Sand dollar

The first beach I remember visiting was in Panama City, FL, along the Gulf of Mexico. My family moved to Dothan, AL when I was in the first grade. Dothan is about a two-hour drive from Panama City, and we would occasionally take trips to the beach. I'm not a particularly good beach person; I lobster in the sun and I'm not a strong swimmer, but the Gulf beaches are truly beautiful. If you've never visited one, I highly recommend doing so. In college, me and my friends would drive to Gulfport or Biloxi for a beach day. Excellent memories.

As I shared previously, I had quite a shell collection as a kid and it started in Panama City. I had a lot of sand dollars and other shells, both collected and bought at souvenir stores. I think I bought shells because my name was never on the souvenir key chains and pencils and whatever other trinkets you could buy. I guess Erin wasn't a popular enough name in the mid-1980s. I always wanted, but never purchased, an airbrushed sand dollar with my name on it. They were a little out of my "spend money on crap I don't need at the beach" allowance. That would have been the only way to get my name on something, so today is my attempt to make an "airbrushed" sand dollar with my name on it. Maybe the next time I go to the beach (who knows when that will be), I'll buy myself a real one. It's the sort of thing you have to buy in person or someone has to bring you as souvenir; you can't buy an airbrushed sand dollar online. You can, but you can't.

I realized I missed the fourth little cutout on the right side of my name. By the time I realized it, I was almost finished and wasn't going to redo that section. So it's a little off, but I'm not mad about it.

Details:
Stitches: back, whipped back, and satin stitches
Thread palette: DMC 310, 718, 3846, 891 (3 strands)