A week of bliss

This time there was no sewing. 

We headed to the east coast--Myrtle Beach has been a favorite destination for us for several years. The soothing sound of the waves held healing properties for me when my one of autoimmune issues was diagnosed almost 3 years ago. It helped me understand that stress is the enemy and it is good to stop and do nothing.

A week before we left I thought I would visit the local quilt shops, but since we flew and could not get a rental car, and Uber and Lyft rides cost double what they did when we were in California in May, we basically were beached whales and soaked up the glorious sunrises and good vibes. It’s wonderful to get up before dawn, brew your coffee and watch that big ball of orange rise up over the Atlantic. The moonrises were fabulous, too--lucky for us, we were there for the full moon.

All photos were taken with my iPhone; this one in pano mode.

Moon rise

The full moon

Probably one of my favorite shots; while a sunrise on a clear day is beautiful,
when the clouds roll in it is nothing short of spectacular.

It’s even better when the area is coming off the end of the season; no crowds, and everyone seems genuinely happy that you want to be their patron. 

We spent a lot of time conversing about what we want in our forever home. We’ve been a bit back and forth about it. We looked at a house the day before we left for the beach. It was everything we wanted, but had been sloppily “updated” and we thought the price was too high for what we would need to do to it. 

We conversed with the birds every day and night. Jack came in twice a day to feed them and put them to bed. We also have a bird cam and can check on them anytime. Yes, we are bird nerds. 

They love their daddy's shoes...

They seem to be doing well. What you see below is what I call the birds’ Play Station—Hubs was building it when he cut off his thumb. He finally finished it. It took them a week or so to warm up to it but now they’re on it all the time. 

On our last day at the beach, I was itching to return to the studio. Ideas were flowing. A lot of them had to do with the sun and moonrises. We’ll see if any of those come to fruition. 

In quilting progress, I have quilted the two quilts I mentioned in my last post—A Bit Askew and Plaid-ish. I’m ready to trim and bind and deliver them to their new owners. 

Most of what you see here are the backs of the two quilts

After these, I may start Christmas sewing. I want to make bowl cozies for all of our kids and starting the first of November would be good. The weekend before we left for the beach, I broke my fabric diet and purchased a few pieces of the Lipstick Cowgirl line by Moda, including the panel. This would also be a gift for a special person. I’ve been encouraged to make something for myself and while I really want to finish up the Stitch & B!tch sampler, I’m wanting to work on the new fabric.

I am in a constant state of flux with the studio. While I like the current setup, other items have crept in (including the Hubs) that hamper my ability to work within the confines of the space. I moved my AccuQuilt Studio cutter to the top of one of the tables but it’s going to go back below. It has a big footprint and I feel hemmed in by it. I'm also pulling items from the shelves in the studio that I have not used since we moved here. I'm moving them to our storage unit.

I had also brought home from storage two large bags of scrap pieces of batting. Some of these I will use for bowl cozies and maybe mug rugs. I need to take out now what I can use and put the rest back into storage.

I have used enough fabric out of the fabric closet that I can place at least 2 of my project bins in there and that will be helpful. That is a great feeling!

And now I’ve written enough to decide I need to start working on the S&B sampler. This will be a time of process and critical thinking. And paper piecing. I have designed a layout, but the center portion has to be created. I have to commit to the size of the center block (think more like panel size); it will be paper pieced and that’s challenging for me. I will post my progress as I go along.

Ok; now I’ve talked myself out of that idea. Onward with the bowl cozies!

That’s enough news for now. I’ll post when I can. In the meantime, go make!