Planning a couple of I-Spy Quilts
 

I'm finally planning to get off my duff and make I-Spy quilts for my two granddaughters. I have stash and scraps from which I can get quite a few fabrics, but I'm wondering if there are other sources. I was thinking of using a French braid pattern, so would use many short strips. Jelly Rolls are cut in strips much longer than what I would need, and I'm not sure if a charm pack would result in long enough strips.

Any suggestions? I don't want it to get too expensive either, of course.

Maybe I should try to pick a different pattern.

how big of a quilt are you making? french braid may call for many many strips. if you have plenty it sounds like it will turn out great.. when i made my ispy, i used two of each so that the child can also play the match game. here is mine...
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I think that a braid pattern might be really busy unless you put a plain strip between each figured piece. I think a charm pack would be your best bet - there are usually at least 2 of each fabric so that you could do the matching game as Nan suggests. I've made several I Spy's and the feature fabric has ranged from 5" to 7.5" squares depending on what I had to work with. Have you done a Google Image search for I Spy Quilts? There are a lot of pattern ideas.

QuiltnNan ~ Really cute quilt!

Thanks for the ideas. I thought I would at least separate the braids with something to let the eyes rest. Using two of the same fabrics for matching game is a great idea...and I would need fewer pieces of fabric!

When it's an I Spy, I don't get too complicated. I figure kids just like looking at the pictures, but when I saw Nancy's just now, it floored me. That is adorable. I also made mine with some pieces the same for my sister's grandson Ethan.

A Nine Patch would go well, or maybe even a scrappy Warm Wishes. How are you at Dresden Plate? That just begs for scrappy.

I made on a few years back, using five inch squares in the corners in a disappearing Nine patch. I used a consistent color as the center block (which ended up being the small square), and various other solids as the sides and top and bottom squares. It turned our very cute.

Linda in MO

There have been several swaps on the board for 5" I-Spy squares. I participated in a couple and only bought 3 yards of fabric for each, and got enough squares back for a kid sized quilt. This quilt was made with fabrics we collected, but it is the same idea. https://www.quiltingboard.com/pictur...d-t266282.html

You could pick up a variety of charm packs from Missouri Star Quilt Company or other resources. When you click on the charm pack, it generally also has a picture of all the fabrics in the line. Then you can decide if they are usable for an I-Spy quilt. There are so many options. I like working with the 5" pieces. You can just leave them as is - add a sashing, or snowball each square.

Keep them simple and colourful. Maybe just 4" (finished) squares of all different fabrics sewn together.

I plan to do the D9 patch that uses white blocks and when subcut the white turns into the sashing. Real neat technique.
http://obsessivelystitching.blogspot...ring-nine.html