....And The Livin' Is Easy

Welcome to summer everyone! Down here, summer begins in mid-May and oozes along until past Halloween.  But after so many years of living in Florida, I've learned to roll with the tide.   Let me start with some of the summer fun we've been up to Florida-style, and then I'll move along to stitching news.

Our latest beach adventure was a day trip to visit the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse   Having only been there once before, a return trip seemed like the right way to spend a Sunday.  The lighthouse itself sits on a small barrier island that can only be reached by ferry.  This is the view that greeted us.

 

Funny thing about lighthouses though is that you can never get to the top without a climb. 

 

 

But conquering all those steep steps and sharp turns was quite worth the effort.  The view from the top was much more impressive than the struggle to get there.

 

 

And the view straight down and directly in front to the lighthouse was interesting too...

 

 

In all our beach escapades, I've never seen so many sharks cruising so close to the surf line.  From the top of the lighthouse, I could see them all along the beach.... amazing! 

 

And in stitching news, now that Atoche is in the finished pile, I have made a tiny bit of progress on Ann Grimshaw, but nothing to have a lot of excitement over....I'm not sure when I'll feel the love for Miss Ann again, but maybe in a few months.

 

 

What has caught my attention though is the return to "Once Upon An Island" that I've been raving on about for a while now.  I don't think this design is available any more, so this is what first caught my attention many years ago.  Please excuse it's tattered appearance - Molly has managed to trounce it more than once while claiming her place on my lap in the middle of the stitching jumble. 

 

 

 

I just love little pieces like this because they seem so ready for personal changes to the design.  After a few attempts at color choices  that were closer to the original, I decided on a faded, sort of washed out beach palette for it.  Not a lot of progress so far, but I'm having fun dabbling with the colors.

 

 

I rememered I'd acquired several cards of the most intriguing overdyed floss at a local stitching shop several years ago and never had a real project in mind for them until now.  Anyone ever heard of "Stranded By the Sea" fibers?

 

 

Reworking Once Upon an Island seemed like the perfect project to play with them on, so at last I've given them a place.  You'll see the dividing band under the first row of letters is worked in the card on the right side of the picture.  I doubt if I'll use all of them, but then I've learned to never say never when it comes to changing my mind about color shades.    

 

So that's what's going on down here in the swamp these days. Thanks so much for checking in! 

Atoche Es!

Huge news I couldn't wait until my typical weekend to post - Atoche is finished!!   I really am tickled with it, even if I do say so myself. What do you think?

Let me explain some of the details, because as has always been my way with this piece, one change usually brought up others that fell in line with it.  First of all, at the top....

After scratching my head and thinking about it for awhile (thanks so much to those who made suggestions!)  I decided the date of the shipwreck really needed to be there in full, not just the year.  Jim had the idea of stitching it in Spanish, since Atoche and its fleet were all Spanish ships.  As luck would have it, the spacing for that fit perfectly on the line above the year.  That left what to put above it?  The original Prairie Schooler design had those cool waves on either side of the lower text line, but the Spanish date was quite a bit longer than the original wording.  I really did want to keep those waves - somehow, it just wouldn't say "Florida" without them.  Fortunately, there was enough room for them between the little stone crab and the letters of the date.  And best of all, the blue shades really do make them look like the surf off Key West.  I love it! 

Next comes the guardians of the treasure....

The mermaid.....

...and the serpent.   When Atoche sank, it was carrying a cargo hold full of emeralds and gold and silver bars out of Havana.  I was really hoping to capture that somehow, but wasn't sure how I could do it until after the date and the waves went in.  That little space at the end of those rows was just enough room for a bit of shiny sunken treasure.  And how fitting is it that the space happened just in front of the guardians?

The poor cow nosed ray began his life as a gray seal, then morphed into a light brown ray.  That original tan color just wasn't sitting right with all the other blues and grays, so it came out one more time.  The final ray is now the palest silvery gray, which actually isn't too far off from what they really are out in the Gulf..  I couldn't resist adding my finish date in Spanish as well.

Full sail, out of Havana.  Notice the waves are picking up?  Anyway, I had soooo much fun with this piece.  It really captured my imagination as well as all that inspires my stitching. 

I do want to give a shout out to those of you who left such wonderful comments about my Mom and her quilting in my last post.  Reading them  was so nice and she appreciated them very much.  What fun, I came home from work this week to find she'd sent me a little surprise - new place mats!  In the exact shades of my kitchen. 

  
I really do have the coolest Mom in the world! 

Thanks again for taking time out of your week to stop by for a look.  I think I'll spend a few more nights on Ann Grimshaw, and then settle in to something else new and fun on Sunday..  Here's hoping the rest of thw week finishes as well as the begining started out!

Life's a Beach

Where have I been lately?  Well, I think this picture will say it all.....

With the long holiday last weekend, Jim and I have made the very most of the perfect sunny weather and warming waters.  In 4 days, we did beaches on both coastlines, including the Canaveral National Seashore and Don Pedro Island State Park.  Jim took this beautiful shot along the boardwalk over the dunes at Smyrna Dunes Park , just north of Canaveral.   By the time Tuesday rolled around and it was back to reality, I felt like returning to work would at least give me a chance to rest! 

Some tokens from all the adventures....

But it hasn't all just been frolicking on the beach.  While gathering my thoughts for the last portion of work on Aoche, I decided to put my nose to the grindstone and return to Ann Grimshaw....at least for a motif or two.  She's starting to flesh herself out a bit!

However, the hike across the dunes stirred up some other stitching thoughts.  That low, scrubby plant growing as covering on the sand is full of the tiniest yellow blossoms.  They're beautiful, but wiry and tough, well suited for life on the beach. It made me think of my barely started "Once Upon an Island" sampler....remember this?

As luck would have it, I laid my hands on the chart for it not long ago, which put one obstacle toward finishing it out of the way.  And with the chart safely located, I realized I hadn't put so much work in already that starting over.....with a different palette of beachy shades....would be out of the question.  I'm thinking those border blossoms really do need to be the same orangy yellow as the ones on the dunes!  And to make it all perfect, my box of Needle Necessities rendered up two of the most amazing skeins of beach blues and greens....perfect!  All this is just free associating in my head right now, and definitely won't get underway until Atoche is done.  But I love the excitement of it and the idea of putting my own twist on a design that's been in the works for far too long.  I'll post a picture of the design and my chosen thread palette as soon as Atoche is complete.

I'm so proud of my Mom!!

She won first prize in her division at the American Quilting Society's big show in Paducah this spring.  But what I'm most proud of is that she did it after losing my Dad in December and adjusting to a new life in the depths of a dark and lonely Illinois winter.  Those tough little beach blossoms remind me of her as well.  I love you Mom! You've shown us all the beauty in being strong.

OK, so I think that brings me up to speed.  As always, thanks for stopping by to visit and here's hoping that whatever you're working on, you're having fun with it!