Mail call

Here's what I had to step over just inside my front door when I got home from the cruise...

If it weren't for junk mail, that pile would be about half the size!

But yesterday, I got two surprises ... one of them was really a "non" surprise.  There's something to be said about following your instinct, or as my mom used to say "follow your first mind." 

Remember about two weeks ago when I got my new receiver from Direct TV and the idiot on the phone told me to trash the old one?  And I didn't want to because it was a pretty expensive piece of equipment and I felt somehow they could reuse it?  In fact, the one they sent me had been reconditioned.  Well, TWO WEEKS LATER the UPS man knocks on the door and I get this gigantic box with this inside...

- instructions on how to return that unit they replaced!  I'm sending it back, but I also called Direct-TV and told them they need to educate their techs.  And I hope it got "recorded for quality."  AND... at the end of the conversation she had the nerve to ask me if I wanted to bundle my TV with my internet and phone - sheesh!

Moving right along...

My second piece of mail was a very  pleasant surprise!  I participated in Another Little Quilt Swap where we had to make a quilt to be swapped with another person, whose identity we didn't know.  The quilts were all posted online and we got a chance to list our first 10 choices - I received this beautiful quilt from Vero  in Santiago, Chile!

Isn't it gorgeous!?  Here are a couple close ups of the detail:

She machine quilted it, and also added some hand quilting.  I love how she added the little wooden beads inside the circles!  And those 4 leaf-shapes at the bottom?  Reverse applique!

On the post card she included from the north of her country, the Chilean desert, she explained that the quilt reflects our earth and other planets. Soon as I got the quilt I visited her blog - I was touched by all the hard work she put into making the quilt just right.  In my opinion, she created a fantastic quilt!  Muchas gracias, Vero!

My quilt in turn was mailed to someone in NSW, Australia, on October 28.  She should be getting it any day now!

Sew forth and sew on

A case of the lazies

Hi everybody, thanks for your input on my towel animals!  I think the jury is still out on the first one, but I'm thinking the second one is definitely a bunny rabbit!

I want to share just a few more random pics with you, then I'm just dumping them onto a Flickr photostream for you to [interpret] enjoy!  Look up top for my "November 2011 cruise" page, or click here.  Warning though ... there are a lot of photos; I tried making them into different sets to go quicker but I can't really tell how they behave on other people's computers... mine opens at the upload page.

One thing I intended to take pictures of but forgot -- my dinners!  I did take a picture of this appetizing ceasar salad though...

I really liked that the portions were on the small size, else everybody'd blow up like a fish, there were so many choices!  I think this was the same day that I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, and when my waiter asked for my dessert choice I responded "nothing for me, thanks."  And that's what he brought me - nothing!

I thought that was so hilarious!

One of my dinner companions let me model her $200,000 ring ...

gorgeous, isn't it?  Actually, it cost something like $29.95 ;o)

About mid-week we received a "mid-week pick me up" from Sew Many Places...

red velvet cupcakes, yummy!

Interesting stuff on Haiti...

artisans' village

There was some of everything there, including hair braiding, paintings, carved walking sticks, t-shirts, dresses, hand-painted refrigerator magnets, shoes... you name it, they had it!  All of em!

they would say "I show you, only look!  no pressure!"

coconuts

I can't tell the ripe ones from the not-so-grown??

exposed tree roots

Now for just a bit of classroom stuff  :o)

I liked Pat Sloan's method of using fusible web...

after drawing the shape, she cuts away the inside leaving just one-eighth to one-quarter inch of fusible.  Then you cut it out on the line...

this makes a softer, more needle friendly applique, especially if you're doing hand work.

Bonnie demonstrates how to use the companion angle ruler for cutting half-square triangles...

I'd never used it before, but I'm a true convert now!

Back outside for a bit...

Renea and I posed with the Temperature band when they performed on the pool deck.  They're from Jamaica and with one exception, they all have locs; one of them was poking Renea's do!

here they're loading the alcohol purchases, lots of rum from Haiti!  We had to leave 2 hours early to get ahead of the hurricane, but I think we had time for a good sample of Labadee...

I awoke that same night and the moon looked so pretty, I took a shot from my balcony...

I had a wonderful time on the cruise, the pictures I shared are just a tiny smidgeon of our 10 days!  How do you 'splain the fun you had digging through scraps in the sewing room, or seeing everybody else's interpretation of the same quilt, and Bonnie holding up a strip and going "here's black sunflowers on a red background up for grabs!  Anybody??!" [And Bonnie, someone told me the scraps on the chair were throw-aways for anybody to take, I swanee she did!!] 

Or making your own frozen yogurt cone, or watching the shows or just plain "people watching!"  (I was on the ship for 10 days and I can guarantee you there were at least 400-500 people I never laid eyes on!)  Learning the line dances, napkin folding demos, the "most handsome man in the world" contest - eeeyow!   Or the waiters' funny showtime performances in the dining room...

Did I say I was feeling lazy today?  Yes, I am, see what time I posted?  I think I need another cruise where they stand at the dining room door and say "Welcome... please use the hand sanitizer..." or a waiter circulates drinks around the pool or solarium saying "get your fix for today!  You know you want it!"

Sew forth and sew on

me

More cruise photos

Sculptures this time...

My steward left some fun towel animals in my room; I think this is an otter?

But what's this one ... can anybody recognize it?

I took pictures from the back and front... oh well.

This elephant was kinda cute!

And Mr. Sheep is enjoying the view from the balcony...

There were interesting sculptures in the hallways and on the landings, I took a last-minute picture of Pan...

He was in a nook on deck 5 (I think).

This bronze statue inside the My Fair Lady dining room stood at the bottom of the stairwell leading to the upper level...

It's kinda dark, but here's another view...

The My Fair Lady dining room was on decks 4 and 5... our table was on deck 4

In the Windjammer, this chocolate sculpture was atop a key lime pie, til it was all gone; then I asked the attendant if I could take it (the sculpture, not the pie!!)  ;o)

I just wanted it for the picture, but it didn't taste bad!

Here are shots of the hot tub and pool area on deck 9; the Windjammer Cafe was on this deck (also the frozen yogurt machine!) ...

And this shot in the centrum was taken looking up from deck 4.

In the Centrum there was live music several times a day with a piano and a very good female singer. 

There's one photo I wish could have been clearer so I could show you!  There were a lady passenger and her daughter (or granddaughter) who would dance in the Centrum every evening, and they'd be gesturing and making elaborate arm movements... sometimes the young lady would flap her scarf at her mother/grandmother or kick her feet as if doing a riverdance... but their gyrations rarely had anything to do with the music!  They seemed to be having fun though, and I also saw them dancing around the pool. 

That lady was elderly and I kept waiting for her to pass out or fall groaning to the floor, but she never did.  She was spry as heck. 

Sew forth and sew on