Thursday, June 21, 2012

{Post #993} I Spy Winners and Losers

The last little bit of sewing I've done has been on several different I Spy quilts...some new designs.  A doozy loser, a so so, and one I think might turn out nicely.


I tried a Twister quilt square with only a few blocks to see if my already-cut-out 4-1/2" I Spy squares could work.  I ended up having to cut them down to 3" squares instead of the 3-1/2" squares the Little Twister ruler would have made.  But that is OK...I just drew lines on my 6-1/2" ruler and flipped it around after cutting 2 sides.  A tiny bit more time consuming, but not a hardship.  


Here is the Twister one first.  The finished sewn piece with a 4 x 4 block setting ended up being 13" square.  I could see making 8 more of these and setting it 3 x 3 blocks for a 39" square quilt.  The small overall prints look much better than the large not-very-much repeat prints.  I don't know if I have enough to make 8 more blocks, but I can certainly look.


Getting started on the cutting:



Cutting complete:


Close-up of border print, ants, and apples:


All sewn up.  Thirteen inches square:


Now for the others, in no particular order.  

This first one is an actual pattern up to the black border.  I thought it was too long and skinny, so I added the extra rows of 4-1/2" squares on each side.  I plan to put a black with something bright on it to border each side.  I like the variety of square sizes...finish at 2", 3", and 4"...no repeats.  I might make another one of these but 50% wider and not use the 2" finished squares (because I sent all I had to Natasha).  


This next one is soooo busy that it hurts my brain to look at it.  You might want to take a second to prepare yourself.  Natasha and I had a fabric trade.  She sent me two pounds of I Spy prints, and I sent her 2 pounds of Thimbleberries back.  I hope we are both happy.  I have not heard from her about her package yet.  In her package to me were these 6-1/2" square pieces.  I had a (what I thought at the time) brilliant idea of using them as alternate squares with 4 patches of 3-1/2" squares of mine.  Should have just cut them down to 4-1/2" squares and used them in 11 different quilts!

Ready, set...confusion!!


After I sewed the alternate blocks and my 4-patches together, I added an entire row of 4-1/2" square to the top and bottom to make it nearly square.  I hate like the dickens to WASTE all those I Spy prints, but what's a girl to do?  I am thinking about putting on a thin solid black then a something with a bright green wider border on it, but honestly, I don't think I could do this to a kid!

~Joan

1 comment:

Teresa said...

I have read through several of your posts and enjoyed each one. Your pastor and his wife sound like very lovely and spiritual people. I think it is great that your church honored them as you did. So often people do not share the impact others have had in their lives until the person has died. How great tht they got to experience the love and respect they so deserved.

As far as giving quilts as gifts, li do that too, but only to people I know will appreciate the time and skill involved. To get an idea of colors, I like to visit their home and make something in "their" colors.

All your quilts ae beautiful!