The Imagination Renovation project for August has been super successful for me. I have been loving this project so much – it is really hard to put it down and work on other projects. I have completed my first ocean waves quilt block, and I have to tell you, it feels amazing. Here is a little demonstration of my block making technique.
Part of my process for this block was to use my Barbara Brackman Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns to check if my Ocean Waves was the correct one. The answer is, maybe?? There seem to have been many, many blocks named Ocean Waves, including some with hexagons and one that is clearly a Snail’s Trail. Regional differences are frustrating, so I’m sticking with the one that comes to mind immediately for me. I opted to work with a modernized shape, to avoid the y-seams of the original.
I did end up spending some time piecing my smaller scraps together to create “made fabric,” which I then use to create my improv blocks. The darn bin is still full of little pieces, but I know in my heart that I have used some up.
My process is – cut 4 1/2″ squares of my two fabric colors. In my case, white and blue. Layer them together, right sides up, cut the curve, switch the pieces, and sew them together. Then I trim down to 3 1/2″ square, and put the block together. Even though I knew what I wanted to make, I had to draft it into EQ8 to check my math on the 1/2 square triangles. The math for 1/2 square triangles is to add 7/8 of an inch to the finished size. So, if you want a 3″ finished triangle unit, cut it at 3 7/8″ (instead of 3 1/2″ like we do for squares.)
Isn’t it pretty?
My plan is to eventually turn this into a quilt for my bed, which is king sized. I plan to use this as a
“leaders and enders” project while I work on other jobs. I’ll have my last progress update for this next week, along with a mock-up of the full quilt. I’ve always wanted to use the ocean waves quilt block for a quilt for my bed, but I wasn’t interested in making all of those HSTs. Oddly, when I make it more challenging, I’m all in.
If you want to see more of the participating designers in the Ocean Wave Quilt Block challenge, check out my post on Instagram. I have a listing of the other designers. You can also search for the hashtag #oceanwaveblockchallenge .
I love Ocean Waves, and yours is precisely what I think of. Very nice job on the video, but a king size – yikes! A great leader ender…which is always my thought to have a fun project going like this, one day.