Quilter's remorse, East Coast trip, and Texas adventure

So - after all the work involved in piecing a queen-sized quilt top, I am not happy with this! Although I was going for a multi-print look, and I love all of the fabrics, it is just TOO bright, and TOO busy!
Not only that, but this is a special gift for my daughter, Emily - she just earned her MBA so I wanted to make her a special quilt.  I showed it to her, and she did say it was pretty...but I could tell that she was not thrilled.  It is just not her style - it is more my style!  Have any of you done that? I think it is hard to make a quilt for someone else sometimes - trying to go for their style, or colors, rather than what I would choose.

Close up - I do like how I added a different fabric (the black background print) for the sash intersection stars, but again, just TOO busy.  When I found the chartreuse print for the sashing - and I looked for it all over my local shops - I was so sure this was it!!  It is beautiful, but it is just TOO MUCH of a good thing!
Not sure what I am going to do with this...rip apart, make into a table runner, or ?  BUT - I have now ASKED EMILY for her ideas and input, and she likes totally different designs! She spent some time on pinterest, and chose - you guessed it, modern quilts, with clean lines, and lots of white or light gray background.  But, she DOES like blues, purples, and greens.  So maybe I can use some of these fabrics, but in a MUCH more toned-down pattern, with white? She also requested a throw, or couch-size, rather than bed-size, quilt.  Back to the drawing board!

We just took a week's vacation to the East Coast, and this was our first stop!  We stayed with our friend, Marianne, in her charming Oakhurst, New Jersey home - just a couple of miles from the Jersey shore!

We're not in Illinois any more!  It was a gorgeous, blue-sky day, with those lovely ocean breezes!  We just sat and visited, lots of catching up to do!  And of course a nice walk along the beach. 

Tent homes in Ocean Grove, NJ.

Fun selfie, during our tour of Ocean Grove, NJ - full of the cutest Victorian houses, and also little tent homes. More vacation pictures to come!

Other big news - my daughter, Emily, and her BF, Matt, just moved to Austin, Texas!  They both just graduated with their MBA's in May, and Matt landed a great job down in Austin, so off they went.  Now they are both busy getting settled into their (rented) townhouse, and Emily is searching for her job.  Big adventure for them!