When I was a little girl, we would often snatch weekends away at my grandparents’ summer home on Cape Cod. It wasn’t what you might picture on the cover of a magazine from Nantucket. Rather, it was a simple rancher on a quiet side street owned by a humble Italian teacher and his hospitable wife.
Those Childhood Summers
Among the fond memories from those summer days, I especially remember going to the beach—or “down the bay,” as we called it. There was a small cove at the end of the short side street where the house was situated, and it rarely experienced the roughness of the mighty Atlantic from which it was fed. At the end of the street, there was a wooden bench over looking the small “cliff” that led down to the beach. From that vantage point you could see boats moored to anchored buoys speckled across the bay, as well as an old wooden dock with about five slips for the locals to dock their boats.
To the left of that wooden bench, there was a rickety wooden staircase overgrown with poison ivy and beach grass which brought you down to the beach. As kids, our parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles would haul their small tribe, affectionately known as the “cousins,” down the stretch of beach from where the wooden staircase emptied onto the sand to the tip of beach we called “The Point.” The Point signified where the calmest part of the cove ended, and opened up to deeper water.
In those golden days of childhood summer, I remember playing there for hours. I remember a red cooler filled with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a plastic jug thermos filled with powdered lemonade, a well worn beach blanket with palm trees on it, and a canvas tote bag filled with colorful beach paraphernalia, all set to the sound of waves and the scent of sunscreen.
An Easy EPP Project
When I imagined the Summer Home Pillow, it wasn’t as much to imagine this pillow adorning the front porch of my grandparent’s house, as much as to capture the golden memories of my childhood. I remember hot pink shovels, caution yellow buckets, and neon green tennis balls. Oh, and the ice cream! There was ALWAYS ice cream. (Mint chocolate chip or black raspberry, to be exact.)
And, that’s what this pillow is. A walk down memory lane. And, in keeping with memories of the past, it only felt right to include some of the most classic quilt blocks in quilt history: the hexie flower and the log cabin block. I’ve simplified the pattern to include just one hexie flower to remove the intimidation factor of sewing too much by hand, and I’ve even added hexagon paper pieces to the shop to make it even easier!
Once you make your hexie flower, you have the option to appliqué it to the background square by hand or machine. From there, it uses readily available 2.5” strips to create a jumbo sized log cabin block. The result is as delightful as a dip in ocean. I hope it’s just the refreshing project you need this summer.
Where can you find this EPP project?
And, best of all, you can grab a copy of the Summer Home pillow pattern for FREE! It is part of a wonderful group of free patterns called “Poolside Patchwork” featuring designs from four other amazing designers. Each pattern is designed to dabble in English paper piecing (EPP), while allowing you the freedom of portability coupled with a quick finish. Perfect for summertime stitching – poolside patchwork, if you will.
But, it’s only available until May 22, so make sure you grab your free Poolside Patchwork bundle before then! Happy stitching!
