~ The Eastern Sea ~

I've been gone.  On vacation.
Although, let me make one thing perfectly clear: I was not sitting around ... vacating.
I was walking miles of pavement and absorbing years of history and laughing heartily.
I was with my son and his wife.
They live in Brooklyn, NY.

There are weeks worth of pictures from our forays into the Big City.  Today I am just concentrating on the day we drove up to Connecticut, visited Yale and ended up on this little stretch of beach on The Sound.
I'm a little bruised from pinching myself.  Yes ... this bucolic beauty is very real indeed.

 For starters there was this very charming lighthouse.
I love my SoCal beaches ... but I am not seeing lighthouses on my walks there.

The water was very warm and lovely.  The sand was darker than I am used to.

The sun as you can see ... is setting over the water.
This is because we were situated east of the Long Island Sound.
I foolishly asked, "Why is the sun setting in the West?" as a way to express how odd that was.
My son is still laughing.
At me.  Not with me.

The sunset was incredible.

As were the lobster rolls.

We were so busy doing stuff for three days that I never bought any souveniers.
Not even a foam Statue of Liberty headband.

Before we left the beach, I picked up these beauties to add to my collection of shells.
These, combined with umpteen wonderful memories are fine souveniers indeed.

What's your vote: East Coast Beach or West Coast Beach??  

~ Buckets O' Fun ~

Not to seem redundant ... or overly cocky ... but I went to the beach again this weekend.
This time with small children and their sand pails.
I'm rather fond of these children (grandkids #2 and #4).
I'm also enamored of their pails.

Here's the Sweet Pea doing what she did for ... um ... about 4 straight hours.
She was filling the pails (which had already been filled with salty water) with sand until the water absorbed all the sand.
Then she would cry, as if on the 27th try she was still indignant that the water was gone.
My job was to dump the sand and fill the pail once again with water.
I was very good at my job.

Here is Mr. T using his bucket as a shield.
He made it quite clear that he was not putting up with the papparazzi yesterday.
He was, however, putting up his bucket of sand for all to see.

When he wasn't looking, I snapped this photo of him admiring a paddle-boarder.
While I was admiring him.

Here's a view (from where I sit at my sewing machine) of my design wall (and project basket) a couple of weeks ago before I started the whole pinwheel business. My initial sand pail inspiration was from a beach trip a couple of months ago.  I remember thinking ... how many of those came from the Target Dollar Bin? I considered naming this one "Ode to the Target Dollar Bin".

On further reflection, I have decided to name it ...

Bucket List.

~ Water Colors ~

I often reserve my Saturday morning for exploring the local landscape and seascape.  Last Saturday I went down to "The Strands" at Dana Point.  I was so, so delighted to find that the sidewalk alone was worthy of the time that I spent. 
Get a load of these waves! 

And fish!

And crabs!
Oh, I was definitely not feelin' crabby.

Because, for starters ... this was my view.

And this ...

And this ...

And on closer inspection ... this!

This is my palette: turquoise + ocean blues + a touch of pink.

What's your palette??

 

~ Christmas in July: Barely ~

Whew!! Please tell me that there is still time in July for me to put in my two cents worth with a happy (scrappy) holiday quilt.  This pattern was originally published under my old pattern name (simplehappy designs).

Now that it's being published under my Sea Quilts name ...
I like to call it a "landlubber edition."

If you think you have seen this before it's because ... um ... you have.
Last December I posted it as part of a give-away.  I had oodles of requests for the pattern, but no real venue to sell it and I wasn't on PayPal ... yet.

So, now that I have an official place to sell it ... well ... I am.
Please go here to my Etsy shop where this pattern is currently listed.

This quilt was an absolute joy to make.

We're talking polka dots and stripe-y candy canes and gingerbread houses (and men) that are a heck of a lot easier to make than an actual gingerbread house. (At least for me.)

And far less sticky.

I cannot lie.  I have already started to think about next Christmas and have some plans to make a Coastal Christmas quilt.
Thank heavens it's still July.

Merry Merry!!

~ Half Square Triangle Tutorial: Pinwheel Perfection ~

I am still up to my elbows in these bright and happy colors.  These oh-so-happy pinwheels are just the border to my latest pattern ... wait until you see the seashore center.
Here's a hint:  I'm thinking of calling it "Ode to the Target Dollar Bin".

The first thing I had to do was find my handy-dandy "Quilt-in-a-day" ruler.  That may have been the most difficult part of the whole process.

My pinwheels consist of 4 'half-square triangles'.  Each unit needs to measure 2" square, unfinished. So I added 1/2" to that measurement and cut strips of the two coordinating halves that are 2 1/2" wide.
Your measurements can be whatever you need. Do the math to adjust, adding that 1/2".
  

Put the two strips with right sides together before making the next cut to save a step. Steam them with the edges matching exactly and they won't wiggle apart in the process.  Now cut those strips into 2 1/2" square pairs.  They are pretty much wed for life, so don't separate them.
   

Draw a line down the center of the (back of the) top square, as shown, with a permanent type marker.  You will cut on this line so it matters not that it is permanent.

But ... don't cut yet.

Now -- using your 1/4" foot, sew 1/4" to the right of the line you have drawn.

Then flip it around and sew down the other side as before.

You may choose to do this in a strip-piecing frenzy if you would like.

Now cut down that center line.  I personally just use scissors and not a ruler and rotary cutter.  The seam line is already set, so it matters not if you don't have a perfect straight edge here.
Although ... do your best to make it straight.
Just in case your 7th grade Home-Ec teacher stops by.

Now get out your ruler that is just made for this process. You can purchase it here, or at your local quilt store.
Why another special ruler?
Have you ever tried to sew a square from two triangles?  They almost never actually look like or measure like a square.  That is because a) you are sewing on bias edges which are known to misbehave and b) you are a human being.
Moving right along ...

Place  the line (indicating the size in inches of unfinished square to are striving to create) directly on your seamline, with the diagonal line marching exactly through the corner to your left.  You see that there is a slight excess of fabric, not to mention those pesky notches hanging out the end.

Holding the ruler steady, with your fingers completely landlocked, cut off both of those edges to the top with your rotary cutter.
Then ... flip it around ... and do the same for the other two edges.

If you would be more comfortable cutting off a slightly larger amount, then add 3/4" to your original measurement instead of 1/2".

Either way ... you end up with a lot of confetti.

And a pile of perfectly square ...  squares.

 Told you so.

To make some happy pinwheels lay them out as shown here and sew them together.

If you press the center seam all to one side it can be awfully bulky in the center (what with six [6!] seams coming together) so I "twist and pop" the center to even out the bulk. Ooh, I see that I have made another pinwheel in the process.  Cool.

I have had SO much fun working on this quilt.  I may have a hard time sewing on any colors again that don't serve as a woven alarm clock.

Stay tuned to see the finished product and pattern.

Happy Pin(wheel) - ing!
  

~ Of Sun & Shells ~

I have only one eensy-beensy complaint about living in Southern California.

One.

In the summertime, one tends to wake up to a "marine layer" ... meaning ... cloudy skies.

Meaning ... no sunshine until nearly noon.

Unfortunately, this girl needs sunshine in her blood ... stat.

This morning it is streaming through the windows.

Vigorously.




Sigh.