Design blogs…

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There are some wonderful “design” blogs out there. I have posted links to my current favorites on this very blog. (Look over there on the right, under “Design Blogs.”)


What can a quilter find on these non-quilty blogs? I find a lot! For instance on Design Sponge I enjoyed looking at the way the photos were cropped in the “in the kitchen with: fred flare {red devil’s food cake}” post. The photo at left came from this post. The photos are great and the cake recipe looks good too. You know we love cake!

I enjoy seeing what other people think is good design. I very much enjoy seeing the hand-made projects that are featured on design blogs. 

We quilters are constantly making decisions about what colors to use, what kinds of patterns make us happy. You never know when you might be inspired by what others have made. Blogs are a great way to keep us all current. Now I just need more time to read them all! 

Who is that?

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OK – one more shot from the ship. After I got done looking at the container ship I switched to the other side of the boat. It took me a while to see the lady peeking over the top of the building in the distance. I didn’t have my glasses on (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it) and I could not for the life of me figure out where I had see that image before.


I asked Steve, who looked at me as if he thought my mind might be slipping, and he said “Starbucks”. How could I not have put that together?

How we get "stuff"…

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I had a chance to really look at a container ship while we were docked in Seattle waiting to disembark our cruise ship. 


This ginormous container ship was being unloaded and loaded at the same time. When one stack of containers is removed, another stack of containers replaces it (one at a time). The crane moves and the process continues.

The stacks of containers go down into the hold of the ship. Each container is packed full. Just imagine all the stuff that this one ship carries! Multiply that by all the container ships that are out there. I find it to be both amazing and scary. 

I live in the middle of the country and a very large part of what I consume comes to me in containers, via truck. As energy gets more expensive this stream of goods is bound to be effected. I can’t help but wonder how that is going to change all of our lives. It’s not hard to imagine buying less of the stuff I don’t really need. It’s harder to imagine having trouble finding things (like food and fabric) that I really do need.

The Quilt Camp at Sea Alaskan Cruise was wonderful!

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The seas were a little bouncy and there was a lot of fog on our last day at sea. But it was relaxing to have no where to go and nothing much planned. I don’t relax much when I’m home because there is always something that needs doing!


The most formal formal dinner was Friday night. Even the chairs dressed up! FYI – the food on the cruise was really good. The fish was just about the best I’ve ever tasted. I’m going to miss having dessert after every meal but my pants were getting tight so it’s good that that part is over.

We docked for a few hours Saturday evening in Victoria B.C. We got off the ship and walked around a bit. We bought a CD (Gungwa – Bridging the Waters) from a band playing on the street. It’s Zimbabwean Roots Music which sounds sort of Jamaican to me. It’s good! 

Steve bought a stuffed giardia at a shop… he’s a biologist you know. Giardia is a protozoan that you can get if you drink un-purified water. His is blue. Steve has had giardia before so he felt a special bond with this fellow.

Friday evening the sky was clear and Steve took this lovely photo.

We got home last night. I couldn’t post to the blog while I was on the ship so I’ve posted everything today. If you want to read about the cruise in order, go down a few posts and read up.

Here is what I’ve learned:

Quilting cruises are great fun! Quilters are good travel companions. Holland America is a fine cruise line. For more info, go to the the Quilt Camp at Sea website.

Dramamine (the less-drowsy version) works. I liked it better than the patch.

Cruising is a good way to see a very scenic part of Alaska.

Ketchican, Alaska

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We docked in Ketchican early Friday morning – 7:00 AM. Steve and I got off the boat and walked around town in the rain. We shopped a little and watched salmon valiantly swimming up a roaring stream. I’m so glad I’m not driven to swim upstream! 


We had to be back on the boat by 12:30 so we didn’t go off on any excursions. As it turned out, there were 2 people were either late and/or didn’t check in when they came back to the ship. We didn’t sail away on time. I heard later that they (probably) made it back on board before we sailed. Missing the boat would be an adventure that I don’t really want to ever have.

All of us quilters got together for a photo on the bow of the ship yesterday. That’s me sitting in front in the green top. There are more of us quilters on board than I realized!

As I write this we are sailing south and the sun is shining. We are sitting up on top of the ship. Life is good!

Sitka, Alaska – my favorite port!

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We visited Sitka on Thursday. I love Sitka! The town is small with a population of about 8,000. The harbor is small, so we had to take tenders to shore. Deciding whether to make it possible for more ships to dock is apparently a hot topic in town. I hope they keep it the way it is.


Steve contacted Deborah Lyons from Sitka Trail Works before we left home and set up a day hike. Sitka Trailworks is a non-profit organization that works with state, federal, and private agencies to build public trails. They do a terrific job and you can read more about it on their website. If you like to walk or hike and find yourself in Sitka be sure to look them up! You won’t find out about them from the cruise lines because cruise lines don’t promote local businesses that do not pay them a percentage of their fees.

Deborah is a Sitka Trailworks board member and her husband is a commercial fisherman. When I eat salmon and halibut at home, I can connect a face and story to that fish now.


Deborah and Max, her Australian Shepard, took us on a hike up to and around Beaver Lake. Those big rocks by the shore are part of the trail. Deborah told us that the rocks, gravel, logs, etc. that go into making the trails have to be brought in by helicopter.



It was a moderately strenuous hike and we were the only 3 people in sight. It was a lovely day… it didn’t rain on us and the clouds lifted some. We almost saw blue sky! We tasted blueberries and huckleberries growing by the trail. The salmonberries (salmon-colored raspberries) were almost ripe enough to eat, but not quite.
 

On the way back to town we stopped for chocolate at the Theobroma chocolate factory. It’s a small operation and they make wonderful chocolate! They are situated in what used to be a logging facility. When the logging operation shut down, small businesses moved in.

Back in town we visited the quilt shop (there is one at nearly every stop!) as well as the local book shop, an art glass shop, and a variety of other artists venues. I have to say that it felt good to help support the local economy.



We walked to the cultural center in the National Historic Park on the south side of Sitka. This park is devoted to totems. We happened to walk up as one of the rangers, who grew up in Sitka, was about to go out and she took us on a guided tour of the park. I am particularly fond of the raven images in the totems.



On the walk between town and the cultural we came upon these two girls selling homemade jams, jellies, and kelp pickles. It’s a family business (Simple Pleasures) and they are saving the money for a big trip to the lower 48 states. We helped by buying 2 jars of salmonberry jam. These girls are sure to be selling a lot of jelly – who could resist?