Throw Back Thursday . . . I Spy Quilt

This "I Spy" quilt came to be while I was planning a picnic blanket for my niece and her family.  I wanted the quilt to be kid friendly and fun to look at while they ate, played, or dozed in the sun. After much playing and pondering,  I combined a fun jelly roll, the striped material (both purchased years ago) with fabulous novelty fabrics that a friend generously shared with me.  I admit I had to buy two different fabrics as the alternating block before settling on the yellow.  I originally planned to quilt the pantograph pattern "Whimsy" on it, I actually had pinned it on the machine, laid the pattern down and while I was sewing the top down, I suppose the quilt just started "speaking" to me, and wow, did it have a lot to say!  What started out as a quick quilting job turned into a few days of fun.  I drew out the quilt on paper to plan exactly what to quilt and where.

The entire alphabet, letters 1 - 10, basic shapes, 4 words, a snowman, a tree, a car, a flower can all be found in the quilting of this quilt.  I further challenged myself by attempting to quilt a different

pattern on each of the jelly roll fabrics bordering the novelty fabric.  I also tried to quilt differently on each the striped fabric on the sides.   Fun, fun, fun!  I did not take enough photos because I was trying to get it done before my niece and her family came for Thanksgiving this past year.  I also didn't get a chance to post about it around that time due to the busy season!  It would have been nice to have shown the quilt at my guild meeting, but it was wonderful to give the quilt in person, instead of mailing it.

My great nephew's reaction was well worth it!!  He loved it and I was thrilled when he immediately noticed the quilting and saw the letters and symbols.  He had a blast playing I spy with his cousins and parents.  I am sure he will get a lot of use from this quilt.  The backing is a really fun fabric, and the colors really work with it.  I have additional blocks with much more girly fabric from the jelly roll and have the accompanying fabric purchased, now just need to find the time to sew that one together !   Happy Stitching!

 

Mixed bag(s) of Finishes

 I finished two quilt bags this month, but forgot to take a picture of one before I gave it to my customer with her finished quilt inside.  drat!  While I was looking for fabric to go with the first bag, I came across these scraps that were from two coin quilts that I made.  The first I made and gave to my Gram before I blogged so I don't have a picture of it, the second I made using the leftover fabric from the first (blog post here) and eventually also gave it to my Gram so she could give it as a Christmas gift for some very lovely neighbors who help her out so much.  The bag is very large and I went pretty crazy quilting it, I may end up keeping this bag for myself!    My next finish for March, (finished last night) just in time for our Guild meeting!   Project number 5 was due for the UFO Challenge and I am so glad that it is finally done!  I bought the pattern and fabric in 2007 and cut out the eight sections before reading the full pattern.  yeah. not good!  I was supposed to quilt the fabric, then cut out the sections.  So, another mis-cut project put away for the sewing fairies to fix.  I put it on my very first Blog WISP list with no results, so I listed it on my list for Guild UFOs.   I was very busy the last few weeks finishing other people's quilts and I wondered if I would get to it in time.  Tuesday I sewed the sections together and cut and sewed the prarie point like triangles together.  I quilted it on Wednesday,

which was fun until I realised that it was meant to overlap a bit; made it rather interesting towards the end but I worked it out.  The ruffle called for 9 strips of fabric, I only used 6 because I wanted the ruffle to be more relaxed.  I also could not bear to make the prarie points by folding the fabric, I made the squares 1/2" larger and cut them in half diagonally, folded wrong sides together and sewed short edges together.  Turned inside out and Ta Da!  Only used 1/2 of the fabric required.  The original pattern called for a gold star to be appliqued in each section, I had the material but it seemed too busy.  It also calls for buttons to be sewn on each point.  I tacked the tip of each point down, to prevent flapping and folding the wrong way.  Not sure about the buttons, could make star buttons out of FIMO, but it is going to be under the tree, will things just get caught on the buttons?  I can always add them later.  I had a very pretty Thimbleberries fabric for the back, and since I can't find Thimbleberries fabric locally, I wanted to save it.  It would be nice as another tree skirt.  I was so thrilled to find this homespun in my stash.  Had to piece it to make it work, but I had enough!  This finish counts for my Guild UFO, OPAM, 1XMAS project and a blog WISP finish!  Wooo Hooo Happy stitching!