CQI Under the Sea Round Robin - Mary's Completed Block

Last night, I finished Mary's block for the Crazy Quilting International Under the Sea Round Robin I am participating in. (If you are curious about what a round robin is, this post may help.)

Above is a picture of the block before it was embellished.

For this round robin, I have added a seahorse, tiny fish and French knot coral to every block I have embellished. I used my original seahorse pattern for this block. (A link to the sketch may be found in this post and is referred to as "Seahorse 1 Sketch".)

Along this blue section, I really wanted to try out a tutorial for a treasure chest that was published in the Crazy Quilt Quarterly Summer 2015 magazine. However, I was hesitant to try it for the first time on a block that did not belong to me - just in case I messed it up. Instead, I found an anchor pendant at Jo-Ann Fabric and added that to the block.

I did try a couple of new things. I made coral using a beaded feather stitch. A search on-line took me to a nifty tutorial at the Kerry Katie Cakes blog.

The jellies were also new for me. They were inspired by the amazing jellies Kathleen Klein created on one of her under the sea themed blocks. (Her work blows me away!) Hers include beaded sections for the tentacles, too. They are fabulous! For mine, I used detached buttonhole stitches for the first time to make the bodies. The body for this one was too small for the drizzle stitched tentacles, so I added a few more rows of detached chain stitch to the top of my chain stitch and tacked the top row down. I also loosened the drizzle stitches on this jelly.

For this one, I pulled the drizzle stitches tighter. My hubby said he likes my button jellies better, but I love the added texture these give to the block!

Please accept my apologies for the photo quality. Normally, a lack of lighting makes it difficult to get good pictures. This morning, it was so sunny that I had a hard time.  (Go figure!) 

Above is a picture of Mary's 4 completed blocks together. The one in the upper-left was embellished by Kathy S. (a.k.a. Clothqueen), The upper-right block was embellished by Sandra T. The lower-left block was embellished by Nicki Lee S. and I embellished the block on the lower-right.

Soon, I will be receiving the last set of blocks to complete for this round robin before my blocks are returned home. (Time really does fly, doesn't it?!)

I am linking this post with the Monday Stitchery Link Party at Super Mom - No Cape. I do hope you will hop over to see what others have been up to this week. If you do any hand stitching and have a blog, I encourage you to link up! The free embroidery pattern today is gorgeous.

Thank you for stopping by.
Renee