Thanksgiving Beach Adventure

We're home from our Thanksgiving week escape to Orange Beach, Alabama. I'm relaxed and happy, but already wanting to go back. The two of us been going there regularly for over 30 years. It's my favorite place to visit, especially in late fall.

Here are a few observations from our adventure:

If you wash and wax your car before vacation, it will rain before you get out of the county.

 

Walking on a sandy beach is the perfect way to begin and end each day.

Doc's Seafood advertises that they serve “the best fried shrimp in the entire civilized world” and they are still absolutely right.

 

There were more dogs on the beach, despite the no dogs on the beach rule. That chihuahua looked totally embarrassed about wearing a pink ruffled sundress.

 

Beach sunsets are amazing but seeing a red half moon sinking into the gulf is phenomenal.

Another delicious meal at DeSoto's Seafood Kitchen: Parmesan Encrusted Flounder with Tarragon Aioli, two sides, rolls, and tea was the lunch special.

 

I sure wish we had bought that little bitty $99,000 beachfront house back in 1991.

 

The best plan for the day is no plan at all, just go with the flow. Antique and thrift store shopping, exploring side roads, and reading on the balcony.

Watching and listening to the waves is a natural stress reliever.

 

I intend to stay longer next time!  I'll take the Featherweight and sew by the sea. 

See you back here next week with my latest quilt. 

Sunset Flight, and a Surprise!

Red, gold, pink and orange are the colors of a hot summer sunset. I combined these prints in bright hues with a neutral gray and white pin dot fabric to create a striking little quilt.

Four patch squares alternating with kite blocks are set together in 8" blocks.   I rotated them and separated with gray sashing, making a secondary design almost like propellers. For quilting, I started with a small circle in the center and stitched continuously around in a spiral with dark gray thread, using a walking foot. Sunset Flight is 38½” square.  

( I saw this block in a vintage sampler quilt owned by a friend.  Another name for a very similar block is Twinkle, designed by Terri Vanden Bosch for Accuquilt. )

Sunset Flight, designed in EQ8

THE SURPRISE: My amazing husband executed quite a surprise for our 48^th anniversary last week: a 1948 Singer 221 Featherweight, with original accessories and case. He worked some magic to buy and get her delivered without me knowing, since we're together nearly all the time. I married a sweet, thoughtful, and generous man!

Annie, my 221 Featherweight

The little machine looks adorable and sews a pretty stitch, but needs a clean and polish. I named her Annie. We'll work together to shine her up and restore the case. I'll keep y'all posted on our progress.

Accuquilt dies used:
55254 Kite 4” finished
55059 Squares 2½” multi
55017 Strip 2½”

Tangerine Splash

I've done an about face from last week's traditional fabric. Bright crisp colors of tangerine and blue make this week's quilt sparkle. The block, though, is a another vintage design called Patience Corners.

Here's the clipping that gave me inspiration, found in Granny Rose's collection. I love her notes in the margins! She had it pinned to pattern templates cut out of a paper sack.

I didn't cut mine with scissors, thank goodness. Accuquilt's parallelogram and flying geese dies made quick work of cutting out and sewing the 12” blocks. It's interesting to experiment with different shapes to see how they go together. High school geometry came in handy after all.

Tangerine Splash - KatieScarlett Designs

Tangerine Splash is a great summer quilt, finishing out at 49” square. I quilted with medium blue thread in straight stitch, spacing the lines 1 1/2” apart.

Accuquilt dies used:
55004 Parallelogram
55456 Flying Geese 3 ½” x 6 ½”
55017 Strip 2½”

Spend more time watching sunsets

and less time on your phone

 

Oasis + Fabric

oasis: something that provides refuge, relief, or pleasant contrast

As I hinted last week, we've just returned from a seven day trip to my favorite oasis – Alabama's gulf coast. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach offered sunshine, balmy temperatures, and an escape from daily routines.

The highlights:

Morning and evening beach walks. Calming sound and scent of the waves. Amazing sunsets. It didn't take long for me to slow down to beach time.

Outstanding meals, including “the best fried shrimp in the entire civilized world” at Doc's Seafood (it absolutely is!), Parmesan Encrusted Flounder at DeSoto's Seafood Kitchen, fried whitefish with corn fritters at Mikee's, and a perfectly awesome bacon cheeseburger at Duck's Diner.

Touring the wonderful exhibits at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, plus the bonus of Blue Angels flying down our beach daily.

We shopped at thrift stores, local shops, a giant flea market, and …. FABRIC STORES! As usual, I filled a grocery cart with quilting prints at Fabrics by the Pound in Summerdale, AL. 

A & E Fabrics in Pensacola started their Black Friday sale early (50% off); so many beautiful designs that it was difficult to choose! It was my first visit, but I'll be back. My stash has grown by another 67 yards thanks to encouragement by my tolerant, generous husband.

Everyone needs a break from routine life now and then, even retirees! Find your oasis and plan your escape.

Sunrise, Sunset

Pink, orange, yellow are the brilliant colors of sunrise and sunset, ruby red grapefruit, juicy oranges and tangy lemons. Nature's beauty provides inspiration for art in this 40” square quilt that shouts summer.

Using drunkard's path die from Accuquilt, I sewed contrasting blocks into 9” squares. Perfect cuts and notches made stitching the curves simple. Quilting was done with serpentine stitch in pale yellow thread across all seams. Tangerine dots made borders and binding. Backing in a 1990's fruit print from my collection repeats the circular pattern.

Once done, I had another Useful Remnants quick design idea. I cut chisels (another Accuquilt die) from the leftovers to make a coordinating pillow cover. Arranging them into two braids, I sewed the strips, then quilted in a free motion loop pattern with light yellow thread.

Everything starts with a sunrise,

but it's what we do before it sets

that matters. K. McGraw

🌑 🌑 🌑

May every sunrise

bring you

HOPE

May every sunset

bring you

PEACE

Orange Beach

Orange Beach

For this rainy Monday I have a bright and cheerful quilt to show you. A sunset orange and aquamarine print from my stash combined beautifully with a sensational aqua, orange and yellow batik that I bought last November while visiting Orange Beach, Alabama. These medium large prints work great with the 12” flowering snowball block from Accuquilt.

Orange Beach finished out at 58” square. I quilted around the edges of each piece in orange and aqua thread. The backing is aqua and white circles that look like bubbles. 

I think it would be fabulous hanging as wall art in a beach house, or used to snuggle for cool nights on the sand. Either way, it says beach to me and I'm ready to go back right now!

By the way, I found the batik at Fabrics By The Pound in Summerdale, Alabama. Go see them if you're ever in the area and need a nice variety of good quality fabric at excellent prices.

I think this is my favorite quilt yet, but I say that all the time, don't I?

If you can't be at the beach,

then surround yourself

with colorful memories

of sand, sun, and sky.

~me

Unpredictable April Camping

We just got home from two weeks at Defeated Creek Campground. Springtime camping in Tennessee can be a little unpredictable. We experienced whistling wind, pouring rain, magnificent lightning, a bit of frost, sunshiny blue skies and gorgeous sunsets. Temperatures ranged from 31 to 80 degrees. 

 

Nevertheless, we were prepared and enjoyed most of our getaway on the shores of Cordell Hull Lake. One evening there were eighteen deer grazing together only fifty feet from our site, but they bolted before I could get the camera out. 

Camping Dinner

This week you'll find us at home, making up for lost time. I'll be zipping around on the Mustang mower and pulling weeds out of my flower beds. A trip to the garden center is in order for some pretty new blooms. It's work but I'm rested up and ready to dig.  

"If you don't like Tennessee weather, just wait a bit and it will change." 

 

Beach Music And A Blue Angel

What a fabulous Christmas gift to ourselves...a week on the beach at Gulf Shores, Alabama!  The house we rented, a gulf front cottage called Beach Music, sits on the Fort Morgan end of the peninsula. It was nicely equipped with wide windows, big screen TV, satellite, a fireplace, and wi-fi. No one stayed in the houses around us until the last two days.

It was chilly when we arrived, and we had one night in the lower 30's. So what? We put on hoodies and jackets, and walked the beach anyway. Most days were fine, from the upper 50's to 70. Sunsets were bright and colorful; the stars were amazing. December is perfect here, since there are no crowds and rates are at their lowest. Shopping was fun, and the seafood was mouth-watering. We ate at our favorite places, Mikee's and DeSoto's.

The Blue Angels are based just down the road in Pensacola, and we've seen them practicing several times when we visited Gulf Shores. This trip, we only saw one of them, but he gave us a private air show that made our day! We were walking the beach, no one else in sight. He flew low toward Mobile Bay and wagged his wing a little as he passed us, very close to the beach. Then, he came zooming back and just as he got to us, turned on the smoke and did a loop in his F-18. Couldn't get the phone camera up quickly enough for that one! Then he moved out further over the gulf and went through some other maneuvers. We did get a few shots of those.

The beach is my happy place, rain or shine. I must have seagoing ancestors, because since the first time I saw the beach, I have been drawn to the rhythmic sound of the waves and the breathtaking beauty of the sea and sky. 

I am renewed and relaxed, with a sense of peace and happiness. And that is what I wish for you this Christmas.