Finishes and a Trip to Tangier Island

I ran out of steam for light blue scraps for RSC this past week, so I pulled out a light blue quilt and got it quilted.  I AM going to get proficient at quilting, and it’s going to take a LOT of practice.

 I did some ruler work, some stippling, and some free motion feathers. 

Another quilt I found that was already basted was this applique quilt.  I bought the fabric several years ago and did the pre-class homework for a Pat Sloan class, and then the class was canceled.  I eventually put the top together and now it’s a finish!

I have 3 more quilts that are basted, and I’ll start working on them this week.  Deciding how to quilt them is the hardest part.  The largest one is for my Guild UFO challenge, so I really have to get it done soon.  And then I can start basting the others.  I haven’t actually quilted much in the last couple of years.

That’s it for quilty stuff.  The remainder of this post is about our step back in time as we adventured to Tangier Island, a small island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.  It is only accessible by boat or by small plane, and has a population of around 500.  There is only one school, which serves K-12.

Methods of transportation include golf carts, bicycles, and scooters.

“Tangier Taxi”

There are several restaurants on the island, and lunch at Hilda Crockett’s Chesapeake House was included in our package deal for the day.

When we exited the restaurant, several ‘taxi’s” were lined up to offer tours of the island.  After eating all that food, DH and I chose to walk!  We walked past churches, the school, several little shops, a museum, and the Post Office.

The mail is brought over on The Mail Boat six days a week, and taken to the Post Office.  There is no residential delivery, so the Post Office is a community gathering place.  The mail boat also serves to deliver other goods.  When we saw it docked in Crisfield, it was loaded with sodas and paper towels!

The residents of Tangier Island are watermen, depending on crabs and oysters for their livelihoods.  It is not an easy way of life, and the population of the island continues to drop as young people leave the island for other jobs. 

We were there on the hottest day of the year, so we popped into a couple of the tiny shops to take advantage of their air conditioning.  The ice cream shack was also doing a booming business.   We were only on the island for a couple of hours, but I’d definitely like to go back. 

On the way home, we passed through an incredible thunderstorm, followed by the most amazing sunset.  I have no pictures to share, because we were on a bus, and stopping for sunset pictures was not on the itinerary.

Every day is an adventure……Sunny

Can’t stop Stitching!

Every time I think about blogging, I’m in the middle of a stitching project, and I think that if I just finish it, I’ll have one more thing to blog about.  Ever have that problem?

I’m late with my Gifted Gorgeousness this month for a variety of reasons.  I was too busy working on other things, we took a short vacation, and I broke my eyeglasses!  But I persevered, and I’m happy to say that I’m halfway through!

I’ve definitely rediscovered my love of cross stitch!

The Club at our LQS has issued a UFO challenge for the next three months.  Since I have many UFO’s, most of which just need to be quilted and bound, that’s what I’m concentrating on right now.  This is probably the best quilting that I’ve done to date!   I’m practicing on some small quilts, working up to my Christmas quilt.

I also got back to my placemat project this month.  They were each made from leftover parts and pieces of previous quilts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have seven more tops completed, but I have to wait until I have some appropriately sized batting scraps before I can continue.  That means more sandwiching and quilting to come.

I participated in another postcard swap over on Sheila’s blog, and received this wonderful card from Linda.  Our theme this time was beach/summer. 

I need to learn to do thread painting, because I love what Linda did with this.  If you’d like to see more postcards, visit either of their blogs – they’re masters of the craft.  I forgot to take a picture of the card that I sent Linda, so perhaps I can get one from her blog later. 

Of course, we have managed one kayaking trip between rain and heat waves.

And now, I have stitching to do…….Sunny

NY is much more than just a city

Another day in the Finger Lakes area.  I’ll let the photos tell the story.

Farmers market in Seneca Falls. Yes, the strawberries were delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember George Bailey and Clarence?  This is their bridge.  The water is so muddy from all the rain the last couple of days.

 

 

 

 

And if you’ve read Di’s blog, you know that we may have just visited a quilt shop along the way!  That’s as close as I’ve come to any stitching the past few days.  Back to reality tomorrow.

~~~ Sunny ~~~

Road Trip!

In the event that I go back to work soon, we decided to make another quick road trip to the Finger Lakes.  My friend Di lives here, and is making plans to move far far away, so I wanted to come visit her before she left.  And I just love the Finger Lakes!

It seems that wherever we go lately, it rains.  So it has rained here the past two days.  Not a problem for Di and me!  We sat at her place and gabbed all day, looking at quilts, talking about patterns, looking at quilts, having lunch, and talking to Miss Gracie.  DH came on the trip with me, but he was run off to entertain himself for the day.  His planned hike did not happen, but he managed to keep himself busy.  He returned late afternoon, just in time to drive us to the quilt store for a look around.  Some fabric and a couple of patterns may or may not have left the store with me.  The rain stopped while we were having dinner, and after dropping Di back at her place, DH wanted to go look at a couple of nearby waterfalls.  They were spectacular with all the rain from the last couple of days!

I’m sure we’ll be seeing more waterfalls tomorrow, when the three of us go sightseeing.  The sun actually came out while we were driving back to our hotel, and is expected to make another appearance tomorrow.  Fingers crossed.

 

 

 

 

 

Not much stitching happening here . . .Sunny