Quilting wrap-up

As the trip is winding down, our quilt group wanted to have a little get together to show what they have been working on.  We held it in the Wintergarden at 2:00--our usual place and time to meet.  

Shortly after David and I signed up for the cruise, I knew I would need a handiwork project to keep me busy on the many sea days in the itinerary.  I thought about a crazy quilt which could be hand sewn and embellished with embroidery using fabrics from our ports of call.  I posted my idea on a cruising web-site called "Cruise Critic" and found four women who expressed interest.  We had our first meeting during our seven day Pacific crossing on the way to Polynesia.  As we started to gather fabrics, we started to gather quilters--amoeba style.  We've eventually had a core group of twelve quilters.  

It's been so fun to see how they have taken the idea and put their individual interpretation to it.  Several have worked within the classic crazy quilt theme, like Chris's above and Pam's to the right.  

Jan knew right away that her very structured brain couldn't handle the random nature of the traditional crazy quilt, so she cut her fabric in 3 1/2 squares.  She organized the fabrics with water on the bottom row, sand on the next, followed by green vegetation, flowers, and sky.  She embroidered the Viking Sun logo toward the top, then the names of all our ports of call and the ladies in our group around the outside. 

At the outset, Joan was working on a project she brought with her, so she decided on a more limited square using only one fabric from each port in an outward spiral of round patches.  

After Vicky completed a couple of traditional crazy quilt squares, she made a pillow top by cutting her fabric into hexagons.

Heather turned her pieces into a tall, narrow bookshelf.

Barbara says she isn't a quilter, but she's incredibly creative--you never know what she will come up with, including using what she calls "laundered money".  

This is another of Barbara's creations.

We have loved the Wintergarden because of it's glass ceiling and all the natural light.  The main purpose of this room is for teatime, but that's not until 4:00, so we usually had it to ourselves for about 2 hours.  The crew who set up for the tea service were very patient and waited until we cleared out to set our tables.

Some of our group had other projects to work on.  Joan made this beautiful ribbon embroidery mini Baltimore Album quilt.

Vicky brought this incredibly complex medallion quilt on board with her.

 Another of Joan's creations which she hand pieced.





















Linda brought this cathedral window project with her and sat with us to work.  Before long, she found pieces of the fabric we were collecting to put into her "windows".

This was our last "feeding frenzy".  When we came back together after a day or two in port, we all brought the fabrics we found and passed them around so each one could take a piece of it.  We often warned other passengers who were wearing an article of clothing they had purchased locally to stay away from us or we might take our scissors to their shirt.  We cut apart many a pair of $5 pants, scarves, or tea-towels.  

My goal is to make a large wall-hanging out of nine 20-inch squares.  My squares are organized by regions:

• Polynesia
• New Zealand
• Australia
• Indonesia
• Philippines and China
• Southeast Asia
• India
• Middle East
• Europe

This is my Southeast Asia square.  I will have to finish the last two squares at home, but I have the fabric to do it.  

On the day of our little show, the group sat me down to present me with a note of gratitude and a very thoughtful gift.  I tried to tell them that I was really the benefactor of their help with the project I wanted to do.  Even more than that, they provided the friendship and sense of belonging that made living aboard the ship for four months so enjoyable.