"I Spy With my Little Eye"... a Finished I Spy quilt!!! YEA!!!!

Well, it is finally finished! My much anticipated  "I Spy" quilt for my grand kids! It has been a long road...mostly just trying to figure it out, but with the help of some wonderful cyber friends who helped me collect some of the most amazing and awesome fabric images to use to "spy"...I got it finished!

Here's how it started...... I Spy, Part 1    and      I Spy, Part 2 

And now it is FINISHED!!!! 

I wanted the images to be (finished) 3x3 squares - 169 of them! I sashed the squares with white 1 inch sashings because I wanted the sashing to separate the squares so it didn't look cluttered and messy.

 I added 2, 2" borders and a final binding.        It measures 70x70"

The back is a colorful flower bed sheet sheet. I did a little notebook with all the items to "spy" and made a pocket out of the label on the back for the little book to go in. Now, one can have the book and choose from any page, and item for the others to "spy".

The creation of the quilt wasn't all fun tho! I enjoyed so much collecting the pieces and even sewing the sashes on was quick and easy and even fun. I was so looking forward to putting it all together!  I was disappointed tho, that in spite of how hard I tried to make sure everything was even and straight, when I went to sew the sashed rows together, seams didn't match. I don't know what I did wrong. But oh, well, because it was so large and so many squares, it wouldn't be that noticable. Or so I thought hoped!

When I went to do the top stitching,  I decided to just sew around each square...about scant 1/4" on each side of each seam. That way the square was accentuated and no stitching was done over the image. But because the seams didn't match when I sewed the sashes together, the seams used as a guide were then crooked. Now it was noticable!!! Nothing I could do do about it, so I just did the best I could at making the lines straight and just finished it off. I kept telling myself...."the kids won't notice! The kids won't notice! They will be having so much fun...they won't notice!"

 Here are a few of the squares..


"I spy with my little eye......a red car, a dolphin, a cheerleader, bouquet of daisies

 "I Spy with my little eye....
some pencils, a pink butterfly, hot dogs on the grill and a yellow teddy bear with a green sweater

I Spy with my little eye....Red lips, little cars, Raggedy Ann and Andy, a unicorn

 

" I Spy with my little eye...
a sewing machine, a watch, a lobster, a camera"














 
And in the end, that is all that matters anyway..that the kids have fun with the I Spy quilt, made for them by their loving Grandmother,  Nanny (that's me!) We will make some great memories! I wonder what they will say when they have it to give to their kids and tell  about when their grandma made it and gave it to them!!

I have some extra "I spy" pieces, I am comtemplating creating a quilt/board game similar to CandyLand. I was raised on board games and putting the game on a quilt just makes it all better. I made a hopscotch quilt (will blog about that soon!) and the girls loved it..none could hop in the square right, which just means they need practice on balance and coordination...and that is one thing Hopscotch offers...practice on balance and coordination!

P.S. When I took it over to the kids..they didn't notice!

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April: Finished, WIP's and Destash

Wow... April was  a crazy month!  But at the same time a great month of finishes, new creations and...not a single trip to the fabric store! And the thrift store didn't have any fabric this month either. But...I did participate in a fat quarter swap and swapped fat quarters I had with some other ladies for new fat quarters! Got some nice pieces. So in April,  my stash has not grown, my budget has not been incumbered and I was able to finish several projects and start a few!

FINISHED - Monkey Tote Bag

My grand daughter loves monkeys so this fabric was perfect.I bought it a couple months ago with her in mind. I didn't have a pattern, just used the basic size....13x15 rectangle with 3" sides, and lined with poly.cotton broadcloth and quilted/FMQ'ed with the meander method

  I added a side pocket on the outside and one on the inside, a front pocket and one on the inside. I did forget to add a clip or O ring so she could clip things on to it tho. Oh, well, guess that means I get to make her another one!

 
 
FINISHED - The "Nanny" Bag
Then I go to visit my 4 grand kids, I enjoy taking them a little "something". So I found this awesomely cute fabric....with little cats playing around in a sewing room... and made myself a tote bag! Yes, you read that right...made myself something! Most every thing I make is for others or for a house decoration, but this time...it was for me! I love pockets so it has alot of pockets inside and out! I used the quilting bar for the first time to do just square quilting lines..worked great.  I grew up with Mary Poppins and her "carpet bag" of treasures...had the books and the LP record (yes, LP record!) but never saw the movie until I was pregnant with my second child in 1982! But I still remember Mary Poppins and her carpet bag. So, I hope to create some wonderful memories for the kids of when Nanny came to visit! And I LOVE pockets, so this tote has pockets all over...that pocket there on the front has pockets inside it! Plus pockets on the sides and inside! I hope I create some wonderful memories for the girls of their speical times with me!

FINISHED - Traveling Sewing Book
I bought a  pattern from Craftsey but the instructions were very "minor" shall I say, but I got the idea good enough and created my own version.  I used batting on the front and did line quilting/FMQ just straight lines across and a  heavy interfacing on the inside. Then just added sewing necessities. 

Pin cushion and needle book, both velcroed so they are removable. A pocket for thread, pocket for other things (I gave her a seam ripper) a pocket for scissor and I added of my own idea...and zipper pouch in the middle where I put in some 5x5" batik charms. She loves batik and calls them "fogs". Last time she was with me I taught her how to hand sew and she made her own "pockets" out of charms,that she called "Nothing Pockets" ....because she put nothing in them! So now she can make more or create something else. I am happy to be able to help her create some memories!

FINISHED - Wedding Quilt..."To have and to hold.."
I fought this quilt the whole way.  Daniel Boone would have been proud of me for fighting this 'ol bear!  Everything that could go wrong, did and I ran out of fabric twice! But I learned to use transparent thread (on the top) and a really fun Scrabble game feature on the back with the bride and groom's names. But I finished it and got it mailed to the bride. It is 72x72.  I hope her memories of her special day stay with her always! Click here to see it.....>> "To Have and To Hold...From This Day Forward".

 

WIPS for April

Postage Stamp Quilt... I participated in a postage stamp square swap where I swapped with 8 other ladies, 100 each, 2.5" squares!   I had never done anything like this before so it was exciting to see what I would receive! Of 800 squares... I only received 2 that were the same prints as prints I already had! And NO duplicates! So it was pretty cool. In going through them all, I found many that had a single image/item on the square so I pulled those out with the intention of making an I Spy quilt with them. Need to collect more or create a way to use them with other sizes of charms to make the quilt. This will be a WIP for a while I figure!

I Spy quilt..... I am working on an I Spy quilt for my grand children. I was cutting 3.5x3.5 inch squares of my own stash of items, but didn't have enough so I offered out a swap with others for some charms suitable for the I Spy and my cyber friends blessed me with enough to finish the quilt! I will be finishing the top this week, and have to decide what to do on the back. Then make the book of the list of things to "spy"...then I am done...and get to enjoy it with the kids!

Reorganized My Sewing Room
 

 
I also reorganized my sewing room.  Having the sewing table and my pressing table with my chair in the middle is the most perfect way to go! I sew and then spin and can press and spin back to sew! No jumping up and down to press and now I press all the time! My "to do" list is on my bulletin board right in front of my face so I can always be   thinking of next project.And nice to have a window to open when weather allows! And the TV.. I have DVD's or CD's for that..no tv connection.  

 

My fabric is on 2 book shelves in front of my sewing table. I love just looking at the colors! I have them in color stacks with (usually) solids on the bottom and prints on top of each stack. To the far left in the third photo is a plastic 5 drawer unit where I have my scraps. I have the color taped to the front of the drawer to show what color is in what drawer to better help me organize the scraps. And the crewel flower picture... I did that, oh about 25 years or so ago!. 


April was pretty cool...I hope May will be too! I am particularly itching to get the I Spy quilt done and play with my grand children! They are going to love it!

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