Mixing up the My Seasons!

I've been collecting what I call "sand and sea" fabrics for about two years.  I bought some gorgeous McKenna Ryan fat quarters at VCQ Celebration almost two years ago; and last summer I picked up some "seashell" fabrics plus some complementary batik yardages.  Here's a sample of what I've been collecting:

McKenna Ryan fabrics, Stonehenge, Batiks, and Blenders

Pretty boring block; maybe I needed
to use more color....my "sand" is anemic

  So, for two summers, I have tried to turn this collection into something like a "summer" quilt, whatever that means.  Meanwhile, the seasons turn, it's time for autumn table runners, Christmas placemats, and pretty soon May rolls around again, begging for spring florals, and still no "sea" quilt.  Last summer I found an interesting pattern using strips of fabric, sewn and cut into blocks, alternating with plain blocks appliqued with bright circles....sort of a "Sun and Sand" design.  I made one or two of the blocks, and my first reaction was, well:  Boring!   I found an interesting "fish" quilt in Quilter's Newsletter Magazine.  It seemed to fit most of my criteria, but it was done with black fabric as the "background".....however, I had just about enough of everything, and might have done this one.   There's no doubt it's an interesting tessellation quilt:

My heart wasn't "singing" black, however.  It's January....it's cold outside (well, sometimes at least, although this has been a WEIRD winter)......it's time to head for the Gulf, and try to imagine hot summer breezes.  I finally just started cutting out batiks and "sea" fabrics, strip piecing long lengths of them, and cutting sections out.  I interspersed them with white, and used long white sashing to separate the random strips.  This is what I ended up with:

It makes me think of all the beautiful Caribbean water colors.  I'm calling it "Gulf Stream."  I had a gorgeous batik for the border with a coral reef pattern, and I've got an incredibly intense, almost obnoxious turquoise blue length of fabric (with silver metallic threads, no less) that should be just perfect for the back.  Do you think our planned trip to the West Florida Gulf coast and Alabama could be my inspiration? I'm just feeling incredibly "sunny" right now!