Quilty Pleasures Wednesday: Another Finish-I Spy Quilt

This will be a quickie since you've already seen this quilt top a while back and who wants to see the same stuff over and over again? (I'll tell you a secret: I do! I have many quilts bookmarked so I can gaze upon them over and over again.)

This is an I Spy quilt, a collection of novelty fabrics, each square different and chosen so a baby/toddler and his older siblings can have a conversation that goes like this: "Where's the violin?" "Is the duck taking a shower or a bath?" What squares are blue?" You know, important and heady back-and-forth repartee designed to someday save the world. (And who knows? That verbal ability we are encouraging with this quilt might do just that.)

I just had to use this shot because the sky was pretty and those purple flowers needed their moment.

It was hard deciding on a binding fabric because there were so many colors here, so I squinted my eyes at the whole quilt and saw more blue and red than anything else. It doesn't match the back, but let's not think about that right now.

The binding was fussy cut from this fabric. I wanted the checkerboard but not the stars.

I've been machine quilting small quilts and this was the third one so far. It's ironic that I like straight line quilting after purchasing the Bernina machine with the stitch regulator, but there will be time for more loop the loops in the future.

I found a quilting pattern called Big Diamond, Little Diamond, using blue painters' tape for the first diagonal lines. After that, I discovered the stitch guiding tool in the box holding the walking foot. Shazaam! That thing works!

I watched three Hell's Kitchen episodes while quilting, which is not therapeutic.  Too much yelling and drama. And I can't stand Elise. She would have been out of my classroom in a New York minute with that attitude. Talent or not, there's no room in this world for jerks!

I machine stitched the binding on this quilt, too. It's become my modus operandi, but if a quilt is going to be washed a lot, it makes sense. That's lavender in the background and the bees are loving it.

I hope Mikey likes this quilt and ends up taking it to college.

Quilty Pleasures Wednesday-An I Spy Quilt

I just finished the top for an I Spy Quilt, something easy and fun you can put together in a day or so. I cringe when I say this because the baby boy who is on the receiving end is almost a toddler. Nonetheless, I had other quilts ahead of this one and now it's this guy's turn. I'm going to machine quilt this one myself, since I had practice last week on the One Block Wonder quilt and am hearing "The Theme From Rocky" in my head.

For non quilty peeps, an I Spy quilt is a variety of different prints, novelty fabrics that each have a name. This quilt has spaceships, dogs, cats, balloons, peas, flags, and, well, you get the idea. You can click on the photo for a closer look.

Do you like my quilt weights?

Since the almost owner of this quilt has a brother and a sister, they can help Mom by asking stuff like, "Where's the dinosaur?" while she goes to the spa and gets a massage.

Or, say, "Point to the doggies!" "It's an excellent vocabulary builder," says the former English teacher.

Don't worry, MBB, I am sewing the binding onto your quilt today. It's all cut and ready to go. 

While I was out photographing the quilt, I noticed the clouds massing, like they do in the afternoons during monsoon season. We've had an inch of rain in the past couple days, so I am hoping for more in a couple hours.