We bought Tivo recently and it has revolutionized my world. Last night, while I was alone, I went downstairs to catch up on some shows, and brought Beach Town with me. With the show quilts off and the Flowering Snowball still in waiting mode, I thought it would be a good opportunity to make some progress on this piece. I noticed that it had been a long time since I posted a photo of it. You guys have never seen the quilting.
I really felt good working on this project. As I worked, I found that this project may not need as much embroidery/embellishing as House & Garden. I tried to figure out why. I don’t know for sure, but think that there is a lot more going on in this piece in terms of fabric – lots more commercial fabric with patterns on it. I also think that there are a lot more details, such as the flowers, the variety of beach houses, the tree, etc. I am going to do some embellishing on the pink striped cabana and add some windows and doors to the other houses. I am not sure what other type of Perl cotton embellishment this calls for.
I do feel like the piece needs some beads or sequins. I’ll have to think about that some more before I rush into anything. I dug out my Therese De Dillmont Complete Guide to Needlework (Amazon doesn’t have my exact edition and no photo, sorry), a reprint of ancient book that I got somewhere. I wanted to see what stitches they suggested so that I could, perhaps, learn some new stitches for this piece as well as Kissy Fish. I haven’t done much else on that front thus far.
The first task last night was to rip out some of the stitching I did when I was in SoCal at the beginning of September. I really shouldn’t stitch when I am upset, because I end up ripping it out anyway.
I ripped out the blue zigzag stitching around the windows of the green house. It looked too subtle for me. I also didn’t like the unevenness of it. I wanted it to stand out and be more of an element.
The zigzag stitching is still around the window, as you can see, but I took it outside of the window frame so it is much more wonky and ‘alive’. I think it looks better. I do want to make sure I stay away from the spooky house look.
I had embellished the sun with some of Laura Wasilowski’s hand dyed Perl cotton early on. I didn’t like the look, because the sun was just too puffy. I like my quilts densely quilted. I machine quilted the sun in a spiral, mimicking the handwork and carefully avoiding the existing Perl cotton. Quilting in a spiral isn’t for the faint of heart, but I took it slowly and am pleased with the results.
So, that is your Beach Town update for the duration. As usual, I would love to hear your thoughts.