It’s been years since we had a vacation on Galveston Island, but I hope it won’t be so long next time. We were there last week with my husband’s family in a lovely house right on the beach. The kids (including my husband) built sand castles and swam. I strolled along the beach and looked for shells.

Hermit crabs occupy most of the entire shells, and that’s fine, because I like shell fragments just as well if not better. These are broken moon shells. Don’t they look nice all grouped together?

Here are stripey fragments, which I feel certain are destined to become a piece of art for the bathroom. Same for the worm-eaten pieces below.

The grouping exercise reminded me of Seveness Knitting. The principle is the same: putting similar items together (like colors, patterns, shapes) results in a pleasing composition. The composition is pleasing, because the variation makes it interesting to the eye, and because the similarity gives it continuity, which makes our brains happy.

Now I have another bag of stuff to add to my stash of crafty stuff. Collecting is so much fun!