
Carol from Just let Me Quilt is the host of this blog hop. Here’s what she had to say:
| Challenge: This one is easy! Make something with a fish in the fabric or in the quilt design (applique or pieced fish.) |
Well, Carol might have thought this was easy … but I had SEW many ideas, it was hard to choose!

Call it a miracle, or fate, or whatever, but I received a free pattern “There She Blows” from the Art East Quilting Company. It’s a 20″ block and I wanted to make a baby quilt, but didn’t feel like making 4 whales … so I decided to just double the size of all the cutting. Well, it was good in theory, but didn’t always work out … so I had to do a bit of re-calculating. However, the directions are full of tips to make the block easily! And, if you want to make the bigger size, check out their Resizing Cheat Sheet (–> “More” –> “Resources.”)
A little bit about the Art East Quilting Company It is a Canadian 🇨🇦 company, but they ship all over the world. Our guild had them do a zoom presentation and it was wonderful. So if you’re looking for something different and fun, check them out!
When quilting the water, I used both “Turkey” and “Jelly” from Silly Moon. I wanted the waves all different.


Anyhow, this is my “newest baby quilt “There She Blows”! I live on the west coast of Canada, so I had to make my whale an Orca!

Quilt Stats:
- Size: 41″ x 41″
- Fabric: Island Batik:
- Sky: Turquoise solid
- Spray: unlabelled – from my Island Batik scrap bin
- Whale body: Raven
- Whale underbody: Drizzle
- Water: Cerulean from Tantalizing Teals
- Hobbs Batting Heirloom: 80/20
- Aurifil Thread:
- #2600: Piecing
- Quilting: Variety of dark grey, light grey, blue and light blue.
Other Fishy Bloggers
Visit each of the links below to see the wonderful fishy quilts and projects that have been made!
JULY 22
JULY 23
- Patchouli Moon Studio
- Words & Stitches
- Quilted Snail
- Quilting Between The Rails
- Sew Many Yarns
- Hazel’s Daughter
JULY 24
JULY 25
Don’t Forget

Here is my Affiliate link: https://glnk.io/mzmmj/quiltinggail If you order over $50 from Missouri Star, you will get 20% off your order and I may receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!
Pingback: Sunday Summary: July 28 | Quilting Gail
I love this, Gail! What a cute project. It must have been fun to sew.
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Thanks, Jennifer! It was a lot of fun to make!
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So cute! Definitely worth the extra hassle dealing with the resizing.
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Thanks, Kate! Yes, it was worth it!
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This turned out great! Love the idea of enlarging a block to make a baby quilt. I’m going to have to give that a try!
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Thanks, Leah! It was a bit challenging to enlarge, but obviously doable!
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Cute whale quilt! Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you!
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This is adorable, Gail! Love it!!
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Thanks, Brenda! He was fun to make!
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Gorgeous fabrics and quilt. So vivid and happy looking.
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Thanks, Danice!
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This is a great quilt. Love how you enlarged it instead of multiplying the blocks BUT sorry he is just too cute to be an Orca.. Thanks for sharing with us.
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Thanks, Selina!
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Cute Orca whale quilt. I love the quilted clouds and the quilted water, both really enhanced the quilt.
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Thank you! It was a fun quilt to quilt!! Especially since I LOVE free motion quilting!
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Beautiful quilt, I love the pattern and the quilting. Great work!
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Thanks, Karrin!
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I love him Gail!
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Thank you, Denise!
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Oh my gosh, this whale quilt is fabulous! I love the colors and your beautiful quilting. Way to go with meeting this challenge, Gail! Thanks for swimming with us.
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Oh, it was so fun to swim along with this blog hop!!! Thank you!
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It was meant to be for your free quilt pattern to show up when it did! I really like your idea of increasing the size for one BIG whale (even though the resizing caused fits), it worked out so well!
*Gail, did you know your replies to blogs show up as a “no-reply comment”, so bloggers are unable to reply back to you via email?
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Thanks, Kathy! It was a fun quilt to make. Also, thanks for letting me know about the “no-reply comment” – I didn’t know that! I’ll see if I can fix it!
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It’s lovely. Your orca has real personality.
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LOL!!! I just followed the pattern! Thank you!
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Your whale project is totally awesome !!
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Thanks, Kat!
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I really like the whale quilt!!!!! Well done!
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Thank you very much!
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I am in love! Our favorite family vacations were to the Vancouver/Victoria area and whale watching. The Orca’s are just the most incredible things to watch. I checked out the East Art QC, but don’t see that block on their page. 😦 They have so many great patterns, that I think I have to make a purchase or two now. HAHAHA Thanks for starting my day with a big smile!
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Hi Joan, I grew up in Victoria and LOVED seeing Orca’s. If you scroll down to the bottom of the Art East QC, you can see the link for the free pattern. https://arteastquiltingco.com/free-pattern
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I must have been looking with my eyes ! 🤣. Thanks for the link
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Your orca is gorgeous, and enlarging the block to make a full quilt was a great idea!
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Thanks, Elizabeth!
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I love it, Gail! Love how you resized it and also made it a killer whale. Fabulous!
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Thanks, Sue!!! It was a lot of fun to make!
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