Ola's Under The Sea Block

I finished my part on Ola's Under the Sea block this morning, which means that I am now finished with this particular round robin!  Nice to get something big checked off my list!  

When Ola's block arrived, I wasn't sure at all how or where to begin with it.  The motifs had been stitched in three different orientations, making it difficult to find a way to pull it together in a cohesive whole.  

I decided to focus on seamwork as the majority of the seams had not been embellished with the exception of the lovely seagrass seam done by one of the other stitchers.  The first seam I did was the scalloped seam under Velia's whale. 

I've had this seam in my little inspiration book and have wanted to stitch it for ages.  Bullion stitches have been one of my nemesis for a long time, but I seem to have finally figured them out.  Some lovely "cameo" variegated thread (Caron Wildflower Thread) was perfect for the bullion's!  

Along the left side, I stitched a sea-weedy variation on one of my favorite feather stitch patterns.  I also stitched the blue seam above the whale.  

I used some variegated thread that picked up colors in the block to stitch a seam along the right side of the yellow brocade piece.  There is still a little room for Ola to stitch a seam and add a motif or two if she chooses!   Hope that Ola enjoys her block! 

Just a few thoughts for to add about working on round robins based on things I encountered on this one.  

~ When mailing blocks, please, please, please put the block and booklet in a plastic zip-lock bag inside the envelope to help protect the block and keep the contents together.  In this round robin I received two different blocks in badly torn up envelopes.  One was in a ziplock and came through very well despite the outer envelope damage.  The other, came through ok, but if there had been anything small in the envelope, it would have been lost.  That block was somewhat dirty, but thankfully was able to be cleaned up easily. 

~ Unless the block owner specifies working in the round or otherwise, all motifs should be done in the same orientation.  This block is a perfect example of a block that is nice but could have been fabulous if the focus wasn't so scattered.  

~ It really helps if the block owner can give some guidance as to what they would like for their block. 

~ Don't be afraid to stretch your wings and try something new!