Saturday, May 24, 2014

"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!

Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE
 
This post linked to the Linky Party for the day. Click on the "Here's Where I Party" tab at the top of my page and join us! Lots and lots of amazing talents on "display" 

Thanks for stopping by and...keep on sewing those memories!





17 comments:

  1. Absolutely amazing! I love the white sashing and the book that goes with it. Such a great idea. I am so pleased to hear that they are already creating wonderful memories with it.

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    1. Thanks Jasmine! I did some clues a bit detailed like...a cow with a blue nose...and the sashings help separate things, especially since they are small squares. I am going to let them have it this summer to take camping.

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  2. Great to see the finished quilt- and spy the fabrics I swapped with you!!!

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    1. Pauline..yes and thank you so much for swapping with me. couldn't have done it without you! I dont' think I would have been able to get so many unique images on my own! My 14 yo GD was here yesterday and I had her play it and she started thinking it was an easy game but then realized she had to get down there and look! She had fun too!

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  3. This is so cute! I need to gather some I Spy prints out of my stash to make one.

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  4. What a fun quilt. The kids (of all ages) will love spying for fun things to find on it! You are amazing.... Good work, Cheri!! Have a happy week!! :)
    xox, Crystelle

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    1. Thanks Crystelle! I played I spy many a times as a kid while we were traveling or somewhere where we had to just sit and wait for whatever reason.What a unique idea we had.... A mobile game to take anywhere...and no batteries/hand held device needed! LOL!

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  5. I love your I spy quilt, your grandchildren will have lots of fun with it, and lots of great memories! I'm on a bit of an I Spy "kick" recently, I made one for my grandchildren, and am now putting together 3 for the Childrens Hospital here. I'm using 5 inch squares in a nine patch presently, but am thinking of a snowball block for my next one. Great job finishing yours!

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    1. Sounds great. If I make another one, the squares will be a bit bigger, just to get more of the image visable. Good luck on yours!

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  6. Very cute and no doubt, hours of fun

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  7. Oh my, I love this SO much. Just gorgeous.

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  8. Such a special gift that will be a treasure for years I'm sure
    I'm a label girl so I love to see them - fantastic

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  9. What a wonderful quilt! I bet your grandkids are going to go crazy playing with it.

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  10. What a lovely idea. It must have been hard finding the fabrics. They will love it.

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  11. What a fabulous finish! Your grandchildren will love this quilt to pieces. And have so much fun with it. This is a quilt that will be filled with memories! Well done!

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  12. Ooooh la la! I love this I Spy QUilt and it has definitely inspired me to start collecting fabrics to make one for my grandchildren. How big were the squares you used I wonder? It is beautiful and I like the sashing too. I know the feeling of follwing the instructions to the letter and then finding out that things don't actually fit in the end - so dissappointing - but like you - I fudge and do the best I can. Great quilt!.

    Pauline


    perry94022 at hotmail dot com

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  13. It looks wonderful! Lve I spy! Want one soon!

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