Upon the Water

“There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats” Kenneth Graham

Sailboat

11½”x 10″
Read all directions before starting.
This block has 26 units, but it goes together quickly. There is a lot of snowballing—if you need a refresher, please look at last month’s pansy block where I have provided a detailed explanation with pictures.

Supplies:

• Fabric for water, sky, sails and boat.  You can replace the sky fabric with sea.
• Fabric markers, cutting and sewing tools.

Fabric strip	Units	Units	Units
Sail 3½”	(1) 3½”x 3½”
Sail 2¾” strip	(4) 2¾”x 2¾”
Sail 2″ strip	(5) 2″x 2″	* indicates base units
Boat 2″ strip	*(1) 4¼”x2″	(2) 2″x 2″
Sea 4¼” strip	*(2) 4¼”x 3½”	*(1) 4¼”x2″
Sky 4¼” strip	*(1) 7¼”x 4¼”
Sky 3½” strip	*(1 ) 3½” x 3½”	*(2) 2¾”x 3½”	*(1) 2″x 3½”
Sky 2¾” strip	*(4) 2¾” x2¾”	*(1) 2″ x2¾”

Instructions:

1. Take all the base units (they have a * next to them) and lay them out like the diagram for the boat. Due to seam allowances, the layout is not rectangular.
   

   
2. Take all the leftover squares and draw a diagonal line. Draw the line even if you are used to using a line on the sewing machine—here direction matters and without the drawn line it is easy to make mistakes that lead to a floundering sailboat. (See the pansy post for more on mirror and identical units)
3. Lay all the squares with the diagonal line into the design and over the base unit. Check that the diagonal lines are in the right direction.
4. Now take the whole design or at least all the sets with a diagonal line square and sew them just to the side of the drawn line. You want the lined squares when they are folded to cover the edges of the base unit.
5. Fold and iron. If a top folded triangle is larger than the base piece, trim to the edge of the base unit. Then trim the bottom two layers to a ¼” seam and press to the darker fabric.  Return all the units back into the boat design.
6. Start sewing units together. Start by putting the sea and boat unit together as well as four columns of sails.
7. Sew the sail columns together and then sew them to the sea/boat unit.
   

   

    

8. The finished block is 11 3/4″ x 10 1/4″. Trim it to 11½”x 10″

Stretched Boat

Make your own sailboat using another pattern or make some free form sailboats.

Out of the Box – Upon the Water

Make a quiltlet with the theme “Upon the Water”. This is a wide topic and includes anything that floats on water. Have fun!