We're at Sea

Ahoy!  Jaggie here, Veronica and I sailed away on Saturday from New Orleans on a quilt cruise. You know the speaker that we had at Dayton last week.  Well, I put her in my suitcase and took her with us.  Ok, not really.  She works for Veronica and so we decided that we had so much fun with her at work that we would have a blast on a cruise with her.  Tomorrow we will be in Jamiaca and we will try to get you some pictures, but if we can't find wi-fi, we won't be able to.  On Wednesday we'll be in Grand Cayman and Thursday we will be in Cozumel.  I know we'll have wi-fi in Cozumel and pretty sure we can get it in Cayman, so plan to see pictures of our trip.



Doesn't this look relaxing?????????????/  and warm, we're freezing here!

Yipppeeeee, yaaaaaayyyyy, I'm so excited!!

Jaggie, here! Fun in the sun has a whole new meaning when you pair it with quilting. Rockport Tours is partnering with Bear Thread Designs to host the Caribbean Quilting Cruise in May 2015! Learn new and exciting quilting techniques, make friends and enjoy making memories as you sail the Caribbean.

Start the adventure by catching a ride on a deluxe coach with departures from Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass, Rockport, Victoria, Hillje and Stafford, Texas. Once you arrive at the Port of Galveston you’ll board Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Sea and set sail for a 7-night adventure that will take you to Cozumel, Mexico; Belize City, Belize; and Roatan, Honduras.

While at sea, quilters can participate in a variety of workshops with award-winning instructors such as Veronica Cox of Bear Thread Designs, Scott Lapham of Janome, Winnie Fleming and Denise Green. Everything you need will be provided, from machines to irons. Complete sewing kits can be purchased for $399 each, so you’ll have everything you need to participate in the workshops.

The cruise is scheduled May 24-31, 2015. To reserve your spot, register at www.RockportTours.com.

Rockport Tours has been in business for 24 years and offers a variety of vacation and tour options with special emphasis on seniors/empty nesters.  All tours are fully escorted and include round trip travel unless specifically noted otherwise.  The owners, Lorene and Mike, are dedicated to ensuring that your vacation runs smoothly and safely.  Offering a wide variety of trips that include cruises, coach trips, planes, and trains, Rockport Tours is the first stop for many Texans (and winter Texans) who wish to get away!

What a beautiful sight

What a beautiful sight.  Actually this is Veronica's husband driving down the road with a load of Janome machines from the last cruise.  They are being shipped to their new homes, so off to UPS we go.  We did get quite a few stares.

See you Monday.

 

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it...

Yes, it's true, I just got my reservation confirmation for my cruise with Scott and of course Bonnie Hunter.  I'm so excited!  We get to go on Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas cruise ship. I've got my room number, I've got one of those huge windows to look out at the sea and my bags are packed. I've got my Set and Sail paperwork, my luggage tags and I guess I've got to bring Veronica as she has the passport.  We're gonna have fun, fun, fun!  Hope you're joining us.  I need more of these days.

We're going to Belize City, Belize, Roatan, Honduras and Cozumel, Mexico.  We've been to Belize and the scuba diving there is amazing.  We've been to Cozumel like a million times since 1987, actually Veronica did her Open Water Certification in Cozumel. But we've never been to Roatan, and we're really excited.  I'll be on the beach while Veronica goes scuba diving.

      Or I can grab a kayak and hit the waves.  The last time we went kayaking we were in the Pacific Ocean, and it was so cool.

Maybe I'll be lazy and hang out in a hammock.  These are really hard decisions, well I'll have the weekend to think things over.  Hope to see you on board.  See you Monday.

Jaggie's off to Hawaii

Do you know who this is????  How about Kaye Wood and Veronica, oh and don't forget me, Jaggie the Bear!  And we're off to Hawaii on a 15 day cruise.  I'm so excited!!!!  Come and join us.

Who do you call, well Mike, of course.  He's over at Rockport Tours.  His phone number is toll free, so it's free to you.  The free number is 888-937-3488.  Can you believe that's all the freebies this bear is allowed to give away.

You'll get your very own table at the beach...

your very own hammock, and

Lobster!

Don't forget, you'll also get your very own towel animal.

And as always, Scott will be bringing machines for you to sew on.

Well, I'll see you onboard!

I Miss Alaska

And speaking of Brenda at Bear Paw Productions, I miss Alaska.  Scott please take me back, it's too hot in Texas.  I need cool air.  Did you see me on the totem pole in Sitka?  I was up pretty high, but I was checking everything out.  I was looking for Brenda, but Veronica said that Brenda does not live in Sitka.  Still.......what a great view.

Don't make me throw myself off the totem pole, oh wait, I already did.  

Please, take me back........................................  I miss Wanda.  She's in Alaska at the quilt shop.
Ok, so she's in Juneau, but it's still Alaska.


Yes, Veronica is gone, she's in Miami, Florida so I'm really lonely her at the office.  I'll have to go see what everyone else is up to. Maybe somebody brought berries to work today, I'm off.......

Canada

Wow, we made it.  We're in Canada.  First off we ate, of course!!!  We walked almost 10 miles according to Fittie.  He's my fitbit buddy.  And I made two great new friends.  This is number 1, he was hungry.

Here is the second one.  They were both at the pier where we were eating Fish and Chips.  There were lots of little kids feeding them and they were jumping up out of the water.  It was fun to watch.  After we watched them for a while, we walked around near downtown and then we finally went back to the ship.  We've got to pack since we get off the ship tomorrow and fly home. We're going to miss all the friends we made on the ship and all of the quilters.  We'll do it again soon, hope you join us.  We've  got our cruise to Roatan-Honduras, Belize City, Belize and Cozumel Mexico.  We leave on May 24th from Galveston, Texas and return on May 31, 2015.

Hope to see you on a cruise soon,

Ketchikan and even more bears

Well here we are in Ketchikan.  It's reallllly cold today, but we set out anyway.  We walked all over downtown, ok, really just a couple of blocks and then got back on the ship because we had more quilting to do.  Do you see the map  of Ketchikan, it's not very big at all.  That's Kevin, he's trying to be cool with his new sunglasses.  Doesn't matter that the sun is shining in my eyes (sigh), I'm just another bear hanging around Alaska.

We went to one of the stores and I got captured.  I was telling this mama bear that I knew how to cook, remember I was making waffles on the ship with Mona Lisa, so guess what?  We're off to cook up a storm.  They don't know how to make waffles.

Oh, on the way to the kitchen, I found this Bear Crunch and got away from mama bear.  I'll be here eating...

Is that a bear paddle????????????????  Yikes, are those claws??????????????????  Help, get me outta here.

Eagle to the rescue.  

Did you know that the eyes of a bald eagle are so keen they can spot a fish from over a mile away. Bald eagles are truly impressive birds of prey.  Not only can they spot a fish from over a mile away, they can also fly at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour and dive at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour.

Hi Buddy, have you seen my ship?

Look, I found a baby eagle on my way back to the ship .  How cute is he?  Oh, no I see his mama again, gotta run. Wait, I want a hat, I need to be a "real" Alaska bear.  This is our last stop after all. How does this look?

I'm hungry, I'm going back to the ship where they have berries...........

Canada watch out for us, we'll be there tomorrow.

The did you know info on bears and eagles came from Captain Bob Allen's route map and field guide.  I got it the day I tried to drive the boat, remember?   Thanks Captain Bob!

Debbie's class

We were so lucky to have Debbie Caffery on our cruise.  She's a great hugger.  All of her classes were full and all the ladies loved her.  I did too, if you can't tell by my picture.  I'm trying to   snuggle in her neck, but I'm a little short.                                                                               

It was love at first sight for me.  

   

Check out my new shirt.  I was kinda' cold in Sitka, so Scott bought me this shirt and then added some bling to it.  Do you see what it says?  It says "I Love Janome" and I really, really do.  If you don't know who Scott is, he's the Janome dealer that has been doing cruises with Veronica for 10   years now.  That makes them reallllly old....friends was what I meant.  If you're looking for a great machine call Scott at Citrus Sew and Vac in Ocala, Florida, that's where Veronica gets all of her     machines.  Scott is great, you can call him if you have a problem or question and he's always       there to answer you and help out.  He's a great guy.  I'll give you his phone number, but don't tell him it was me.  Ready?  Here it is.  Call Scott at 352-620-0225.  Sneaky, huh?                                                                   

June from Quiltmaker had name tags for all of us, well, ok, not really for me, but I "borrowed"  one.  Hey, I'm important too.                                                                                                  

Here is June and Sharky with me.  I'm the handsome furry one.  

This is Deb.  She and I are sitting on top of the world.  

Cuddly!

Look, I've got more sweeties.  We were in Debbie's class.  

Look, that's the chocolate bar over there.  Who would have thought, a chocolate bar....  yum!

Tomorrow is Ketchikan.  Yippee.  

Sitka Alaska and the Big Bears

Did you know black bears come in more colors than black?  While black bears get

 their name primarily from the coloring of their fur, they come in a variety of colors including brown (cinnamon bears), cream and blue, yes blue, they are the glacier bears.  

Ohhhh, so fluffy.

Run Kevin, run!!!!!  I'll save you.  There are so many bears up here.  I'm feeling lost in the crowd.  

Help!  I can't get down.  Ok, let me try getting down on the other side.

Didn't work!  I'm still stuck.  

Thanks lady!  She loves bears and she helped me out.  

OH, more food.  Let's eat.

Yikes, another bear.  Run guys, run Scott, run Kevin, I'll keep him busy.

See all I had to do was talk him to death.  We're all friends now.

Well, that's all I did in Sitka.  I saved the guys and now we're off tot he ship for more quilting fun.  Who are we quilting with?  Stay tuned and you'll see.

The did you know info on bears and eagles came from Captain Bob Allen's route map and field guide.  I got it the day I tried to drive the boat, remember?   Thanks Captain Bob!