MY Summer & Catching Up

I have completed my summer quilt. I couldn't be happier. I just love the way it depicts MY Summer. This is what Summer in Maine is all about (minus the black flies and humidity). Oh, and the white beaches too. Our sand is much courser and darker at most beaches. Anyhow, the feeling is here.
Most beaches will have a lighthouse within sight. Our coast line is unforgiving to the boats. It is beautiful and rocky in most places. The light houses save many a lost boat, as going into the main surf is an almost certain death as cold as the water is much of the year.
Half-standing plank fenses litter the beaches. They are truly picturesque additions to what Mother Nature gave us. Lobstering is one of our largest industries, especially in the summer. The fense would be incomplete without some of these. Each lobsterman (or woman) has a registered stripe pattern so that they know whose traps are whose in the ocean.
Here is how I cured my previous problem with the background fabric showing through the white of the chair. I think it works well.
All in all, I am tickled with this summer quilt. It turned into way more than I had anticipated. When I started, I was trying to depict another place (which I cannot say, or my partner will possibly know this is for her). But in the end, it turned out looking like MY home. Consequently, I have dedided that this will stay in MY home. Sigh... So I am back to the drawing board, so to speak. I have decided to make my 4SQS partner a similar quilt with "scenes" from the beach rather than an entire beach landscape. My four scene panels are complete and look good. I will post about this at another time though.
This wild little number arrived this week from Kate. It's her ALQS mini for ME! Wild it is, but I have a secretly kept wild side (hence the Frog in the Blender, which was mailed over an ocean this week). It looks a bit juxtiposed hanging in my very traditional dining room, on this hideously country (he he, country is NOT my thing) hanger I have previously had another quilt on. But my dining room and other downstairs rooms have deep purple and cranberry in the window coverings, furniture and paint, so it does blend in nicely.

The back fabric is radically cool, I must say. This has a metallic printing and is actually one piece of fabric. Many thanks Kate. I do like it. It took a few days to post this as my batteries died and the price of gas here has kept me home until I needed other items.

Next, I mailed this off to my Forum Doll Quilt Partner, organized by Ginger, on Tuesday. It's done with 1930's style happy prints and polka dota. It ought to be received in the mail today, so I will post it this morning.
I hope my partner appreciates it, as I will be seing what she makes in Kate's Forum birthday block swap soon too.
Here's a shot of the back. It's like a flower.