I Really Can Finish A Project!

Wow!  It really is possible!  Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in UFOs.  Lately I have been quite a little bit reluctant to start something new because of all my UFOs.  I was recently reminded of this by way of a fun Disney Cruise we took to Alaska with SonStitches, Dear Daughter-in-LawStitches, BabyStitches, and DaughterStitches, Dear Son-in-LawStitches, and GranddaughterStitches.

Our first port stop was Skagway, a cute little town.  Rushin' Tailor is a quilt shop in Skagway.  I think it was three years ago when we last visited Alaska and I found this shop.  So last week I walked from the ship to the downtown area and browsed around in this very nice quilt shop.  And I found a really nice kit that was a depiction of a whale tale (complete with beads) just before it returns to the water.  Yup, I had bought that kit three years ago and  yes, you guessed it--I haven't completed (or even started) the kit yet.   :-(

 This time I found another cute little kit and it looked kind of fun for hand sewing.  It included everything I needed, including two kinds of thread, a needle, hexie papers, felt, and ten squares of fabric, so that I could have a choice of which seven to use.  They even gave me two straight pins to use! I had to supply a scissors, but that was it!

It didn't take me very long to baste the hexies, hand sew them together, sew them onto the felt, trim the felt, and finish it off with blanket stitch.  And now I have a nice little mug mat, or whatever it wants to be called!

Quilting Inspiration

I recently returned from a Mediterranean cruise with some of my family.  We had a great time and saw a lot of wonderful things.  As I'm sure happens with some of you, I tend to see quilt designs in everyday objects.  On this cruise I really saw a lot of them!  Europe has the most beautiful tiled floors.  So I'm going to show you some of the "quilts" that I saw.

We started the cruise in Barcelona, and spent some time walking around the city before we boarded the ship.  It turns out that Barcelona has some very creative sidewalks.  Like this one below, where the hexagons measured about 6" across the wide part.  

Barcelona, Spain

Or this sidewalk, where my toes show you relative size.  Isn't it pretty!?!

Barcelona, Spain

This nice design was on the floor of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.  Beautiful!

Rome, Italy

Here's another area of the floor in St. Peter's.

Rome, Italy

I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't remember where I saw this floor design!  But it's one of my favorites.

When we got to Naples, Italy, MisterStitches and I took a tour of Herculaneum.  Herculaneum is another city which, like Pompeii, was destroyed during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.  The difference between the two cities is that Pompeii was buried in ash, while Herculaneum (on the other side of the mountain) was buried in hot gas, ash, and rock, which makes it better preserved than Pompeii.

Herculaneum

There were quite a few beautiful quilt patterns at Herculanum.

Herculaneum

Herculaneum

Herculaneum

Even clamshells!

Herculaneum

A nice pieced border below.

Herculaneum

Herculaneum

Then we got to Venice, and saw some beautiful tiled designs in the Doge's Palace.

Venice, Italy

Even three-dimensional, which I especially love!

Venice, Italy

And a nice crazy quilt rendition seen in Malta.

Malta

At the elevator landings on our ship there were these beautiful mariner's compass designs.  And that little mariner would be GranddaughterStitches! *love you*

Lest you think that all I did was look down at the ground, I'll leave you with this beautiful view of  St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.