Port towns in the colonial times could be compared to the heart of the human body, beating and pumping the blood necessary for survival. With the port came ship yards and with this the sea vessels. By the turn of the 18th century into the 19th, over 2000 ships had been rendered worthy to sail. How amazing our history is! The work ethic of those who made this land habitable for us to enjoy so very ,very freely, can not be reproduced to this day.

With all the ship building, timber had to be cut and milled, so lumber jacks were plenty in number. Gristmills were needed to grind the corn and wheat necessary to sustain the appetites of these hungry men and their families.  Tanners were needed for leather; wheelwrights apprenticed to make the many wheels needed for the wagons and carts. Coopers for making barrels and regular carpenters hammering square nails into clapboards for housing who taught the journeymen their skills.  The list is endless!

Our ancestors, hard working men and women. Using their hands, bodies, minds and souls to carve out a new land. Laying back on their beds at night; making mental lists of the first duties needed to be done in the next new day.

No time to waste;for each season of the year had its’ own demands.

I am sure, of course, the needles of the fair maidens were kept busy those days too, making sails for the vessels soon to be christened onto the sea.  They were also hired out to finish woolen quilts needed to cover up with during the cold and drafty winter months.  The woolen mills then too, were as necessary, as the lumber mills were for the colonists’ survival here.

Make a blessing happen for someone else today!  Let us put our hand to the task we are ask to complete.

As always! Quilted Blessings! Karen