They make quilts in Alaska

[snippet]

I'm back!

A girlfriend from church and I went on an Alaskan cruise. I'm not a cold weather fan, so Alaska wasn't on my bucket list, but it was on Debbie's. So we flew up to Anchorage, hopped on a train to Seward and cruised down to Vancouver on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas.

It was perfect weather most of the time. Warm sunny skies, temps in the 70's. The locals were all mentioning how awesome it was - I dismissed it thinking they say that to all the tourists. It was cold up in the Yukon, and it did rain in Ketchikan but we were prepared for it (and a little glad since we packed for it too). Every view was breathtaking. I was a bit miffed that I didn't stay up late enough to see the Northern Lights, nor did we see bear or moose. But that's okay, I'll have a reason to go again. hehehe

I came prepared too. I had a list of quilt shops in the ports we'd be visiting. If I had time and it wasn't too far, I was determined to visit the shops to pick up the Row by Row. Unfortunately I also bought a lot of fabric and patterns!

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Some panels of Alaskan animals. I bought these for a friend who used to live in Alaska.

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I liked this table topper, I thought it looked a bit like some of the designs on Philips Fiber Art

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I couldn't get a good photo of this table runner, but I loved the soft muted colors. I bought the fabric for this and figured I could make the blocks without the pattern.

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An ugly, but correct, salmon on a blend of blocks on point.

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I liked the layout of this quilt. The brown is a tree, and the border with the footprints is a good idea.

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I thought this was a good layout for blocks, plus I liked the little quilt at the bottom. And there's a pattern that looks like a filmstrip that would be good for blocks. Sorry it's a little blurry.

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A simple sashing to look like Attic Windows. I like the way the panel blocks are twisted a bit.

more in the next post.

[grammaterry]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

sounds like you had a great trip

[snippet]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

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a funny sign on the outside of a bar in Juneau.

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Two signs posted on the bathroom stall door. I sat there perplexed. I pushed the handle down. Debbie didn't get it, so maybe I'm reading something wrong.

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I liked this layout for a panel.

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This is an old industrial Singer at a canning museum in Icy Strait Point. It was big; it looked like it was a treadle, but was electrified later. There wasn't any plaque near it to tell what it was used for in a canning factory.

I haven't completely unpacked yet, but I bought several fabric blocks of each port I visited. They can be purchased at https://www.zebrapatterns.com/stamps.html but I bought them at a shop there.

I looked for wool too. Most of the shops had them at the same high price as my local shop but one had a 50% sale of all their wool. I was so happy! I bought a bunch of pieces in some pretty colors. I can't wait to tear into them!

I was really amazed how many of the quilts were made with batiks. The mottled fabric was perfect for the scenery.

So, the trip was a great success. The ship was great, the company was great, the ports were great, everything was great. Even the embarkation and debarkation was easy.

At the ports we took the following excursions. Only two were purchased from the ship. The rest we arranged ourselves. I had bought a coupon book with many 2 for 1 coupons.

Anchorage - Train to Skagway - beautiful scenery
Seward - Kenai Fjords Wildlife cruise - glaciers, eagles, sea lions, puffins
Seward - SeaLife Center and Otter Experience - kinda small, could have skipped this
Juneau - Whale Watching Cruise - whale watching on a small boat
Skagway - Street Car City Tour - really good
Skagway - Iditarod Dog Sled Camp - met two mushers, one was in last year's Iditarod, watched the dogs and held puppies
Skagway - White Pass & Yukon Railroad train - oh my gosh, awesome and so much history
Ketchikan - Wildlife Walk & Eagle Sanctuary - beautiful rainforest walk and salmon running in the river
Ship - All Access Tour - enlightening tour of the ship's kitchens, laundry, waste management, engineering, and bridge.

I have some more photos of the scenery in this Dropbox folder

[Simply Quilting]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

What a neat trip. Thank you for sharing. Glad you had a chance to get to quilt shops.

[GaGa]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

Your trip sounds wonderful and thank you for sharing your pictures. I attended my first quilt retreat in Petersburg, AK. It's on Mitkoff which is very near Skagway but the straits are too narrow for cruise ships so it's a quiet island with the main industry being fish canneries. I went with my son to visit a friend of his and, as it turned out, his mom was an avid quilter. The scenery was magnificent!!! I'm glad you enjoyed your trip and got to visit some quilts shops!!

[Lori63]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

I got to visit Alaska a couple years ago. It's a beautiful place. Glad you enjoyed your trip! Love the pics of all the quilts.

[laura44]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

Glad you had a great time. I have cruised Alaska twice, loved, loved it.
My sister was with me and she bought a nature inspired filmstrip quilt kit.

[Jean Sewing Machine]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

What a wonderful trip! We went to Alaska in 2003, cruised then took road trips out of Anchorage. Your descriptions brought back many memories of that trip! My friends from here are in Alaska as we speak!

[Kgrammiecaz]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

An Alaskan cruise is on my bucket list. Your post about yours makes me want to move it up closer to the top. Thank you for sharing.

[Bubby]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

I've always wanted to visit Alaska....maybe a cruise someday.

[BethB]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

We did an Alaskan cruise several years ago. The scenery looks just as beautiful as it did then. Glad you had a great time!!!

[seaturtle]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

Alaska has been on my list for a very long time. I've never been able to talk DH into it. He is a warm weather kind of guy

[Bjvarizona]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

Lived in Alaska for nearly 30 years, 1970 till 1998, some in Fairbanks, some in Anchorage. It's beautiful and full of great people! It was a great place to raise four kids, all now in their 40's. Glad you had such a good time. It's a large, diverse place and difficult to really get a feel for in a week or two!

[Lightwriter]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

DD lived in Anchorage for 3.5 years. Her husband was born there and grew up in Fairbanks. We visited twice. Once we went to Denali and that was absolutely gorgeous! Did the glacier cruise off Whittier and white water rafting near Denali. City street car tour in Anchorage. Of course having our own personal tour guides helped a lot. Unfortunately I never got to do the quilt shops. I would have liked to have gotten to Fairbanks where DD's husbands father lived and down to Homer where his mother was, but the state is truly so big maneuvering it in a car is challenging in short periods of time. They escaped AK for NYC, so don't expect to go back. Visiting there is really a unique experience.

[peggiep]

Re: They make quilts in Alaska

We did the Alaska Cruise a couple of years ago and I was very reluctant to go. I dislike winter and cold intensely and could not rationalize going somewhere cold in the summer time. My DH casually mentioned to an aquaintance that we might go and they told him it was a wonderful place to shop for fabric. When he told me that, I immediately agreed to go. I was not disappointed! The shops are really nice and the selection of fabrics is so much different that what we see here. The whole trip was magnificent and I highly recommend it to anyone!