Here is the last block in the Ocean Breezes Block of the Moment. I hope you've enjoyed making these blocks and are near to completion on everything. If you'd like to share your own blocks, send the pics to me and I'll have a blog post or two next week about them! (send to: kratovil@his.com) We only make one of the Sailboat (whew!) and it's appliqué. Let's see it finished, and then I'll show you some steps. Sailboat from the Ocean Breezes quilt I use raw edge appliqué exclusively. But I am "religious" about the steps I take to ensure it looks nice to the eye. Here is my stitching on the mast up close. I first practiced on scraps so I could get my "zig" and "zag" to behave. Close up of stitching I also used the full size printed pattern underneath my 8-1/2" cream background square to assist me in lining up my patches. Once they were in the right place, I pinned, removed the pattern and then fused my patches in place. And here...

(Please do not pass these patterns on to your friends. Invite them to come get their own copy from this blog site. Once my Ocean Breezes series is finished, these WILL NOT be available for free. These will be in my Etsy shop for sale. Thank you for respecting my copyright!) Another Wednesday, another Ocean Breezes block. Today I share the Whale. There are two blocks in the quilt and the whale points in two different directions. Let's see one of them. Ocean Breezes  Whale Block : 8" finished (make 2) I used raw edge appliqué for the two simple patches. I used the blue sea fabric to audition my machine zigzag stitch. Background fabric is different, but I wanted to make sure that my thread matched my fabric. I used freezer paper to trace my whale templates. First, the one who faces West (ie, left). Template traced from full size pattern Then, I needed to make a mirror image of the template for the one who faces East. The waves templates are also mirror images of each other. My fa...

Now it's time for an easy block! This is simple rotary cutting and machine stitching with 1/4" seams. But you really must pay attention to those 1/4" seams! This week's block is the Square in a Square - also called a Four Patch Variation (which I used in the calendar). Four Patch Variation Here are the parts for two blocks as I cut them, based on what you will see in the calendar page. The other side of this page has the cutting sizes (which you'll see in the pattern you will download). You will cut squares and triangles. You need to make two of these. Four Patch Variation parts, cut and ready to stitch. I sewed the center green and white four patch together. Then I added the red triangles (which are first cut from squares.) Here's where they will be sewn. Notice that the tip of the red triangle aligns with the center 4 Patch seam. The little triangle tips MUST extend over the sides as shown. Two sewn and pressed toward the red. Adding the 3rd red triangle. No...

Now it's time for a simple appliqué block in my Ocean Breezes BOM. This is my Palm Tree block and it finishes to 8". The background square is cut 8-1/2". Since I'm using raw edge machine appliqué, I am tracing my patches from the pattern with no seams. This is the top of the tree. I have fusible webbing on the wrong side of the green Fairy Frost. I traced my pattern using freezer paper and then I ironed it to the right side of the green fabric. Now it's time to cut out (you don't have to cut the template out first - you can do it all at once with the fabric). Top of Palm Tree: cut two Then I cut the trunk with a brown fabric (again, one of Windham's Bedrock). I added the dotted lines to help me place the green tree top over the trunk. It needs to overlap. Tree trunk cut out with dotted placement lines Let's see how they look before I do any stitching. It's hard to tell, but I placed the full size printed pattern UNDER the cream background square to...