So much for the end of summer...

The weather at the beach this Labor Day weekend, in a word, blew -- both literally and figuratively. Forty-mile an hour winds and acres of stinging sand didn't exactly provide a holiday atmosphere I had hoped for this end to summer -- unless the holiday we were going for was Christmas.

Because I envisioned spending my days lazing on a sun-soaked deck with a book and a beer or barbequeing with the neighbors, I didn't anticipate much sewing time and didn't haul my machine along like I usually do. We got in a few feasts ($5 lobster tail special at the local market! Woo-woo!), but there was a lot of down time as the temperatures started to dip with inverse proportion to the gale outside.

While the frontloaders engaged in a neverending dance of plowing the street clear and dumping the mountains of sand back where it came from, I played inside with my Paintstiks.

Another sort-of-successful experiment!

I tore painter's tape to keep the fabric underneath solid and obtain a stained glass look; the edges are jagged but clean. I used texture plates under some of the colors but kept them tone-on-tone. For a first try, I'm liking it. I'll do a couple things differently next time, but I'm looking forward to getting this thoroughly dried (it needs 72 hours before I can heat set, and it has a few to go) and see what I can do with it quilting-wise.

Any suggestions?