This is one of the many beautiful sunsets we enjoyed at the Gulf Coast. The sun was huge and watching it set was a sight to behold! You just can't get that in the city!
I'm sure I was meant to always be at the beach, something tropical with beautiful blue water and white sand. Paradise.
From Nashville to Inlet Beach Florida is about a 7 1/2 hour drive. It seems much longer going there than coming home. We played a goofy travel bingo game that kept us occupied and actually had a lot of fun making our own rules along the way! It made the drive a little more bearable!
...and so this quilt...is finally finished! I was sure I'd go crazy with a week away from all things sewing related, so I brought it along to finish the final touches. Burying threads and sewing the binding on, that's all that was left. I also thought it would be fun to take pictures of it at the beach too!
The truth is, I took these pictures an hour before we were leaving to drive home! I know! I was surprised at how much I was enjoying not doing any quilt/sewing related anything. A true vacation!
After the binding and thread burying was done, I basically wadded it up and tossed it aside. I knew I would hate myself if I didn't get at least a couple pictures. How often will I get the chance to do that again?!
The small condo (6 units) we stayed at was right on the beach. Ten steps to the sand, 50 feet to the water. You can imagine the view!
As a reminder, I purchased the fabric for this quilt on Etsy at Stitch Stash Diva. If you are in the market for fabric...check it out!
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| 52" x 72" |
You can barely tell from this picture, but I used two different purples for the binding. I tried to place the darker purple around the bottom right side and the lighter purple towards the top left. Keeping with the gradation!
I kept the quilting very simple. Horizontal and vertical straight lines on the 'ribbon' sections. I wanted to keep the flow of the weave without crossing over the different colors. The squares between the weave, I stipple quilted to add a different texture and hopefully letting the design stand out a bit more.
While the quilting was simple, I did use quite a few different thread colors. I raided my Aurifil thread stash and found enough colors that would work with the gradation of fabrics.
Pale Pink (2410), Bright Pink (2425), Blossom Pink (2530), Magenta (2535), Burgundy (1103), Medium Purple (2545), Medium Lavender (2540) and Pale Lilac (2564). Just a few!
One of the simple pleasures was watching the pelicans fly by! I was bound and determined to get a picture! However that proved to be easier said than done!! I could never get my camera up and going in time...until the morning we were leaving!
It was so relaxing to walk the beach and search for shells. My daughter is a shell freak and I knew if I didn't come home with a big bunch she would never speak to me again! She's still talking to me so I must have done good! The ones for her were way bigger than the ones in the palm of my hand!
Now I'm home! There was no time to sit back and relax either! With two deadlines, I had to jump back into the sewing room the next day.
To say I enjoyed the beach magic is an understatement. It was like I had been holding my breath for months and I finally got to breathe! I know that's a little weird! I think taking time away from home, sewing, social media, cooking and really every day sludge is a very good thing!
My summer vacation is over and it's not even summer yet! When you go on vacation, do you disconnect? Leave sewing behind? Where will you go on vacation this year?
LINKING:
TGIFF
