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