Under the Sea Block Steps 5 & 6: Turtle and a Jelly

Step 5: Turtle Motif

After creating the seahorse on Sandra's block for the Crazy Quilting International Under the Sea Round Robin (CQI UTS RR) I am participating in, I found a little turtle charm in my stash.

I felt this would be a perfect addition for a couple of reasons. 

First of all, if you remember my sketch, I had not added a motif to the center orange section of the block, as I was not sure how much space would remain after embellishing the seams to the right and left.

This turtle fit in that space perfectly!

Second, the block Kathy S. embellished for Sandra included two turtle charms. (They are along the sandy bottom seam. You may click any photo for a larger view.) So, adding a turtle charm to the block I embellished created a little more cohesion between these two blocks.

The turtle charm came with an additional metal ring attached to the small circle seen in the photo at the top of this post. I pried that ring open and removed it. Then, I tucked the remaining circle under floss from the feather stitched seam and sewed it in place using clear nylon quilting thread. After securely stitching the loop into place, I tacked down each of the four legs where they attach to the body. The clear thread made these stitches virtually invisible.

Step 6: A Jelly Motif

A dear family friend of mine spent years volunteering at the aquarium in Newport, Oregon. She has told me that starfish are not actually fish, so they are now called sea stars. Likewise, jellyfish are not fish, and they are now called jellies. I keep trying to remember!

I do not remember where I bought these clear, glittery, plastic buttons. However, they came in a package with three sizes. 

When I sketched out ideas for this block, I planned to use one of the smallest buttons to add a jelly to the left of the feather-stitched seam, near the top. (As seen in the photo of the sketch shared earlier in this post.) However, my feather stitches extended far enough to the left that I felt the jelly would look too crowded in that section. So, I opted to only use the medium sized button in the top purple section.

I placed the button on the block, being sure to leave plenty of room for the long tentacles, and stitched it to the block using clear nylon quilting thread. Next, I threaded two needles with a single strand of DMC metallic white floss. I created one tentacle at a time, beginning with a longer one, I used one threaded needle to create a straight stitch. Using the second threaded needle, I couched the straight stitch down, but I brought the needle up to the right or left of that original stitch to make a curvy tentacle. I created four longer tentacles and then added three shorter ones in between them.

After adding the turtle and the jelly, this is how the block looked.

This post is part of a series explaining how I embellished Sandra T.'s block in the CQI UTS Round Robin we are in together. Links to previous posts in this series are below.
Step 1: Planning the Seams
Step 2: Planning Motifs
Step 3: Embellishing the Seams

Step 4: Seahorse Motif

Thank you for stopping by!

Renee