Eat My Cake: Public Art at the Historic Asbury Park Waterfront in New Jersey

Good morning, lovelies!  When I was visiting my sister's family in New Jersey last month, I stumbled upon a fabulous series of public art installations right on the waterfront of historic Asbury Park.  As much as I love the accessibility of fine art in museums open to the public (instead of all art being owned by private collectors before museums became a thing), the art in museums can only impact people who have free time, money for admission, and transportation. Sometimes the art in traditional museums can be confusing and alienating to viewers who haven't had access to the kind of education that enables us to appreciate things like historical context, symbolism, etc.  But contemporary street art?  That's the most democratic art of all, art that meets people in their own communities, speaking in a visual language that is current rather than arcane, encouraging residents and visitors to engage with the artwork on a personal level.

Detail of Eat My Cake by Holly Suzanne Rader

My favorite mural was Eat My Cake by "graffiti glam" artist Holly Suzanne Rader of Hollywould Studios.  Check out this short video by the artist where she talks about her inspiration for depicting Marie Antoinette wearing a candy ring pop on her finger and mirror gem-encrusted Dolce & Gabbana headphones, as well as her hope that her work might inspire more little girls to become artists.

Welcome to Asbury Park

But I know most of you have never been to Asbury Park, so I need to set the scene for you.  This is a town on the northern Atlantic coast of New Jersey that was first developed in the late 1800s as a summer resort destination, with a beautiful carousel and a Beaux Arts Convention Hall and Paramount Theatre complex (built in 1925 to replace a previous structure that was destroyed by fire) that spans the boardwalk and stretches right onto the sandy beach with breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean.  

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

This is Not My Naked Beach House

DeBordieu Beach Community near Georgetown, South Carolina

A few days after returning from our family beach vacation, I attended a webinar on designing for beach homes.  Our week at the beach was perfect, but I admit I was secretly decorating the house we rented in my mind the whole time we were there.  The shelter magazines on the coffee table, existing furnishings and a few framed photographs on the book shelves gave clues to the taste and preferences of the homeowners, so even though I was "off the clock" I couldn't help thinking about how I could help this family to make their home-away-from-home feel even homier (is that even a word?).

121 Steele Beach Rental as it looks today

This is the living room of the beach house we rented last week in the DeBordieu community near Georgetown, South Carolina.  We had a wonderful time at the beach, and enjoyed staying in this beautiful oceanfront home with spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean from every window...  But the bare-naked walls and windows, let alone the empty bookshelves, gnawed at my soul.  I can't help myself; it's an occupational hazard, I must dress the windows and cozy up this space in my imagination.  Design software to the rescue!

Lee Jofa Jacobean Tree fabric for drapery panels

The first thing this room needs is some color on those stark white walls.  I "painted" the ceiling a pale blue and the walls a pale blue-green to bring in the colors of the ocean and sky.  Next, I replaced the white honeycomb shades (on the wall above the sliding glass doors) with some bamboo shades in the same color as the floor boards.  I know that the owners of my beach rental like homes with a cottage, shabby chic appeal from the magazines they left in every room, so I added drapery panels in Lee Jofa Jacobean Tree fabric, Blues colorway to play up that angle.  I ditched the ceiling fans in favor of a pair of fanciful seashell chandeliers and styled the bookshelves with -- what else? -- plenty of books, a couple of seashells, and a few baskets.  I put an American Girls doll in a vintage bathing suit in the child's wicker chair (the homeowners have a little girl; her picture was framed in the bookcase and her chalk drawings decorated the floor of the garage), and I added a sleeping puppy dog in front of the fireplace.  Every room is better with a dog in it, don't you agree?  I don't know what kind of dog this family has, but I know they have one because of tell-tale scratch marks on the door leading down to the garage. 

Because I was too lazy to remove the one chair and ottoman that I really didn't care for, I just plopped a new chair down on top of it.  Pretend you can't see the other one that's still in the picture.  Oh, and since this is an imaginary project, I chucked the flat screen TV in the dumpster and hung a Van Gogh landscape painting in its place.  The finishing touches: a bowl of fruit, a houseplant, and a fruity drink with an umbrella...  Ta da:

121 Steele Beach Rental as it could be, with a little imagination

Important considerations: This home has a million-dollar view, and I was careful not to cover an inch of it.  The woven wood shades stack on the wall above the sliding glass doors, they do not hang down over the glass when fully raised.  The stationary drapery panels are also covering trimwork and walls adjacent to the sliding glass doors, they are not covering the glass, either.  The floral drapery fabric isn't for everyone; I chose it because of the English Home magazines that the homeowner subscribes to (showcasing English cottage interiors and gardens).  White linen drapery panels would be a crisper, less frilly option, maybe with a blue banding on the lead edges.  Big patterns like this at the window might detract from the view if it weren't for the soothing blue color story.  If the client had her heart set on vibrant reds and purples, I would have used those on the pillow and upholstery fabrics and kept the fabric around the windows calm and neutral.

Of course, if this was my own personal beach house, there would be two Rottweiler puppies lounging in front of the fireplace and an espresso machine in the adjoining kitchen.  There would also be an oil painting of a Star Wars space battle over the fireplace instead of the Van Gogh, painted by a certain 10-year-old artist of whom I'm extremely fond, and Lego scultptures on the coffee table.  Then I'd never want to leave the beach...

Some of my favorite goodies that I used in this design:

Arteriors Strasbourg Seashell Chandelier, available here

Lee Jofa Constanza embroidered linen/viscose pillow fabric

Landscape With Green Corn, by Vincent Van Gogh, 1889, print available here

Note: When Bernie sees this post, he is going to say, "I thought you were WORKING in there!"  Heh heh heh...

The Ultimate Beach Vacation for She Who Hates the Beach

I know what you're going to say, so let me stop you right there.  Everyone is supposed to love going to the beach.  If I don't enjoy parading around the seaside in 90+ degree weather, clad in scraps of spandex, dripping with sweat, and smeared with sunscreen, then there must be something wrong with me.  I'm probably an alien, or a communist, or a Death Eater.  My family has suspected as much for years, so to head off your argument, let's all just agree that I'm an alien commie Death Eater weirdo who hates going to the beach.

Unfortunately (for him), I'm married to a man who LOVES the beach, who has been begging me to accompany him to one of these horrible sand-and-sweat factories for several years.  So this year I gave in, and attempted to pull off a Beach Vacation for She Who Hates the Beach.  Last week, our whole family escaped to The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort on a small island near Charleston, South Carolina in an attempt to find "something for everyone" in our little clan to enjoy. 

Kiawah Island appealed to me for its non-beachy aspects: No crowds, no boardwalks, no traffic, and no noise except for the sound of waves crashing against the beach (until we arrived, that is).  The resort area is restricted to residents and resort guests, and the only other place I've seen such lush tropical landscaping is at my father-in-law's place in Naples, Florida -- and his property outshines the local botanical gardens.  This 5-star hotel has all the mandatory Rebecca amenities such as air conditioning, spacious marble bathrooms, room service, fine dining, beautiful decor, as well as balconies overlooking the Atlantic Ocean where we were able to eat breakfast in the morning and relax with a bottle of wine in the evening after the kids went to bed.  Check out the view from our balcony:

Isn't it gorgeous?  I would have spent more time out on the balcony if it hadn't been in the 90s and so humid during the day.  When I stepped outside to take this picture, my camera lens immediately fogged up and I had to clean the lens and wait a minute for my camera to warm up before I could get a good picture.

The Sanctuary is only six years old, but it was designed to give the impression of an Old Southern pedigree.  I love the authenticity of the slender wood ballasts on this curved stairway descending to the hotel lobby, and the serenity of the enormous Low Country murals on opposite walls, painted by Karen Larsen Turner, whose available paintings are displayed in the Wells Gallery at The Sanctuary.  I also noticed that every speck of trim throughout the public areas of the hotel -- the lobby, the stairwell area, and the hallways leading to guest rooms -- was painted with a glazed finish very similar to what my decorative painter did for my master bathroom cabinetry.

Here we have Lars and Anders, enjoying a game of chess in the hotel lobby.  A few minutes after I snapped the picture, I had to end the chess game prematurely due to rising tempers, rising voices, and raised eyebrows from a few other guests.

But by and large, The Sanctuary is a very family-friendly resort.  We were pleasantly surprised to see families with children of all ages everywhere we went, and the hotel concierge even arranged babysitting services for us for the one evening that I dragged Bernie to a "Jacket Required" dinner destination. 

The Golf Learning Center at Kiawah Island offers Junior Golf Camp for two hours each day after lunch, and I signed Lars and Anders up for these lessons on three of the five days that we were there.  They had a ball, and even after two hours of golf lessons in 94 degree heat, I still had to drag Lars off the golf course kicking and screaming when it was time to go to dinner.  Isn't the scenery beautiful?  This is Lars on the Cougar Point golf course, mugging for the camera.

Anders' Batman driver cover was a big hit everywhere he went.  It was a recent birthday gift from Aunt Janice the Manice, one of Anders' favorite gifts.  We also had to get him new clubs while we were on vacation, so his previous clubs are destined for his cousin James.  Now Anders tells me, "Mom, I'm a serious golfer."

...Oh yeah, and there was also that beach that everyone makes such a fuss about.  As far as beaches go, it was great.  You just walk onto the beach directly from the hotel, and the staff sets up chairs for you with fresh, clean terry cloth chair covers and towels and beach umbrellas.  Complimentary bottled water is available to hotel guests in a huge cooler right on the beach, and they even have shovels and buckets and other sand toys for the kids.  All you need to do is show up in your swimsuit with some sunscreen, a good book and your sunglasses and you're good to go.  I lasted all of four hours under the shelter of my beach umbrella on Tuesday, which has got to be a record for me.  On other mornings, I made myself comfortable in the air conditioned hotel lobby with a mimosa or a cappuccino and my book while Bernie and the boys worshipped the sun and played in the water on their boogie boards.  But I couldn't resist venturing down to the beach from time to time to see what they were up to and to snap some pictures.  I love this one of Lars flying his dragon kite on the beach.  A perfect memory of a perfect summer day:

So, would I have rather gone to Paris, or anyplace else with gorgeous architecture and museums and historical tours and no sand?  Absolutely!  But this one was for Bernie, and for my little boys.  May they always remember what it felt like when they finally smacked the golf ball 50 yards, and when the kite soared up into the air and Lars harnessed the power of the wind to sail a dragon through the sky.