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

I made one for my grand-nephew. I used 5" squares. It looks like a disappearing 9 patch, but I made it in strips instead. There is a 5" swap in progress on this site. https://www.quiltingboard.com/member...p-t289189.html. It finishes on 8/15/17. I just sent my swap squares today. You send in 8 packages of 10 each squares. So, you're buying either 8 fat quarters or 8 1/3 yard piece of "I spy' fabric and you'll get back 80 different squares. (If you use the 1/3 yard, you'll have some squares left over.)

There are also ongoing swaps on https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ISpyQuilts/info. We just finished a 6 1/2" animal swap (mailed out today). The next one is a general swap.

I'm really pleased with the quilt I made. I'm an amateur, so I still have a lot to learn.

bkay
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I made this one from rectangles - many of them were leftovers from fussy cutting.

https://www.quiltingboard.com/pictur...s-t268762.html

This comment is coming from a teacher with a teacher's perspective. Don't worry about making the squares large. 2.5 squares are just fine. Think of children's toys, games and books. Children like the tiny just as much as big. The child will learn to search by looking at the details and use two of each fun fabric. They will then find the two that are alike! Teachers created opportunities for little ones to match items all the time. (I made one of the Bridal Blue quilts, all 2.5 squares, and the adult I gave it to loved searching for the matches.) Children learn by matching details in objects and what a fun way to bring pleasure, adventure and lots of snuggles to a child than with an interesting "I Spy". Have fun quilty friends!

Bearisgray, I like your quilt! What fun to search!

I used a disappearing 9 patch to make an I Spy quilt. It made its own block borders and came out cute. Easy block to do.

I found I spy charm packs online.....Amazon I think.

what a fabulous idea using the D9P.

Make sure your images are small enough to fit into the square you intend to use. You could end up with a bunch of fabrics that have to be fussy cut to the the image in the square.

bkay

I spy is my favorite quilt, so maybe I'm over posting on this subject. However, I bought an I Spy layer cake from Missouri Star Quilt. It was on one of those deal of the day several months ago. I have not used it yet, but checked it for duplicates and I think they are all unique fabrics (there appear to be 2 dog fabrics in there). Since you are making 2 quilts, that might work for a French Braid quilt. Another thing you can do is make a matching game. You use 2 of each fabric so you can play both I spy and you can find the matching squares/strips.

Also, on our Yahoo I spy swap group, we will be doing a Jelly Roll I spy swap in November.

bkay

At the shop, we have an Accuquilt Studio with a tumbler die. So we cut 7" tumblers of 65 different novelty prints. I figured that if we sewed 8 rows with 8 tumblers each, and added a 6" border, it should measure about 45" X 60". You could use border fabric that represented the child's interests.

Wonderful ideas! Thanks for all the input. Seems like I have some decisions to make!

such creative quilts. I made one and gave it away to a woman who's grandson was Autistic. I did 1-1/2" hexes for it, and backed it with cupcake fabric, hand quilted it too.

I made some I spy of 5.5" blocks -- 99 blocks 9 across by 11 down with a 2.5" sashing between rows. Many of the prints I used are too big for 2.5" (x-wing fighter, pokemon, hot dogs,.....)

Thanks so much for all the information and ideas.

I've decided to make the Daisy Chain quilt
https://bloomandblossom.blogspot.com...orial.html?m=1

I will use two of each fabric as suggested. This pattern calls for 4 3/4" strips sewn into strip sets and then subcut on the diagonal to end up with four pieces ... perfect for two quilts with very little waste. For the size quilt I want, I figure I will need about 35 different fabrics, so I'm starting my collection.

I appreciate the information about the swap, but I need to complete the first quilt by early November.

Thanks again!