QAL By the Sea - Block 2

The QAL by the Sea is off to a great start! Block 1 was released last week, and there's still plenty of time to join the fun!

Block 2 is an amazing sea turtle by The Inquiring Quilter! The pattern and tutorial are on her blog HERE.

I absolutely LOVE this block and was so excited to make it in my monochromatic aqua palette!

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If you're new here, hello! I'm Laura! I design quilt patterns, and I'm a self-proclaimed deal hunter! Be sure to join the popular Quilting & Sewing Deals Facebook group where I post sales, deals, and coupon codes from all around the web!

For my version of the Terry the Turtle block, I used my ombre stack of Kona solids and coordinating 50wt Aurifil (read about those HERE), Lite Steam-A-Seam 2, a light pad, a pen, and my favorite Fiskars scissors.

My most practical tip for figuring out what fabrics you want to use for a quilt is to look at it in black and white. I printed out the pattern in grayscale, which allowed me to easily see lights and darks. I am using six shades of aqua for my quilt, so I labeled each piece of the pattern with a 1-6, 1 for the lightest and 6 for the darkest.

Once I knew which fabric I would use for each piece, I used my light pad and pen to trace all the pattern pieces onto the Lite Steam-A-Seam 2.

I rough cut the pieces and matched them with the planned fabric.

A quick press and they were ready to cut out!

I cut the pieces one weeknight, and couldn't wait to assemble them!

Oh! He is fabulous!

Can you see that shadow there? It's there because the lighter fabric is on top of a darker fabric. I wanted to fix it.

I used my air-erasable fabric pen to trace along the top of the lightest shell piece. Because I used Lite Steam-A-Seam 2, the pieces were just stuck in place like stickers, but I could easily peel them up. I lifted the lightest shell piece up and carefully trimmed the piece underneath with my scissors so that it was only 1/8" bigger than the line. Then I carefully put the top pieces back in place. The shadow was gone!

I actually repeated this for all shell pieces that were under the arms, neck, and head. I opted against doing it for the individual pieces on the head and arms, as those pieces were smaller and would be much more complicated.

I was so much happier with the large shadows being gone! Before pressing it down permanently, I laid my 12 1/2" square ruler on top to see how it would look after trimming. I moved a few pieces around that I didn't want cut off, like the arm on the left side of the block. I just moved the whole arm 1/2" away from the left edge of the block so I wouldn't trim it off. Then I pressed it.

Next was to applique down each piece.

It really makes me giddy that I have matching 50wt Aurifil for each of the aqua colors! I even match my bobbin thread to the top because it makes me smile. (You really don't have to change your bobbin colors each time though!)

I stitched around every piece with a straight stitch, 1/8" inside the raw edge.
This backlit view shows how I cut the extra fabric away that was under each large piece, leaving just 1/8" overlap.

Once all the stitching was done (it took a couple hours), I trimmed the block to 12 1/2" square.Here's a peek at the back!I headed to the lake as the sun was setting to grab a few pictures in the sand. (It's just a couple minutes from our house!)The bright sunlight made the colors a bit off in the photos, but I had to keep with the tradition of photographing my blocks there!

I tried the shade. Still off.

Well, here it is under my quilting light. He really makes me smile!

Here is Block 1 and Block 2 together!

Want to quilt along?? Find the pattern for Block 2 HERE!

The QAL is divided into three segments. Complete all four blocks from Segment 1 by 7:59am on September 8th to be entered to win prizes! Be sure to share a picture of your finished blocks in the Facebook group!

Segment 1
August 4 - Block 1 - Becca at Pretty Piney Quilts
August 11 - Block 2 - Jennifer at Inquiring Quilter
August 18 - Block 3 - April at JANDA Bend Quilts
August 25 - Block 4 - Sherry at Powered by Quilting
September 8 - Segment 1 winner announced!

There are prizes for both US and international participants!

US
Dream Green 60" x 60" batting from Quilter's Dream. An earth friendly polyester batting made from 100% recycled plastic bottles!
https://www.quiltersdreambatting.com/products/dream-green/AndA Fat Quarter fabric bundle of Island Batik "Kismet."
This line by Tammy Silver of Tamarinis has a bohemian vibe with vibrant colors!
https://islandbatik.com/

International
A 6 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/AndA PDF pattern of your choice from these Designers!prettypiney.com/shop http://www.inquiringquilter.com/shop payhip.com/poweredbyquilting 
(a $10.00 shop credit)

Be sure to look at all the different versions of Block 2 made by the QAL hosts!

Becca at Pretty Piney
Sandy at Sandy Star Designs
Abbie at Sparkle On
Karen at Tu-Na Quilts
Sherry at Powered by Quilting
Jennifer at The Inquiring Quilter

Join the fun! Let's all quilt along!

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If you liked this post, you may also like these:

I Wish You a Merry QAL - Block 11

Destination: Quilt Along - Block 4

Exploding Heart QAL - Week 1