Jingle Progress Report and Secret Beach Discovery!

Good morning!  Just wanted to briefly -- yes, BRIEFLY -- organize my thoughts and task prioritization around my current works in progress.

Jingle BOM Still On the Design Wall, Borders Completely Assembled

As you can see, my Jingle BOM is still up on the design wall.  The diagonal set block borders have been completely assembled now and I just need to trim the excess fabric from the bottom border.  

Sewing the Last Block Seam...

And as I've been working on the block border, I've been thinking about what I want the inner border(s) to look like.  That predominantly gold print fabric in the photo is a FQ (fat quarter) from my stash circa 2013, when I first started this project, so there's no hope of finding any more of it now.  Also the print is too "muddy" from a distance to be my favorite final choice -- but I do like the idea of having some kind of metallic gold stripe in between the applique medallion and the Big Block Border.  And so...  Fabric shopping had to happen.  Shhh!

Kaufman Holiday Flourish 10 Stripe

Here's what I came up with.  It's Kaufman's Holiday Flourish Stripe, but I think it's from last year's collection (Holiday Flourish 10) and not from this year's collection by the same name (Holiday Flourish 11).  I hate trying to match colors when I'm shopping online, but hopefully this will look good with what's already on the wall.  I'm thinking of isolating one or more stripes for borders both inside and outside the diagonal block border...  We'll see what it looks like when it shows up in my mailbox.

Meanwhile, I've got another minor issue to contend with.  Many of my applique blocks have hand embroidered green chain stitch stems, and when I did that stitching I wove my thread tails through previous stitches to secure them.  However, when I agitated the blocks in the soapy Dawn bloodbath to resolve my dye bleed issue, those thread tails worked loose and are visible through the background fabric on the right side of my blocks.  

Loose Embroidery Thread Tails Need Securing

Look at those ridiculous stitches on the back of this block.  I was so worried about getting my stitches close enough together that they are piled up on top of one another, tighter than the weave of the background fabric!  Just another reminder that this is my first-ever applique project that I'm finally finishing -- and every new skill that is difficult at first becomes easier with time and practice!  I have decided to secure my embroidery thread tails on each applique block with a few hand stitches in regular cotton thread.  Also, I didn't remove any of the background fabric behind my applique with these blocks or with the center applique medallion.  I might not trim behind every leaf, but definitely behind the larger shapes to reduce bulk prior to quilting.  Trimming away backing and hand stitching thread tails in place should keep me busy while I await the arrival of my border print fabric.

Pineapple Log Cabin Blocks Still Waiting for Assembly

And of course, my pineapple log cabin blocks are still waiting to be released from their foundation papers and assembled into a quilt top, too.  I'm not sure which of these two quilts will go on the longarm machine first, to be honest.  Jingle has lots of opportunities to SID (Stitch In the Ditch) all of the pieced blocks and try my hand at custom quilting around the applique.  I'm not sure how I want to quilt my pineapple log cabin yet -- still kicking around some ideas in my head. 

No sewing got done last week, though -- we escaped to the beach for a few days while our teenagers were on a church choir trip.  We went to Bald Head Island, two miles off the mainland of North Carolina, and found the most tranquil, isolated beach you can imagine right near Cape Fear:

The Best Beaches Are EMPTY Beaches

No loud music.  No cigarette smoke.  No trash washing up on the beach.  Just empty sand as far as the eye can see, warm summer air with a cool ocean breeze, toes in the sand under my umbrella, and the rhythmic lullaby of crashing waves.  We had the whole beach to ourselves the whole time we were there.  Just what the doctor ordered!

My Sweetie Carrying Chairs Down to Our "Private Beach"

Having an empty beach all to myself is amazing to me.  Growing up in New Jersey, a day at the beach meant heavy traffic driving down to the Shore for the day -- Point Pleasant Beach -- and it was always VERY crowded, like this:

A Day at the Shore: Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey

See what I mean?  You can't even see the beach or the ocean in for the sea of people blocking your view.  But that's the kind of beach I grew up with, and that's the only kind of beach I knew before moving to the Carolinas.

It took us about four hours to drive from our home in Charlotte to Southport, North Carolina, where we left the car and took a ferry across the Cape Fear River to Bald Head Island.  The subtropical island is largely undeveloped, with 10,000 of its 12,000 acres untouched nature preserves: beaches, maritime forest, and salt marshes.  No cars are permitted on the island either and, in order to help sea turtle hatchlings find their way to the moonlight reflecting off the ocean, there is very minimal artificial nighttime lighting from humans anywhere near the shore.  So it gets DARK at night, and you can even see STARS!  To get from one beach to another, or to one of the pool clubs or restaurants, residents and vacation renters either ride bikes, walk, or zip around in golf carts.  We were able to rent a golf cart from the bed and breakfast where we stayed.

No Cars, Just Golf Carts!

So, is this my new favorite beach?  I liked that it was secluded and full of nature preserves, like Kiawah Island near Charleston, SC, but it had a more casual vibe -- didn't feel like I needed to get all dressed up to go out to dinner like I did at Kiawah.  On the other hand, Kiawah seemed to have more to do -- more variety of restaurants, shops, and activities scheduled throughout the summer.  We were only at Bald Head Island for three days and although we had a great time, we were ready to leave when it was time to go.

Do you have a favorite beach in the Southeast that I should try next time we're ready for a weekend getaway?  Please leave a comment and tell me all about it!  I still have not figured out an efficient workaround for replying to your comments since Blogger mucked with their comment notification system (I think this was needed in order to comply with new EU data privacy requirements?) but please know that I do read each and every comment and I love hearing from you, even if I can't figure out how to reply to you directly via email!

Have a wonderful week, and happy stitching.

I'm linking up with:

• ·       Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com
• ·       Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com  
• ·       Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts http://www.cookingupquilts.com/
• ·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/
• ·       Moving it Forward at Em’s Scrap Bag: http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com.au/
• ·       BOMs Away at Katie Mae Quilts: https://www.katiemaequilts.com/blog/  
• To-Do Tuesday at Stitch ALL the Things: http://stitchallthethings.com
• WIPs on Wednesday at Esther's Quilt Blog: https://estheraliu.blogspot.com/2018/06/wow-rolling-up.html
• Let’s Bee Social at www.sewfreshquilts.blogspot.ca/
• Midweek Makers at www.quiltfabrication.com/
• WIPs With Friends at www.mamaspark.blogspot.com