Design Wall (Floor) Monday

I've been wanting to show you my design wall for months, but this is what it looks like all the time. When Pete moved his drum set in front of my design wall, he was knocking blocks off and getting pins in his back! So all the random blocks were moved to the left and I need to use one of the portable "walls" for current projects.


The last batch of 16 blocks arrived last week from the Three by Three Swap.


I started laying out all 48 nine patches, randomly as they came of the pile.
(The portable wall is a little too small, so I kept it flat on the floor.)


Then I kind of arranged them by color. There's lots of green (which I love), and virtually no yellow. I'm not sure if I'll sew them together with or without sashing. What do you think? Pete thinks it's cool. High praise from a 13 year old boy!


Julia got a little time in with the QOV Heartstrings blocks today. Many more hours to go.


School starts tomorrow! Yippee!
The new Chuck Taylors (and the kids wearing them) are ready to go!


I'm looking forward getting my house back in order!

Post 100!

We have a winner! Congratulations, Lynda, for winning the Post 100 Giveaway. Lynda will receive a box full of Savannah goodies plus two luggage tags and a paper-pieced lapel pin.


The matching luggage tags really came in handy for our Girl Scout trip to Savannah. We had to gate-check our bags twice, so they were easy to identify.


The trip was totally awesome! I've been dreaming of this trip for 10 years and it was even better than I imagined. I may have shed a tear or two when we arrived at Juliette Gordon Low's Birthplace.


We did everything that was on my list, including a ride on the ferry named for our founder.


From Birthplace to final resting place, we know a lot more about Miss Daisy (JGL). We have a greater appreciation for the work she did to provide all girls with a place they could grow in courage, confidence and character to make the world a better place.


Thank you, Savannah, for welcoming us and all Girl Scouts with open arms.

Savannah Getaway Giveaway

In celebration of Seaside Stitches' 100th post and our Girl Scout trip to Savannah,
we're having a giveaway!

The winner will receive (2) luggage tags that match the ones we all have on our bags,


A Seaside Stitches paper-pieced quilt block lapel pin of your choice from my Etsy shop,


And whatever goodies we find in Savannah that fit in this flat rate box!
(maybe something yummy from Savannah Candy Kitchen or a souvenir thimble)


Leave a comment here and you'll be entered to win. Mention this giveaway on your blog, link to it here, and you'll get another entry. Sound good? We'll pick a winner when we get home on Friday and announce the winner in Post 100!

I Hate Sea Gulls!

I've always hated sea gulls, ever since an incident in Atlantic City in 1980. Now, I think I'm allergic to them, too. I'll get back to that.


Our 24 hours on Rose Island was a success, despite the rain on Thursday. We survived a wet, bumpy boat ride out to the island and were assigned several tasks: sweep out the bunkers, scoop the goose poop and remove the feathers from the lawn. Sounds like fun, right?!

But look at all the quilty goodness! The multi-colored slate tiles on the roof are hexagons!


We started with a tour of the keeper's quarters and
this cool old treadle.


There is a quilt on every bed. I didn't have time to look very closely, but I thought they were pretty and suited the beds they were on.



The red one is in a display case and is probably the only vintage piece.


The sun didn't emerge on Thursday until just before sunset. That's the Newport Bridge, just beginning to twinkle.


Since it was so wet, we set up our tents in the bunkers at Fort Hamilton. The bunkers have served as barracks and torpedo storage. We would have been safe from enemy cannon fire, but we were not protected from the noise of the sunrise alarm. You cannot even imagine the cacophony of bird calls that woke us before 5:00 am. It is a bird sanctuary, after all.


I don't want to blame Iggy the Egret for any of that racket. He was far outnumbered by the gulls.


We were given rakes to clear the feathers off the lawn, but they were too wet and just shriveled up. So off we went with our garden gloves, picking up one seagull feather at a time. I think that's what kicked in the allergy. I don't even want to talk about the goose poop!


The wild honeysuckle had the most delicious aroma. And the sweet peas were everywhere.

If you'd like to experience the fruits of our labors, the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation is having a clambake on the island today, and it looks like the weather will be perfect.


How about a joke?

What do you call a sea gull that lives by the bay?

Give up?

A bagel!

(bay gull, get it?)

Please forgive me. I was up at 5 again today, and I'm not a morning person. I'm hoping these early mornings will prepare me for the 3:00 am wake up call on Monday!

The 100 post giveaway starts tomorrow night!

Quilt Show Entries

It's that time of year (actually every other year) to prepare our quilt show entries. Our guild (Ninigret Quilters) does not have a juried show, so there's no pressure. I decided to show you what we're entering so I can look back at this post in October to remember which quilts to bring. Of course, the forms are due tonight, so we're scrambling to fill them out and print pictures.

Julia will be showing the lap quilt she made for Josh last Christmas and one of the Quilts of Valor she's making for her Silver Award. Lots of red, white and blue!
Josh's quilt is long and skinny and fits him well. Julia included some Red Sox fabric and she did some nice free motion machine quilting.

The QOV includes blocks made and contributed by guild members and Josh's grandmother. Other Ninnies have made whole tops and completed quilts in response to Julia's challenge.


My entries will be The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (see banner)...

a Mini Overlay from the pattern Easy Overlay by Linda Warren...


Wildflowers, which was made from Bonnie Hunter's Weed whacker pattern (not quilted yet!)...


Geese in the Forest from the twiddletails block of the month (not finished piecing yet!)...


and some Artist Trading Cards - I'll be organizing this display since I issued the monthly challenge and SWAP.


I considered entering my framed appliqued Goldfinch, but I'm not sure how or where it could be displayed safely.

So now you know what Julia and I will be doing when we get home from Savannah.
I do love a deadline!

Counting Down to Savannah!

Julia was in a show this weekend called All Shook Up. It's the story of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night set to Elvis music in the 50's. So FUN! Isn't she the cutest bobby sockser? We all agree she was born in the wrong decade. She should have been a teenager in the late 40's or 50's.


I will be in Savannah, Georgia, one week from today with my Girl Scouts and I can't wait!


I picked up some Kaffe fabric at the Button Box last week with my girls in mind. This fabric coordinates beautifully with our pink and lime green trip t-shirts, so I thought I would make them all a headband or something. Today, that something was luggage tags. I pre-printed their contact info on cardstock with one of our troop logos (554).


There are a bunch of tutorials out there for fabric luggage tags. I cut 2 pieces of fabric, 4x6", and 2 pieces of fusible interfacing, 4x6". The strap is a 12" long piece of grossgrain ribbon. The vinyl is cut 2.5 x 4" and topstitched on. Easy peasy!


Since I have a few extra luggage tags and my 100th post is coming up, stay tuned for a giveaway to be announced on Sunday. Some goodies from Savannah may be included!

I Love You, Paul!

Bill and I went to Boston to see Paul McCartney last night. What a spectacular show! He's still a rock god at 67 years old. His voice is still velvety smooth and he can still shred on electric guitar. During the 2 1/2 hour show, he plays electric bass, 2 electric guitars, 2 acoustic guitars, mandolin, ukulele, and piano.


I was too young for Beatlemania in the 60's. (Actually, I wasn't born yet.) Here's my sister's copy of Meet the Beatles. We figure she was about 8 or 9 when she wrote on the album cover.

I love you Paul...
I like you John...
Don't feel bad Ringo

We took advantage of Bill's Hilton points and stayed at the Doubletree in Chinatown for free! Yippee! In all these years, we had never been to this part of the city, so we did a little exploring this morning.





The Bear statue that used to stand in front of FOA Schwartz on Boylston Street now resides at Tufts Medical Center, right next door to the hotel. Somewhere in the archives is a photo of Julia and Pete in front of this statue when they were toddlers.


On the way home, we stopped at the Button Box in Wellesley. It's a great little shop with a really friendly staff.


A terrific 24 hours!

Muddy Fun

I sewed! My last batch of three by three blocks is ready to go. I hope they aren't too late.


And a little gift for a new friend.


Bill took us on one of his "adventures" yesterday. It was actually my idea to go on a hike, so he brought us back to a trail we hadn't been on in 10 years. We hiked a lot when the kids were little, before soccer, softball and baseball took over our weekends.


It's a beautiful trail through a beech forest. Since last month was the wettest July on record, we had some mud to deal with.


Wildflowers are like gems in the forest.


On the way home, we stopped at a farm store for blueberries and pie.
Yup. We ate it right out of the box!


A perfect summer day!