Sheila Frampton Cooper

View Original

Soul of the Quilter Cruise

Well, it looks like I'm back to my delayed blogging. What can I say, I'm working so hard that it takes a lot for me to take the time out and do this. So many fun and exciting things have happened in the past few months that I'm excited to share with you. 

As some of you may know, I was asked to teach on The Soul of a Quilter Cruise to benefit Libby Lehman's Medical Fund. We were on the Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas, and good grief, was that fun!!!!! I've never cruised before and to be honest, I now know why people do this. When you set sail, you leave all of your troubles behind and you are just floating around in a blissful state. At least that was the case for me.   :)

We raised over 12,000 dollars for Libby's fund, and had a great time doing it. 

I can't say enough about the other artists who were teaching - Dana Lynch, Pam Holland and Carol Moellers. It was so much fun to hang out with them.

I had a spacious, comfortable room...

...with a balcony. Each night when I returned to my room, I'd sit out here and gaze at the stars, smell the warm Caribbean air and enjoy every moment. 

What can I say about the students... they were wonderful! 

Considering I only had 3 hours with each group, I was amazed at what they did!

Lorraine traveled from New Zealand to go on the cruise...  

I really challenged myself and signed up for a bunch of excursions the first day. One of them was zip lining. This is my view as I'm about to take off in Labadee Haiti, which was absolutely beautiful. I should mention that I have a terrrible fear of heights, but I found this experience life changing. I look forward to doing it again

Carol and her husband John (in the red hat) were waiting for me and shot some video, as I glided in.

In Jamaica, which I LOVED by the way, I swam with the dolphins...

I enjoyed interacting with nature...

And goodness knows, I love reptiles!

The 7 mile beach in Grand Cayman was wonderful.

I also went on a submarine ride in Grand Cayman.

Labadee, Haiti... 

I was following the reggae band around the ship, they were awesome...

Each night I had dinner with Carol Moellers and her wonderul husband John. We had a great time together we spent the day together in Jamaica. 

Honestly, I can't say enough about Jim West and what a super guy he is in so many ways. If you've ever thought on going on one of his trips, I HIGHLY reccomend it. On the last night, he threw a wonderful cocktail party and we had this large cozy space to ourselves.