QAL By The Sea, Block 5

Welcome to this next little stop as you continue to QAL By The Sea! Without further ado, you can download Block Five, ‘Heads or Tails?’ here:

This block has a quick pieced background and some fun machine appliqued fish. It is great for using up scraps! Of course, if you’re short of time, you could use a single 12.5″ background piece and skip straight to the applique part.

Piecing the Background

To make the pieced background, take your three background pieces and decide which order you want them in. When designing this pattern, I was thinking of shafts of light passing through sunlit water. I used the darker shade of grey for the centre of the block.

Please note, the pieces are cut slightly larger than needed to make the diagonal piecing easier. Once both pieces have been added, centre the block and then trim to 12.5″ sq.

Adding the Applique

I reckon this is the fun part! Use scraps and remnants to create your fish by using fusible web and the templates provided in the pattern. Before you begin though, check the 1″ square on the templates as printer settings sometimes can distort the size of the patterns.

The stripy fish is made slightly differently from the other two fishes as the body is cut out from a pieced rectangle of strips instead of just a single scrap of fabric.

When positioning the fish, I used my quilting ruler to ensure that the fish were parallel with the bottom of the block. Also remember to take account of the 1/4″ seam allowance around the edge of the quilt block!

I stitched around the applique pieces with a blanket stitch but you could use a zig-zag stitch or raw edge applique to create a shabby chic effect. I’m so excited to see all your different versions!

QAL By The Sea Prize Giveaway

So that all participants have a chance to win, we are offering a US prize and an International prize this year. 

International Prize

A six month subscription to the e-magazine Make Modern. A magazine for quilters, by quilters, filled with beautiful patterns and articles to inspire quilters like us to make more modern quilts!
https://www.makemodern.com.au/ and

A PDF pattern of your choice up to $10.00 from these designers:

Laura of Slice of Pi
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SliceofPiQuilts

Sandra of Sandra Healy Designs
www.sandrahealydesigns.com/shop

USA Prize

Fat Quarter fabric bundle of the Island Batik line Cascadia by Claudia Pfeil.
https://islandbatik.com and

Quilters Dream Poly batting;  a throw size 60” x 60”.  Dream Black is a beautiful true black quilt batting that enhances the integrity, richness, and warmth of vivid and dark fabrics and ‘quilts like a dream’.
https://www.quiltersdreambatting.com/products/quilters-dream-midnight-black-poly

How To Enter

To be eligible for the segment 2 prizes, you must complete all the blocks in the segment.  Share a photo or photos in a single post showing your finished blocks to enter.  Please indicate your location so you can be entered into the correct prize draw.

To enter;

1. Post a photo of your finished blocks on our Facebook group, Partners in Design, Where Friends and Fabric Meet Facebook Group.
2. Upload a photo of your blocks on Instagram with the hashtag #QALbytheSea.
3. Each hosts’ wrap-up post will have a link to the same Linky Party so you can upload your photo to any of these posts through the hosts’ blog.

Hosts

There are some gorgeous version of QAL By The Sea, Block 5 made by the talented designers in the ‘Partners in Design’ team, so do check out the hosts below!

Abbie @ Sparkle On!
Becca @ Pretty Piney Quilts
Jennifer @ The Inquiring Quilter
Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
Sandy @ SandyStar Designs
Sherry @ Powered by Quilting

If you have enjoyed this pattern, sign up to my blog so you don’t miss any of my posts or free patterns. Come follow me on Facebook and Instagram, I’d love to have you along!

Sandra