The Curious Cruising Quilter

I am so lucky to be on a cruise with sweetie Saul and 2 of his kids - Dan and Amy. It is a 15 day cruise through the Panama Canal, starting in Long Beach California and disembarking in Ft Lauderdale Florida. I won't bore or tease you with the relaxing in the 82 degree sunshine, the piles of delicious foods, the shopping and activities - suffice it to say I am loving it!  What I do want to think and write about is all the quilting inspiration this trip has provided so far.

Our ports have been Puerta Vallarta and Huatulco in Mexico, San Juan Del Sur Nicaragua, and Putarenas Costa Rica. We are currently on our way to Panama, then on to Cartegena Columbia.

Lots of sights and images that inspire me to think about quilts. Here are a few of the images that I captured that are potential quilts. 
First lets start with the ship itself. We are on the Coral Princess, a 2000 passenger ship (currently with only about 1400 passengers).  It was built specifically to go through the canal locks. I don't know if the ship has a decor theme, but I have taken pictures of several items that I think would make a great quilt or quilting design.

This first pic is of the non-slip flooring product on our balcony. Pretty cool, huh?

Number 2 is a marble tile floor. There are several compass shapes around the decks. 


The third one is a tiled area at the entrance to one of the bars on board. This particular bar also has a tile design above the bar.

Of course, a quilter should always observe the carpet! My friend Kelly Cline uses a patterns similar to this when she does edge to edge long arming for people.  

Our excursions have been filled with color, textures, and patterns. The water, green vegetation, colorful markets, flowers - its seems like it was all staged to inspire quilters.

In Puerta Vallarta:
Tile flooring at disembarkation.
Side walk near the beach front.
Colorful Flags in the pedestrian zone near the church.
A mural near the tequilla tasting.












In Huatulco:

Flowers in a community garden.
Weavings. Gorgeous weavings!

In Nicaragua:
Concrete embossed with leaves.
Volcanic geology.






If you want to make friends on a cruise, just sit out on deck with some hand work and people from all over the world will stop and ask what you are making. Our ship also has a "Knitters and Knatters" group which meets every at sea day. There are quilters in that group as well and we've shared photos of our quilts and exchanged contact info so we can keep in touch. Kindred spirits indeed!

Speaking of cruising and quilting - THAT is on my quilting bucket list - to go on a quilt cruise. I've been keeping my eye out for the perfect combination of itinerary, teacher, and project. I was signed up for one last year, but it was cancelled. If I'm being honest, teaching quilting on a cruise is a secret ambition of mine - if that ever happens I'll know I've arrived in the quilting/teaching world. So if you know of a quilt cruise company that needs a teacher - send them my way. I'll start preparing my workshop (grin).

Keeping it Curious on the Coral Princess!