The Collection Quilt in Paradise

My husband cleverly scheduled a vacation for the two of us for the week that winter arrived in New Jersey. We woke up early on Saturday, and with temps in the 20’s, we headed to St John, in the US Virgin Islands.

The beach is my husband’s favorite place to relax. I’m not as much of a fan – it’s pretty sandy, and there are things that bite in the water. However, I love spending time with Jeremy, so I pack myself a sewing kit and a floppy hat, and I hang out at the beach for vacation. We’ve been to St John many, many times, so it always feels like going home, rather than being in a strange place.

We stayed at a lovely Inn, called Estate Lindholm. It is conveniently located near town and our favorite beaches. This is the first place we’ve stayed in that I would go to again. It is gorgeous, and the owner, Brion, is a charmer.

Bringing handwork on vacation is always very important to me. I feel very unhappy if I don’t have a creative outlet available to me. For this trip, I prepped the remaining blocks for my Collection Quilt.

Back in June I had started preparing step-outs for the Block of the Month I’m leading at Gotham Quilts in 2020. I decided to go with deep, dark blues and white/grey for my color scheme. I’ve been loving indigo fabrics and textured fabrics recently, so I dug through my stash to see what I had on hand. Not surprisingly, I had plenty to work with.

This is what I had finished before leaving on vacation.

I cut out the rest of the blocks, basted a few, and packed it all up to go with me. When I travel by plane, I have a small sewing kit I travel with. In the US, I am able to bring small scissors with me. The TSA rule is less than 3″ of blades. I brought my smallest Karen Kay Buckley scissors. They are easily replaceable, but still sharp enough to cut fabric cleanly. (I’ve had fancy scissors confiscated when flying international, so now I bring ones that won’t cause a temper tantrum if they are taken. And I pack a backup pair in my checked bag.)

I spent most of the flight sewing while listening to podcasts and Audible books. I finished a couple of blocks. I love to feel productive on a flight.

Our first beach was Cinnamon Bay. We walked down to a beach that was nearly deserted. We were followed down by a group of four people who set up a very elaborate volleyball court right next to us. It proved to be an entertaining morning. I’m always surprised by people who drag a load of stuff down to the hot, sandy beach, then proceed to get hotter and sandier, and seem to enjoy it. The few times I have engaged in sporting activities it was due to coercion.

Our next beach was Francis Bay. The surf was lovely and calm, which made it more obvious that fish were jumping all over the place. I’m quite afraid of open water. I’m a good swimmer, but I have been bitten by fish, and I really dislike it. Whenever I see fish jumping, it is obvious that they are being chased by something larger, that bites.

On our third day, we decided to have an adventure. My favorite. We drove out to the far east end of the island to visit Hansen Bay. Hansen Bay’s claim to fame is a restaurant called Lime Out. (You can see the boat in the upper left corner of the photo.) This was a level 10 adventure as far as I’m concerned. You have to rent a kayak, stand up paddle board, or a paddle boat, make your way out to the floating restaurant, get out of your kayak, order and eat lunch while sitting on an underwater stool from a table that is maybe two inches above water level. The servers are all wearing swimsuits, which is a bit awkward, as you are looking up at people in bikinis. Lots of information is freely shared. Also, there are fish in the water.

When your drippy taco inevitably falls apart, the fish that are swimming around you get very excited. Turns out they are big fans of taco filling. If they suspect there is food on your body, they go for it. I think I only screamed the one time. No worries, the crowd of drunken 20 somethings paid no attention to me. After enjoying our tacos, it was time to go back to the beach. Which meant getting back into the kayak. I made the attempt once on my own, which resulted in lots of splashing, and I probably should be more embarrassed. I was successful on the second attempt. Alas, I did not sew, as I was pretty riled up over being forced to have a wet meal that I shared with fish.

On Wednesday we visited Jumbie Beach. It is only a level 2 adventure – you have to walk down a short jungle path to get to the beach. I didn’t see any snakes, so it was fine. There were lots of little shells on the beach near my chair, and I found a few with holes in them. I stitched them onto the second block I worked on as a memento.

While we were there, a surf instructor and student came down the path with their surfboards and seemed to paddle out into the shipping channel. We left three hours later, and there was still no sign of them. Life on the island is mysterious.

Maho Bay was lovely. There are plenty of trees along the edges, so you can find shade to park your chairs in. The tree we were under had a really impressive spiderweb structure all over it. We counted at least a dozen separate spiders, and the webs were all interconnected. They flapped a lot in the breeze, but didn’t break. The spiders sparkled in the sun, which I have never seen before. Also, no mosquito bites that day!

Our last beach visit was Trunk Bay. Jeremy is a wizard, and saved the most popular beach on the island for a day when there were no cruise ships in port in St Thomas, which means far fewer visitors at the beach. The surf was really wild. We had a minor adventure here, wading through the surf around a rocky point to a private cove. It was lovely, but a little precarious.

The wind must have shifted while we were there, because the swells got really big. Just as I decided they were too dangerous for me to fool with, Jeremy got his little boy grin and ran into the water. I watched him bob in the waves while I worked on another block.

Departure day is always a little nuts from St John. You have to get to your ferry, get to St Thomas, then get to the airport. You don’t want to be late, but you also don’t want to be early. The airport is the opposite amount of comfortable from every other place on the island. So, on Saturday I sewed in the ferry terminal, on the ferry for a bit, in a dockside restaurant, at the airport, and on the airplane.

When I got home, I put all of my finished blocks up on the wall. That was a good vacation.

Do you bring projects with you when you travel?

If you are interested in participating in the 2020 Collection Quilt BOM program with Gotham Quilts, sign up soon. We only have 10 spots left! You can order the kit to make a quilt matching Carolyn Friedlander‘s original, or you can use your own fabric. We will have in-person classes each month. Can’t make it to NYC? We will be streaming the classes to our members only Facebook group.