It's Cruising time again!

It's time to cruise again! Well, almost! We had so much fun on our last cruise to Alaska, that we have already booked the next one. Our wonderful travel agent, MJ Bryant of AK2TRVL vacations has us all set for our Quilting Retreat on board Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas, sailing from Los Angeles on Feb. 27, 2011, for a 7 day quilting cruise! The Mariner is one of the most exciting ships in Royal Caribbeans fleet, with an ice skating rink, miniature golf, rock climbing wall, basketball court and much more! Don't forget the state of the art conference center which has been reserved for Scottie Dog Quilts!

Here's a picture of the room I booked for my husband, Sydney and I. We had a great family vacation on the last cruise. Steve had plenty to keep him busy on the days that I sewed away in the sewing room, and Sydney had a blast on the "big ship."

Karen Lovie made her version of the quilt project with a beautiful Bali Pop. Projects for the cruise are timed so that you will have time to go home with a completed project and still enjoy all the ship and ports have to offer.

Families are welcome, here are three generations that went on the Alsakan Quilting Cruise.

Here's Paula on her way back down the rock climbing wall. She made it look so easy, until I gave it a try and realized it's harder than it looks.

MJ has secured us fabulous pricing starting at $749 for inside cabins. This price includes all port fees, govt. taxes and quilting classes/activities. We will set sail from LA and visit Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. Come Feburary, I will definitely be ready for a warm, summery vacation! Bring a friend, or your whole family, and come quilt with Scottie Dog Quilts! And a special gift for all cabins booked by Nov. 9th, 2009, a $5o Scottie Dog Quilts gift certificate per cabin! Call MJ or the store for more info.

MJ Bryant 888/278-7875

Scottie Dog Quilts 707 444-9662

So I know I have been totally slacking on the blog.....

It's been a busy summer. That's putting it mildly. That's my excuse. Quilt Camp, The REQG quilt show, Kids Quilt Camp, The Stitch & Snip Craft Extravaganza, Fortuna Guilds Market Night, a couple of camping trips and a Quilting cruise to Alaska have been keeping me a little busy. Not to mention all of the planning for the Fall schedule at Scottie Dog Quilts. It has been one busy Summer.

We kicked off Summer with a family and friends camping trip to Watts Lake where my husband tore his hamstring right as we started packing up for home. He made a lot of loud noises and didn't look so hot. So after we made the three hour trip home we spent four more in the urgent care.

Quilt Camp was the next weekend, and it was a blast. In between trips home to deliver meals to my husband who was under strict orders to stay off his feet, BrendaLou and I taught a great pattern from Moda called "Sweet."

Then came Fourth of July where Sydney rode in her first parade and became a pro at flag waving.

Then off to vend at the Redwood Empire Quilt Guilds 2009 quilt show at Redwood Acres. On Saturday of the show, Sydney was asked to ride in the parade at the Fortuna Rodeo and to bring her flag to wave.

The next week was The Snip & Stitch Craft Extravaganza presented by the Crafty Mavericks and Arcata Main Street. This was a great Craft show on the Arcata Plaza where we sold lots of kits and had a chance to talk to a lot of crafters and let them know about our store. The same week, we packed up and went to the Fortuna Guilds Market night.

On to Kids Quilt Camp. This year we used our AccuCut die cutting machine and cut out rag quilts. The die has the raggy edges pre-cut, so the girls sewed their quilts together and then threw them in the washing machine. They made cell phone totes as well.

With Kids Camp over, we flew into Cruise mode to get everything packed for the cruise. It takes a large amount of luggage to pull off a quilting cruise. There were all the supplies for the classes and boxes and boxes of fun giveaways for all the participants. Many of the wonderful companies that we do business with sent great gifts. I tried to explain to the hotel that would be delivering us to the pier how much luggage we had. (19 pieces of checked luggage, some were large trunks.) She said, "It's a cruise. Everyone has a lot of luggage." Needless to say, when they saw how much luggage we had, they had to schedule a new van. The cruise was absolutely wonderful and exceeded my expectations. I will blog much more about that in the week to come.