I recently had the pleasure of teaching at the first Land Ahoy Cruise Nashville, run by Stitchin' Heaven, a well-known quilt shop in Quitman, TX. Five "land cruises" are being held this year since the 15 "sea cruises" held each year by Stitchin' Heaven are not possible.
In many ways, this teaching experience was like most--happy students from all over the country, classes were taught, there was fun and games, lots of good food, and many hours of sewing. The SHAG box (Stitchin Heaven Amazing Gift) was, indeed, amazing. We also had an "excursion" day that got us out of the hotel and a chance to see the area and learn some history.
In some ways, things were different--masks were required in all public areas of the hotel and in all restaurants. Sewing tables were set farther apart and dining tables that could accommodate 8 were set with only 4 chairs. In our conference rooms and large dining area masks were optional--some students wore them, some did not.
I tried to eat meals with different students most times, learning names and where they were from. The name tags on the back of each machine sure helped out!
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| Kelly hard at work |
I led off the first day with my Trunk Show--bringing 13 of my quilts that related to our 1800's theme or my journey as a quiltmaker. Color My World. the 2021 Block of the Month for The Quilt Show, got a bit of attention and two students joined The Quilt Show immediately so they can get started:
The back, showing the quilting I did on my Bernina Q20 sit down long arm:
My Lifetime quilt, 100" square, with 12,800 triangles, each 1.25". Subtitled "Wow!":
The recently completed Western Sun top which used a wide variety of 1800's reproduction fabrics:
The class I taught was Parlor Music, by Carol Hopkins. While I thought it was simple, compared to the other class, Remember Me, the students felt differently and most worked on the other project for the most part. A couple students did work on Parlor Music first. Tanya got the body of hers done, and will cut off the excess, then add borders:
Terry had fun on the design wall and decided to alternate the quarter square triangle rows, I liked that idea a lot:
Autumn got far along on Remember Me, using her own fabrics:
Thursday was excursion day. First stop was Quilting Squares, a small quilt shop in Franklin, TN:
Good advice:
Lots to see and buy:
Next stop was Carnton House in Franklin, a home used as a field hospital during the Battle of Franklin in 1864. The home is beautifully restored, with a lot of original furnishings. I felt lucky to have Carrie as our guide, the best historical guide I ever had and I've been to lots of such places:
Then we headed down the road a few miles to Carter House. More Battle of Franklin stories and more outbuildings. This one we saw first from the outside:
Seeing those bullet holes from the inside was eerie:
Thursday evening we enjoyed the Trunk show from Janet Tanner, the other teacher:
After teaching for two days I was able to sew some personal things, while remaining available to students who needed assistance. I was glad to get two blocks started over two days, for an upcoming Round Robin project I am doing with the Sunday Sew and Sews.
This Bullseye block designed by Becky Goldsmith, took me all day Friday and still needs a frame. It is paper pieced to this stage. The center circle is pieced in to the ring of points--it took me almost an hour to pin, sew, fix a few places and press:
Much faster, this one will be appliqued to the background, then a pieced sawtooth ring will be added:
All in all, this was a lot of fun. I enjoyed meeting quilters from WA, UT, WY, CA, MN, IL, AR, AZ, PA, NY, NJ, FL and TX. The hotel staff was great, the food excellent, I enjoyed the meals and friendship I shared outside the hotel too.
This year there are 3 more Land Ahoy Cruises--Fort Worth in April, Las Vegas in May and San Diego in June. I believe only Ft Worth has space available and registration ends very soon. Several are in the planning stages for 2022. If you want to sew for a week and make new friends, I recommend you come along on a Land Cruise.
Let's quilt,
