In the past I had morning appointments, but that meant resting all day from the longarm…I finally got smart and today I have an afternoon appointment. SO! Here’s my compromise! I’m fixing to get off the computer (which technically has been my morning break time) go back and work on the quilt on the frame, have a nice lunch, and then after my chiropractor appointment work on my class project before going to mid-week worship services this evening. How’s that for a good compromise! All work and no play makes the Quilt Rambler a dull person

In the meantime, I’m composing my thoughts to share about the Idaho Experience…and sooo many other things. There’s so much to tell, to share, to catch up on, to journal. Amazing.

But the lesson for the day – reality hits, back to work usually follows vacation - but its okay to ease back into the flow gracefully with small compromises. Besides, distractions have always made me smile! And here's a photo of my favorite distraction! Momma Mia!

Hope you are smiling today too!

karen

That Getting Out of Town Syndrome

So much to do…and I’m not even talking about packing … just so much to do before I could even think of that!! One week away from my husband’s family reunion trip to Idaho I was teaching a Square in a Square (SnS) class in my studio – 5 delightful ladies and 5 almost finished Christmas Star quilts by the end of the day…Worship and rest on Sunday (actually, if you read the first post this was the Sunday 7/13 that I finished quilting my own quilt on my day off) and then round two of teaching on Monday– a different group of 6 delightful ladies who also went home with the SnS Christmas Star almost complete…I love teaching…but that’s another story for another time.

Count down ‘til departure… four more working days….oh why oh why do I try to squeeze in so many things when I know I really need to pack! No regrets on the time allotted to my ladies Bible study at church on Monday night, but gosh, everything else?? I have this standing 5 week appointment to get my hair done (couldn’t go on vacation looking like a shaggy ole’skunk now could I?) that just happened to be Tuesday morning before our Saturday main event. And then there’s the appointments squeezed in throughout the remaining days with customers who need to pick up their quilts (so I can have spending money on vacation – or more correctly, so I can pay the bills that are due before I can come home and quilt some more)…and don’t forget, there are two shop samples that I promised the local quilt shop would be done before I went outta town. Too bad, I’ll have to miss guild meetings this month (two of them scheduled on Thursday, one in the morning, one in the evening) – but yes, I can “run” a few items to morning guild on my way to deliver the shop samples, and yes, I’ll be home in the afternoon in time to greet two of my fellow SnS certified teachers who are making a quick road trip to Texas from Louisiana (they made their visit way too short but promised to come back through another time when we could really sit to chat and chew –ya’ll come back now, ya’ hear?) Then there’s the trip to the bank, the post office, and a last minute visit to another local quilt shop (I’m blessed with several in the area) in search of Mettler thread for the appliqué project I want to take (again, stay tuned for this tangent of the story) Goodness, what else can I attempt to accomplish before packing? The dishes? Did someone say dishes???

Okay, the Quilt Rambler will digress – doing the dishes in my household is a marathon event not for the faint of heart. Let me explain. First of all we don’t have a dishwasher – or at least not the automatic kind. The dish washer is moi and the official dish dryer ‘n put’er upper is my husband. And yes, we sometimes don’t have a lot of time to get around to doing ALL those dishes due to our work schedules or outside obligations, but at least we are trying to eat at home more (another story for another time, this Quilt Rambler isn’t known for her culinary skills) – which just means more dishes waiting to be washed! For the record, after a meal the dishes are scrapped – no garbage disposal here, mind you, just good old trash can or occasional treat for Pixxie – then rinsed and neatly stacked on the cabinet awaiting THE event. Oh, and did I mention this is my hubby’s contribution – he’s sooo good to me! He makes the sweet tea too – and is quite famous for it. Anyway….We’ve been known to wait to do dishes until the very last spoon has been used, or there are no more glasses for sweet tea (even though I have LOTS of glasses being the true Southerners that we are, we drink a LOT of sweet tea). I guess you could say we consider doing the dishes our bonding time. It’s one of those rare moments in our busy week (or sometimes week and a half) that we actually have uninterrupted quality time to talk – since doing the dishes takes a minimum of 45 minutes to an hour, it’s really a nice couples time and I highly recommend it – just not the night before a big vacation, especially when it’s already 9:30 PM and you haven’t packed for your 3:30 AM departure for a week long vacation with extended family…

So where was I? Ah yes…count down ‘til departure…did I mention we were going to Idaho? A ranch somewhere in the Sawtooth Mountains. Did I mention I learned on Sunday (the same Sunday that I finished quilting my personal quilt which undoubtedly I am very proud of because I keep mentioning it) at the family clan lunch from my brother-in-law, Billy, (who prefers to be called Bill now that he is an adult but I haven’t been able to do that for some reason so he’s still Billy to me) that Stanley Idaho (near our ranch) was 32 degrees the night before? THIRTY TWO DEGREES! Did I mention that I live near hot humid Houston and it was ONLY 105 this past week with 90 percent humidity??? Talk about throwing a curve ball in my packing – or should I say my planning for packing….as I tend not to pack until the night before…but who would’a thought to pack a sweatshirt for a July vacation! Certainly not this lady who lives for summer and avoids cold, freezing rain, snow and such at all costs (give me a tropical vacation ANY time).

So here it is, midnight on Friday night. The dishes are done, all the quilts that are going to get quilted this week have been picked up or delivered (we won’t talk about the one that was quilted and just needed 280 liner inches of binding put on – machine attached one side, hand sewn the other, it’s still a quilt in waiting – BUT I did manage to attach the binding to one side of my quilt “A Few of My Favorite Things” so I could take it with me to finish the hand binding while vacating – priorities ya’know!). The paperwork has been cleared from the computer desk, all computer related tasks are done, including that last minute email instruction to my eldest son who would be taking care of Pixxie. (Oh how hard it was to leave my pup – again, more on this tangent later). Can’t tell you how strange it was that the quilting machine frame looks sorta naked without the next quilt loaded, but I soon got over that – I had other distractions in the other rooms to busy myself with.

Finally! I’m ready to pack as much as I can get into my limit one - 50 pound suitcase prior to my goal to catch a few snoozes before the alarm goes off at 2:30 AM when I need to be bright-eyed and bushy tailed enough to shower, tame the new do and pack those last minute items such as hairdryer and makeup.

What a night! What a week! Countdown to green is now complete! And so is this post for today ~ stay tuned to the Kronicles of Karen the Quilter (AKA The Quilt Rambler) and my side kick Pixxie the Professional Quilt Model (whose story will be told in future chronicles I promise!) Look out Idaho – here comes the Overton clan!!