Seaside Summer Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome to the Island Batik Seaside Summer Blog Hop!  The fabric I am presenting is called Surf Squirt and it is sweet!  This fabric is bright, weighty, and lovely–it “feels” good!  I also teamed up with a great designer, Cindi McCracken, to do this project.  Her Jewel Box pattern seemed to be a fun match for this project.

 

The first thing I would like to talk about is the Sea!! I grew up on an island in the Aleutians.  The name of the island is Popof Island and the town is named Sand Point.  It is 2 hours 15 minutes from Anchorage by plane or 40 or so hours by ferry on the Alaska Marine Highway (which only runs in the summer months).  It is a fishing community.  The people live by the sea.

My sister still lives there and as you can see, it’s beautiful!

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 My sister, Amy lives in a little tiny house right next to a beach.  Her house is beachy themed!  She loves the ocean, this island, and spending time hiking.  What better than to make a picnic quilt for her using this C-U-T-E collection?!

The first thing to do was make this project:

It was such a fun easy pattern that I started at noon cutting and the whole top was completed (without borders) by 8!

I have to say that between the great written directions and superior graphics this pattern by Cindi McCracken was SO EASY!  I got a little crazy on the borders and pieced them together from the brights.

I just want to say is that putting on the borders can be tricky.  One thing I work on when I place borders on is measuring through the middle, cutting my borders based on the measurement I get. Pinning the middle and each end.  I work both from the middle towards one side and also from the edge and pin to the middle–moving back and forth.  Pressing, measuring and pinning can make a huge difference on how nicely a border fits.

   

Here I am with Cindi.  I used what was left of the fabric and pieced the back together.  I love a pieced back!

 My quilt is going to be completed by a new longarm quilter I had do a couple quilts earlier this summer.  Jessie Davis is the artist behind Rippers Anonymous.  She’s pretty talented!  Into the box and into the mail!

 Once this quilt top was completed I asked my sister for the best crab cake recipe she had.  Well, I have to say her best friend Hillary has the best spread I have ever had.   Here it is and please note this in NOT a fried crab cake.

Crab Cake by Hillary Smith

Take some fresh King Crab meat–about 2 cups and mix with 1/2 cup shredded cheese, 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise and a couple of chopped up green onions (to taste).  Spread (or HEAP) on 4 multigrain English muffin halves and cook for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees or until cheese melts/turns slightly brown.  Eat up!

Giveaway 

I will be giving away this little package. I tried to get Rafflecopter to work but kept getting a “Bad Gateway” message and I don’t have time to get back to this part so…  I teach middle school in Kodiak, Alaska.  I will give this package to the person whose comment number is the same number as the students I have in my homeroom class on the first day of school (in two weeks). Good luck!:

The pattern is Jewel Box by Cindi McCracken.  The strip set is Hollywood Hills (and would be PERFECT for this pattern!) The Glass ball from a Japanese net and was found by my sister on the beach.