A Quilty Vacation

My family spent a week in Sea Isle. The weather was gorgeous and my girls enjoyed the beach with their Nonna and Pop, aunts, uncles and cousin. For the first time, I brought my sewing machine with me. I debated whether or not to bring it and whether it would be worth the effort to haul it (and all of the accessories, notions, and projects) all the way to the beach. 

I'm so glad I did! I guess because it was so much effort to pack everything up and bring it, I wasn't going to let it be for nothing. I managed to squeeze in lots of sewing time, and I loved my vacation, partly because of that! It's a little hard to see in the photo, but I had a beautiful ocean view from the spot where I set up my machine. 

I brought three projects with me--Ashley's wedding quilt, Judy's Christmas place mats and the beginnings of my nephew John's big brother camo quilt. 

While I was at the beach, I completely quilted Ashley's wedding quilt. I pushed out of my stipple and loop comfort zone and tried three new-to-me free motion designs. I did swirls in the whole center section, wishbones in the small green border, and a sort of rainbow motif in the large outer border. I love how they all turned out! I also made and attached the binding to the front. I just have to hand sew it down and this one will be done!

I also brought Judy's Christmas placemats to work on. I finished up the tops and name appliqué at home, so while I was at the shore, I basted and quilted them, and attached the binding. I also have to hand sew the binding on these and they will be done too. 

Finally, I started working on my nephew John's big brother camo quilt. Since he was born just after I learned how to quilt, I've never made him a quilt of his own. Since his baby brother (who is due to arrive any minute) already has a quilt, I figured it is high time for me to make John one too! 

I picked the Geometric Slide design from the Vintage Quilt Revival book, and I'm making it in camouflage colors. 

Here is a link to the post about this pattern on the author's blog. http://www.freshlemonsquilts.com/?p=3263

Here are my Kona solids for it...that light tan will be the background. At the shore I (almost) finished chain piecing the 160 half-square triangles. There will be lots of trimming in my future, but I got a new ruler (the Triangle Square Up ruler) that I am excited to try. Hopefully it will save lots of time in trimming those HSTs. 

Overall it was a great week at the beach and I got to spend lots of time doing what I love to do, along with spending plenty of time with my family! I will definitely be brining my machine again next year!