Alaska - the Classes

There were 3 teachers on the cruise and we each taught a different project.

Brenda Henning (from Anchorage, Alaska) taught Trapezium, a strip pieced project that resulted in some very dynamic designs.

Donna Thomas is from Kansas City and it was fun seeing her Blue Lake project take shape as students made their units.

This is the project I taught. The quilt is called Under the Northern Lights and the panels are images from Alaskan artist Barbara Lavelee produced by Northcott.

Margie and her finished quilt.  I first met Margie when I taught in O'Fallon, Illinois

Students came from Canada and many US States to join us on this cruise. Some came with a quilting friend and many came with husbands and partners who could enjoy the ship while we were quilting at sea and take excursions to see Alaska when we were in the ports. Many also enjoyed a visit to Butchart Gardens when we stopped in Victoria!

The Conference Centre was divided into 3 classrooms and the students selected their sewing space on the first evening. Here are a few pictures of the setup.  Notice the wonderful Bernina 330 sewing machines for each quilter.

Students never had to move from their sewing space - the teachers moved instead!  This made it SO easy on everyone!

Some students used different fabrics for their quilts in my class. What a great idea!!

Mitzi and Anita (mother and daughter) are from Arvada, Colorado. Love the theme fabrics in both these quilts!

Mitzi's Wilderness Scenes

Anita's Bakers

Jim  and Mazy are friends (from Calgary and Kamloops).

 They also used great theme fabrics for their quilts.

Mazy's Quilt

Jim's 'cats'. I love this bright version!

Stitchin Heaven always takes a Group Photo on each cruise and
here we are with our Stitchin Heaven t-shirts. A total of 63 quilters came on this cruise!

And the teachers and Deb and Dana (our amazing hosts and organizers!)

I'll leave you with the final Towel Monkey from our stateroom.

It was an amazing trip and I know many lasting friendships were made!