Tag: J&E Riggin windjammer

Turkey Tracks: Blackberry Treat

Turkey Tracks:  September 12, 2018

Blackberry Treat

Betsy Maislen is here, volunteering on the windjammer J&E Riggin.  She and Co-Captain Annie Mahle love to cook together.

Betsy comes to stay with me when she is off the boat on its turnarounds.

Betsy always plans a hike or a bike ride after she’s organized clean clothes for the next trip.

She picked the last of the blackberries on a nearby road as a gift for me during a bike ride.  She discovered this roadside patch last year and gifted me with berries then too.

What a gift!  I love–and always have loved–wild blackberries.

I divided the berries into three portions to make them last longer.

THANKS BETSY!

Turkey Tracks: Quilts By Friends: Betsy Maislen

Turkey Tracks:  February 23, 2018

Quilts By Friends:  Betsy Maislen

Betsy lives in Vermont and comes to MidCoast Maine to sail on the windjammer J&E Riggin, out of Rockland, Maine.  Last summer, after retiring in June, she volunteered to cook with Annie Mahle, co-owner of the Riggin with Jon Finger, for six weeks in September and October.  She stayed with me between trips, which was so much fun.  She also attended the May 2017 Coastal Quilters retreat at the Franciscan Guest House.

Annie and I roped her into making the Bonnie Hunter 2017 mystery quilt with us, and here is her finished top.  I really love the neutral borders she chose.

Next, I suggested she sew along with Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild’s challenge to make Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt over the next year.

Here are her January and February blocks–and one of the March blocks.

I love her use of color in these blocks.

 

We all did different variations of this “star in star” block.

 

 

 

And, here is the March “crosses” block:

 

Yep!  Making these blocks is addictive.  Go Betsy!

Turkey Tracks: Coastal Quilters’ 2017 October Retreat, Part 4

Turkey Tracks:  October 24, 2017

The Coastal Quilters’ 2017 October Retreat, Part 4

Coming Home

This girl was waiting for me when I got home–reminding me that it’s nice to go away but even nicer to come home.

Betsy Maislen’s flowers were still beautiful.  Betsy stayed with me between voyages on the J&E Riggin, a windjammer out of Rockland, Maine.  Betsy volunteered for six weeks in September and October this fall.  She LOVES to cook with Annie Mahle and to be on the Riggin.  She also loves to get her clothes washed, to sleep in a real bed, and to be recharged and ready to go out again.

And she made and sent me one of the cards I was kitting up for our retreat group to make–as a little gift for those who came.  Amanda Jean Nyberg (Crazy Mom Quilts) designed this card project.  You can find directions in her WONDERFUL book NO SCRAP LEFT BEHIND.  I did a recent blog entry on these cards.  Didn’t Betsy do a great job?  Don’t miss the little owl on the right.  I loved getting this card from Betsy.

Betsy was at our May 2017 retreat and is planning to be at the May 2018 retreat.  She retired this past June and is discovering that she loves to quilt.  Rhea Butler introduced her to the Lucy Boston paper piecing blocks on the Riggin this summer–during the Slow Sewing cruise–and Betsy fell in love with them.  She’s just finished her second one now.  Pretty, huh?

***

NOW, here’s a challenge for those of you who choose to accept it.  Some of us are challenging the Coastal Quilters to make Jen Kingwell’s pattern “Long Time Gone,” starting in January.  This quilt is an improv form and uses a lot of different blocks, so it is a terrific learning project.  Besides it’s just fun.  Betsy is going to do it with us from Vermont!

I’ll post pics of your finished quilts here on the blog.

Let’s have some fun!

Here’s a version.  To see others, google “images” for the pattern.

 

Turkey Tracks: Quilts By Friends, July 2017

Turkey Tracks:  August 16, 2017

Quilts By Friends, July 2017

Linda Satkowski is working on Katja Marek’s quilt-let project, from Marek’s web site and from the book THE NEW HEXAGON MILLIFIORE QUILT ALONG.”  She is using this gorgeous, coral color for her background.  I love it and asked her to roughly lay out her mostly finished blocks so we could see them at a recent Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild monthly sew-along meeting–Camden, Maine.

AND, friend Elizabeth (Betsy) Maislen, who is now RETIRED, is working on this quilt–which knocked my socks off.  Go Betsy!!

I will see Betsy soon as she will be in and out of my house (as will husband Bill) while she is on the windjammer J&E Riggin, out of Rockland, Maine.  Betsy volunteers and helps Annie Mahle cook.  The two together produce some awesome meals–all fresh, local produce, seafood, and meats.  This year, Betsy will be volunteering for roughly six weeks in September and October.

Turkey Tracks: Sailing and Quilting

Turkey Tracks:  October 5, 2015

Sailing and Quilting

I LOVED my September sailing on the J&E Riggin this year.

September is sailing supreme in Maine.  The wind was so good on our first day that we sailed all the way to Blue Hill Harbor–after leaving Rockland Harbor mid-morning.  Word was that we were going 10 knots for part of the sail.  We were skimming across the water like a giant bird sailing across the sky.

I signed up for next September.  Of course I did.

Rhea Butler of Alewives Quilting will be on board and will teach interested passengers English paper piecing, using Lucy Boston’s honeycomb template.  (I’ve written about Lucy Boston and her work on this blog if you want to know more.)

Rhea’s use of fabric is stunning, interesting, and fun.  Here are some samples of her and other staff members Lucy Boston blocks.  You can see they really enjoyed “fussy cutting” contemporary fabric patterns–as did Lucy Boston, but Boston did not have access to today’s amazing colors and patterns.

IMG_0694

These blocks can be combined with other templates to make a whole quilt or floated on background fabric and appliqued–either singly or together.

One can also make plainer blocks–as I did as I wanted to contrast red and green in this block:

IMG_0128

I used the templates (as did Lucy Boston) to make a background.

But I am so looking forward to making blocks like Rhea and the Alewives staff do–and I want to applique them to background fabric in some way.

Plain or exotic, quilting or not, Jon Finger and Annie Mahle will be sailing the J&E Riggin with me on board September 21-24, 2016, boarding September 20th.

Come join us?