Catching up – message in a bottle

Quite some time ago, I started block four of Quilt Art Designs’ Oceans block of the month.  It was the April 2015 block, so catching up is a bit of an understatement.

I was at least organized when I put it away, plastic baggies and labels and all the needed fabric, so it wasn’t hard to start in where I’d left off.

Paper pieced sewing is all about very precise sewing lines – I swear I stick exactly to those lines, so why do I still end up with joins that are sometimes just slightly off?  It remains a mystery to me.

Lots and lots of little angles in this block.  My seams became very dense in the center, making the back rather a mess of seams and threads and bits of paper.  Removing the paper is my least favorite part of this type of quilting. So tedious getting out the little bits under the seams.  But the interesting blocks it makes possible are worth the effort.

And so many little slivers of scrap!

The final result, a hopeful message sent out to roam the sea:

It joins its three siblings, awaiting more arrivals.

I’m not doing all nine of the available blocks – just two more from this series really appeal to me.  Next up is a blue fin tuna.

The fabric is chosen and the pattern is prepared, so I’m hopeful this block won’t wait more than a year.

Update 6/18 – the blue fin tuna is done and you can see it here.