Day 6 - Venice, Italy

I'm not sure what time we left Kotor.  Probably as soon as everyone was back aboard, because we had to cross the Adriatic Sea as our next destination was Venice, Italy. There was quite a storm overnight but I never heard it.  But did look out the window a couple of times to see how high the waves were. Venice was going to be a 2 day stay.

We didn't arrive in Venice until after 1 pm.  So the morning was spent getting a little sun and lunch.  Everyone was on deck taking lots of photos as we entered the Canale Della Giudecca headed for the terminal.

Piazza San Marco

At 4:15 pm we finally docked and got off the boat for my first excursion.  I took the Venice panorama, a tour on a private motor boat that took us to see all the islands in the lagoon.
This was a nice way to get an overview.  Tour took a little over 2 hours.

Venice at sunset

I got back about 6:58 pm, had dinner and retired for the night as I knew I has a four hour walking tour scheduled for tomorrow.

I'm not sure which tour Debra took today.  I know on one of the two days she took the tour to Murano glass and Burano lace. She even bought a chandler which really intrigued many of the quilters.

Day 5 - Kotor, Montenegro

This morning was our first morning in a port, Kotor, Montenegro.  When we went to sleep we were cruising around the heel of Italy.  When we awoke we had mountains on both sides of the ship.  I called it a fjord which I am not sure would be the proper Montenegro term.

To get into the port we had to take a tender in.  A covered life board ship that is lowered down from Deck 5 and we disembarked from I think Deck 2.  I had to be ready and in the theater ready to leave to get on the tender.  So it was an early rise to get breakfast before having to be at the meeting point.
I had not signed up for any specific tour today.  Thought I would play the first day ashore by ear.

There were a number of quilters who also went ashore with this intention.  I hooked up with 2 ladies from Brooklyn. When we got to the dock there were all kinds of people hawking private limo tours, etc.  We opted for a double-decker bus that went all the way up the fjord and back with the hop on/hop off possibilities.            

There were lots of interesting flora to see. I was surprised to see so many cacti.

The ride out the fjord was very beautiful and the water so blue.  Temps were about 86 degrees.

Also included was a stop at some Roman ruins that had been excavated with wonderful mosaic floors. Lots of ideas for quilts.

About half way out, maybe 10 miles, there was a point where we could get off and explore another city, but it looked to be uphill all the way so we passed.

In some areas of the fjord there are farming salmon.

When we returned to the city from the bus trip we decided to explore the walled part of the city.  Some buildings dated to as early as 1166.  We looked through what passes for a mall in Kotor.  Maybe 12 shops including a news stand, a pharmacy and a sandwich shop.

As we reached the entrance to the walled city we met one of the other quilters who had just finished a guided walking tour of the city.  She offered to show us some of the highlights.  So we followed along.

This was St. Triphon's Cathedral, 1166

Got a kick out of this sign.  Well they didn't say you couldn't take a picture.!!

Church of St. Nicholas, 1909

High above the city was the Church of our Lady of Remedy, 1518.  I noticed that some of the people on the trip always spotted the highest point and headed there.  It was bad enough that the city was all uphill, we choose now to take the mile or more uphill walk.

I considered taking the bus out again, but it didn't come.  So after a lengthy wait I decided to head back down to the tender.  The last one would be at 4 pm and I didn't want to risk missing it my first time ashore.

After dinner we went to the theater and saw the movie Mother's day.

Day 4, At Sea, Saturday, Aug. 20th

To go back and touch on Barcelona, I was amazed at the many types of architecture we saw there.  I found myself thinking it would be fun to go back sometime and hire a guide who specializes in architectural tours.

The day we arrived we got there at 5:30 am and our rooms weren't available until about 3 pm. So the tour company arranged a bus tour of Barcelona.  One of the places that we got out and walked around was this cathedral, The Sacred Family, designed by Gaudi.  It was begun in 1882 and is really different from any other type of building in Barcelona.  It takes up a fairly large area of the city, maybe a six block area.  So we walked around the entire structure.  Barcelona was in the 90 degree temperature range so it was pretty warm.

But now back to shipboard.  Classes were held in a conference room and since they couldn't get machines so the first day was a hand piecing hexies day.  Day 2 covered back stitch applique.

Claire Vlasin Quilts - Off to the Smithsonian

I will get back to my trip shortly but wanted to pass this on.  Claire Vlasin was a member of the Capitol City Quilt Guild.  She was a collector of quilts and beaded evening purses; Ray was a collector of Czech glass.

Part of Claire's collection is going to the Smithsonian, 43 quilts and later some will be going to the University of Nebraska.  Last winter I spent quite a bit of time appraising Claire's quilts for Ray.  In April I got a call from Ray that the Smithsonian shipping people would be there to box and move the quilts to Washington DC.

He thought I might like to come and watch how such a move is done and be sure they got the right quilts.  So April 18 I was there when 2 guys from a  moving company out of Chicago arrived to pack the quilts.

 I can't say they represented the company they worked for very well.  Holey paint spattered sweat pants and I think the other guy needed a size larger pants  as by the end of the day I was well aware he had black underwear on.  But I guess that is neither here or there.

With the list they has I started to pull the quilts in order.  They used large acid free boxes that held 3 quilts each.  I think after we started they realized that they didn't have enough boxes and we would need to put 3 in each box.  We also decided to label the boxes with the numbers of the quilts inside.

 Ray wanted his picture taken with this crazy quilt as it was a 40th anniversary gift for Claire.  I think this one was hard to part with.

I believe it took 4 hours to get them all packed.  Ray and the crew standing in front of the pile of boxes that held 43 of Claire's precious quilts.

Quilting Post - for a change

Back in May 2 of my uncles, Mitchell {Butch} Bennett and Leo Waterman, passed away within about a week of each other.  In a note to my Aunts I let them know that I would be happy to help them make a quilt of their husband's shirts if they wanted. 

I realize now I should have sent a note as well to oldest of each of their children, as they were too overwhelmed at the time.

In November one of my cousin, Carollee Bennett, contacted me to say she would like to give her mom a quilt out of her dad's shirts.  She had seen my note and had contacted her Dad's sister who had taken some of his shirts.  She had 5 or 6 shirts to work with..  I wasn't sure how big a quilt I could make with just 6 shirts but I gave it a go. 

At a retreat I stated making 9 patch blocks, that seemed a good start.  But when I started laying them out the same colors ended up next to each other too much for my liking.  I had cut around the pockets and saved them.  A little more thought and I decided to do a barn raising with a neutral back ground I had used in the 9 patches.  I put the pockets in the center, but up closer to the top, maybe just under the pillow tuck.  Then I put the 9 patch blocks in rows of the same colors. I did use a non-woven iron on interfacing on the one flannel shirt in the batch.

 

Here it is on the quilting frame in my mother's dining room. My mother told some of her friends and some of my aunt's friends that she would have it up to quilt on it.

And so they came, including my Aunt Gert...

 

 

It starts pretty bit, but as everyone reaches the end of the comfortable stretch, it's time to roll.

 



 

 

And then after 4 hours one day and maybe 2 the next, Presto, it's quilted.

 

And that's how it's done in Portland, Michigan.  Quilting: the heritage that keep on giving.

Will pick up again on the trip post again shortly.
`



 

 

Day 3 - At Sea, Friday, August 19th

Just to back up a bit about Barcelona.  When we visited the church down from the hotel, I noticed a sign that said "lift to roof".  Deb was game so for 3 euro we took the tiny lift up to the top of the church.  Here were some of the views.

Today is our first full day at sea.  Our first port of call will be Kotor, Montenegro but  that is .  So for now we are getting to explore the ship and starting our classes with Bonnie.  We were supposed to be sewing her Razzle Dazzle quilt, but sewing machines couldn't be secured for the trip.  So instead Bonnie gave a lesson on paper piecing and then a lesson on back basting applique with her Spanish Rose pattern.

There were 50 quilters along for classes, some husbands and some children.  Our conference room had 3 large windows looking out on Deck 5 so we often had many people curiously looking on.
We had quilters from allover the US, New Zealand, Germany and I think maybe Australia.

Day 4 would be much the same as this.  Realized that I forgot to mentioned some of the Gaudi architecture we saw in Barcelona.  Maybe some pics of that next.