The Nuts' Excellent Vashon Island Adventure

The Twisted Nut Stitchers (they hate that name, but I like it) set off on another excellent adventure last week, this time taking the ferry from Tacoma to Vashon Island. That's the island in the distance and that's us gracing the front of the ferry. Instead of stitching, we were going to shop at Island Quilter and exchange our homemade Christmas ornaments with each other.

Before shopping we needed sustenance, so we stopped at a cute little shop for lattes in these very shapely insulated mugs. I also had a Magic Bar (about 1,000 calories of chocolate, nuts and sugar).

Then we went next door to the Vashon Bookshop, where we immediately spotted this cozy crazy quilt folded over a comfy couch. Here's a closer look:



The Nuts are especially attuned to crazy quilting because we're crazy ... and also because this past year we joined a crazy quilt club that met monthly at the Shibori Dragon quilt, yarn, bead and embroidery (what more do you need except chocolate?) store in Lakewood, WA. We learned how to properly piece together fabric scraps into pleasing blocks and how to embellish our blocks with embroidery. So we could appreciate the stitching on this beauty.

Lo and behold, when we exchanged our ornaments over lunch they were all made with crazy quilting and/or embroidery:

... except for mine, which I made from a pattern someone gave me way back in the '90s at my quilt guild in El Paso, TX. Mine use squares and rectangles that are folded and stacked on top of each other to form a star, then the points are tacked together with a little thread:

Vashon Island has a laid back, artsy, old hippie vibe that makes you feel like curling up in a soft chair in one of the stores or cafes with a cup of jo and a good book while listening to the rain outside.

It was an excellent day!