A Trip to the Ocean!

Hi Quilting Friends,

July is typically a time when families in the US take a summer vacation.  School is out, and the adults are ready for a break from their work.  Some of us go to the mountains, while others take a road trip to see the sights.  Some folks’ idea of an idyllic summer vacation would be to stay somewhere close to the beach.  Just imagine the sound of the waves, the gently blowing breeze, and the interesting animals that we might see!  So let’s pack our bags and be on our way- adventure awaits!

Well, we aren’t exactly going to the ocean today, but we thought that you might enjoy seeing our ocean-themed quilts and meeting the animals that dwell in the depths.  

This quilt is called “Reef Buddies”, and Susan made it.  The combination of blue fabrics reminds us of the seashore, and shows off the colorful animals that live beneath the waves.

We used foundation paper pieced waves (sometimes called “Snail’s Trail”) blocks to accent the cute ocean animals on this quilt.

Sharon made this version of the quilt, and it is called “Ocean Adventure”.  If the animals look familiar, you’re right!  It features the same animals who were included in the “Reef Buddies” pattern.

Sharon’s quilt is decidedly feminine, with purple sashing and colorful submarines in (almost) every color of the rainbow!

Sharon added a couple of friendly mermaids to the quilt, for an extra touch of whimsy!

So by now you might be wondering, “Why did they make two of (virtually) the same quilt?”  There was a method to our madness, believe it or not.   Here’s why we did it this way:

Susan prefers to hand-stitch her appliques while Sharon enjoys machine-stitched applique.  We wanted to make sure that our applique designs would be appropriate for either method, and so we decided to create our “early” designs using both techniques.  After a year or two of making the duplicate quilts, we felt that we had learned how to design for both hand- or machine- stitched techniques and that the duplication of effort was no longer necessary.  So now we just call “dibs” when we’re divvying out the design ideas for making models.  Works for us, and we’re now able to create even more of our fun designs each year!

If you would like to browse our fun ocean quilt patterns, click here to see all of them!

We hope that you’ve enjoyed our quick trip to the seashore today.  Please come back next week when you can meet the animals, up close and personal.

Happy quilting,

Sharon & Susan