Friday Finish: I Spy Quilt

Okay, so maybe I finished this on Monday.  I'm trying to be diligent about these link party things, so it's a Friday Finish.  From Monday.

Let me preface this by saying (in general and for my mother's benefit): No, I don't have kids.  No, I'm not pregnant.  No, I don't want kids right now.  No, kids are not in my near future, and no, you don't need to ask me if I think I might be "waiting a little too long for kids." 

But I do love kids quilts.  Kids get all the super awesome fun fabric because apparently grown ups can't like super awesome fun stuff anymore.  And, that super awesome fun stuff did not exist yet when I was a kid...the fabric industry just wasn't there yet back in the late 80s/early 90s.

WHERE WAS THIS FABRIC WHEN I WAS A KID?!  IT HAS THEIR CORRECT NAMES ON IT FOR KIDS TO LEARN!

Ahem. It's stuff like this that makes me like kids fabric now.  This is awesome and mark my words, I will find it and I will buy it and it will be for me and not some kid.  That's the bonus of not having kids.  I get to keep the kickass dino fabric for me and it won't get drooled on (much). 

Annnnyway.  So I made up a sample of an I-Spy quilt I've had my eye on (haha...see what I did there...fine, fine I'm done), which means I got to root through the kids fabric for cool things for the littles to hunt for while they're in the shop.  

I liked this one so much because the pattern was really different.  It's like peeking through a key hole at all the I-Spy prints. 

Here are a few of my favorites (the blocks haven't been trimmed yet, I promise they aren't that wonky for real):

And here's a few of the finished product.  26" x 39"...not as large as I'd hoped it would be when I started and didn't read the size on the cover of the pattern (I know, I know):

 

Now off to quilting!

I feel like I should probably be doing something else...Oh wait...

Catching up on all of my older projects on here is a bit of a pain, I gotta admit. But I said I would do it...that and my persnickety ways want all this stuff in one place. So in one place it shall be :-)

So my friends (who don't know each other, by the way) Bethany and Christy had babies just weeks apart, and I promised them both baby quilts before they were due. Well...it wouldn't be me if a bunch of other stuff didn't get in the way (school, work...) so they got them late late late!

Christy had a little boy, but wanted unisex baby stuff. I have to admit, that's a real trick! So many kids' fabrics out there are really, REALLY gender specific. Sometimes I wish there were more gender neutral things out there. After a couple months of agonizing, I finally settled on some puppy fabric because, hey, what kid doesn't like puppies?

So that's what each block looks like. A star, variable in persuasion, I think. Anyway. They were THE DEVIL. I had to block each and every one because they were all stretched and horrible. Pieceing just isn't my forte...give me raw edge applique any day!

I was definitely happier with it once I got the blocks together. Still a little wobbly, but hey, I've done worse lol.

So here is the "finished" product. Really, it's just the quilt top. I think it turned out to be about 45" square. I love the doggies in the cars!

I did crosshatching quilting on it. Our manager at the shop, Debi, showed me an easier way to get the lines straight than what I would have done, lol. Line the painter's tape up where you want it, and put the left side of the foot along the right edge of the tape and sew. Fail-proof straight lines!

Christy and Ben were really happy with it. I got it to them just in the nick of time...a week and a half later or so they moved all the way over to Denmark.

Bethany had her little girl just after Christy had her boy. So that little cutie needed a quilt too! I ended up doing a twofer for her...she has a young son too so you can't give one something without the other! Understandable. So I made 2 quilts, one for baby sister and one for big brother.

The colors are a little skewed...they are much clearer and brighter. It's a mix of cottons and flannels. It's an open domain pattern from...some website...I can't remember...lol.

This is the Prairie Window pattern from the shop. Bethany said he likes, cars, guitars and blue....so this is what I came up with. lol. It's deceptively big. I forgot how large the lap size is! When a pattern says lap size, who knows what size it'll end up being ... it's either be like, elf sized (like Santa elf, not Lord of the Rings elf...yes, I know, I';m a nerd, haha) or Andre the Giant sized. 10 points to anyone who gets the latter reference!