STITCH: A day on Anderson Island

STITCH hit the ferry yesterday for our annual outing to Andrea's house on Anderson Island. Look at how Carol and Anne glow in that morning light! The temperatures were balmy, the sun was out and there was a nice breeze off of the water, but the air was hazy with smoke from wildfires in Canada, California and Washington.

Ketron Island appeared eerie through the haze, especially if you realize that it's the island where the plane that was stolen from Sea-Tac last week crashed.

                                           

Every year when we get to Andrea's, we drop our bags and sigh, "Ahhhhh." Back on island time. Nothing to do but kick back, drink coffee, visit, have show and tell, eat lunch on the deck and then just lounge, gazing out at the calm water.

To sustain us until lunch time, Andrea baked scones and served them with her homemade blackberry jam. Blackberries are rampant in this corner of the country.

After scones and a couple of pots of coffee, we settled down to show and tell. Andrea brought out this old quilt that she has been restoring for a friend. The rayon patches had so many holes that she took off some of the blocks and used them to patch others. Then she added new batting and backing and tied it, as the original had been tied.

She left some of the holes to maintain that old, worn appearance, but she repaired the worst of them.

Then Carol brought out the cheesecloth she had used to strain blackberries. The berries turned it a beautiful purple hue that goes nicely with Judy's tie-dye pants.

Judy wowed us with a Frank Sinatra quilt that she's making for a special girl who loves Frank. She had trouble finding commercial fabric with the Sinatra theme, so she ended up commissioning some from Spoonflower designers. She also found copyright free pictures that she modified on her computer and printed out.

It's very retro!

Anne didn't have any quilts to show, but she had some colorful socks that were knitted by a friend who makes socks for the homeless. And I won't bore you with my show and tells, because you've already seen them on the blog.

Before we sat down for lunch, I gathered everyone for a selfie-stick photo. The lighting isn't great, but I wanted to have the water in the background. From left, you have Andrea, Anne, Judy, me, and Carol.

We could've relaxed there all day, but we had a return ferry to catch so that we could visit Barbara on the way back. Barbara is a STITCH member who has been battling brain cancer for years, but she still has her spunky spirit.

                                   

We got all the way to the front of the ferry line and they told us the boat was full, but Carol protested that the last vehicle on had cut in front of us in line (true!) and they managed to squeeze us on with not even an inch to spare. I'm always amazed at how ferries can carry so many cars across the water.

Can't wait until next year to return to island time.

Have a colorful day