
Welcome to Block 5 the Awesome Ocean Sew Along (#AOSAL) and Chuckles the Clown Fish. We are now halfway through the blocks!! And we have 3 guest hosts coming up in the last few weeks – Rose, Emily and Wendy! This is so much fun!! The Awesome Ocean pattern was written by Elizabeth Hartman and this SewALong encourages you to purchase her pattern (information below) and learn from my mistakes (you can see the links for prior blocks below or at the top of this page).

Now, I really do love that name, Chuckles. One of the characters in the Mary Tyler Moore show was Chuckles the Clown. One of the funniest shows that I remember was the funeral of Chuckles the Clown. Mary can’t contain herself at this funeral; this was after she chastised her coworkers for laughing so much as they regaled stories about him. Here is a link to the episode and at minute 22 there is the famous line that Chuckles was remembered for “A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants”. SO, I have been chuckling a lot to myself as I make this one!

Hint 1: Fabric Considerations for this block:
For those with a light background – Change the white to another color (h,i,j)
Hint 2: Time to Prep/Make Block:
Prep time is about 1/2 – 3/4 hour of cutting and about 1 hour of
sewing.

Hint 3: My error?
I was short here, so I don’t know if this was a mistake in my cutting, or not.
Check pieces N, M, G – I added a 1/4″ to my M to make it work

Hint 4: Make sure you orient these pieces correctly.
You can see two pieces of M are pointing up and two pointing down. It is easy to make a mistake here.

This is really making me so happy. We may have a snowstorm coming tonight, but I could just pull this aquatic gang out and I would be so happy!

Here’s what you need to play along:
1. Get the pattern from my amazon affiliate link* or
from the designer directly or in your local store.
2. The links are updated below for any completed blocks.
Here’s the updated calendar for blocks and guest bloggers!
Date | Block | Block Name | Bloggers |
Nov. 17, 2019 | Fabric Choices | ||
Nov. 23, 2019 | Block 1 | Kelp | |
Dec. 7, 2019 | Block 2 | Octavian the Octopus | Barb |
Dec. 21, 2019 | Block 3 | Puffy the Puffer Fish | |
Jan. 4, 2020 | Block 4 | Angelica the Angel Fish | |
Jan. 18, 2020 | Block 5 | Chuckles the Clown Fish | |
Feb. 1, 2020 | Block 6 | Preppy the Whale | Rose |
Feb, 15, 2020 | Block 7 | Tony the Turtle | Emily |
Feb. 29, 2020 | Block 8 | Mr. Manatee | Wendy |
Mar. 14, 2020 | Block 9 | Sally the Seahorse | |
Mar. 28, 2020 | Top | ||
Ap. 25, 2020 | Parade of Quilts |
Here’s the linky party – for both blocks 4 & 5! I needed to change this due to the other linky party I am running on the 22nd of each month, so there will be one linky for the month for the Awesome Ocean blocks (unless I figure something else out). It will be on each page so you don’t need to worry!

Coming Up:
Tutorial on Converting Picture to Mosaic in EQ8 (1/22)
The Winter Blues (1/20)
Swap Mob Bag
2019 Monthly Color Block Quilt Finish (1/31)
Linking Up:
My niece was here for the weekend, and at dinner something prompted me to use Chuckles’s famous phrase. She looked at me quizzically and I realized that she had never seen that episode. I gave her an extremely abbreviated explanation but you know I’m going to send her a link to your post so she can enjoy the gloriousness that is this episode. What a divine coincidence!
What a fun coincidence! It was a great show, but I am sure it would read dated today. It did keep me laughing as I was making the block though.
What a great post, Kathleen! That episode from The Mary Tyler Moore Show is my favourite also; you just can’t help laughing at Mary lose it! Great colours in your quilt 🙂
I have been Mary at a wake…not an awful thing, but a bit emabarrasing.
Looking great, Kathleen!!!
Thank you, Nancy!
Chuckles looks great! I have heard that line before but admit to not having watched Mary Tyler Moore–it was one of the great shows I missed due to when I was born–the song “born to late” comes to mind 🙂 Thanks for the tips on some of the pieces, I might wait to cut those until I’m at that step.
I was afraid that would be the case for some of the young ones. It was only that one piece and I tried to figure out if it was me, and I really couldn’t see that it was, but maybe….
There is a whole lot of fun fishy business going on at your house!
Indeed, there is!
Hi Kathleen! Oh boy, these little fishies turned out so cute. All your tips are very helpful, too. I’ll have to wait to pass judgment on my favorite fish . . . because they’ve all been so cute. ~smile~ Roseanne
It sure is hard to say which one. I love seeing the different versions – a few more should be showing up in the linky parties….for your diversion!
Very cute fish blocks! I really like how you included how long each block takes approximately.
I think it is a nice thing to know when you are taking on a project like this! Many people are overwhelmed by the many pieces.
Your quilt is coming along “swimmingly” get it? Fish swim! Ok it’s early, I haven’t had my coffee yet! LOL!!! Seriously though, it looks fabulous!!!!!
You are on roll! I am having a whale of a time, and my coffee as I type this.