I Spy Quilt Parade

I found some beaut quilts over at Sew in Peace.  Sandra ran an I Spy swap, and then posted a parade of quilts made from the swapped squares.  These two caught my eye.

The swapped squares were 5 inches.  This quilter wanted a larger square, so added plain sashing

which made the square larger and emphasised the colour.  Quite clever! 

The more I look at this one the better I like it.  The sash colour helps to define the rainbow stripes,

but because it's only on two sides the charm square isn't boxed in.

Instead of sashing the I Spy blocks with plain sashing, here the plain and prints are reversed.  It's effective, isn't it.  There are plenty more quilts on parade in the blog, lots of new ideas to try.

Flowers in a 9 Patch

I'm part way through a new I Spy setting but it's not quite finished.  So I though I would take the chance to share my latest finish.

This is Miss Emma's birthday quilt.  The top is made from two years worth of swap blocks in my group Primary Patchworkers.  The flower blocks were made in 2009.  Each group member supplied a box of fabric which went from member to member once a month.  Each person used the supplied fabrics to make a block in her chosen style.  Mine is the pieced flower bottom left hand corner.
The nine patch blocks were made in the 2011 birthday blocks.  I supplied pink, yellow and white fabric (leftovers from my flowers) and asked members to add some from their own stash to make nine patch blocks.  I actually asked for nine inch block when I needed eight inch ones, so I trimmed them all resulting in a large square surrounded by smaller squares.
I quilted in the ditch along the diagonals and then - drum roll please - I did a free motion outline in each flower block.

The backing fabric is a very pretty pink gingham with white embroidered daises scattered around. 

 Miss Emma likes pink.

I'll finished with a gratuitous picture of a Singer treadle machine, my mother's day present.

I like sewing machines.

Eye Spy Eye Candy

I had a look at a blog last week that had a fat quarter swap.  Any fabric was welcome, except I Spy and novelty prints. How sad!  Here, everything is a Novelty!

I've put up some photos from Flickr.  The linkback to Flickr or a blog comes under each photo.  Enjoy!

P.S. Don't forget the charm square giveaway - 4 days to go!  Take me there!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77828480@N00/7129293881/

Nice variety of charm squares in a star shape.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/felicityquilts/7155651330/

http://felicityquilts.blogspot.ca/2012/05/rainbow-i-spy.html

Five inch charms with a double sashing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bethadeezoo/6687844155/

Sweet and simple.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/93499134@N00/6888899605/

A wide variety of traditional blocks made with I Spy fabrics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50590626@N04/5590308939/

Appliqued circles on the sea and sky.

Free Motion Fun

I decided it was time to have a proper go at free motion quilting.  At Christmas I organised a present of quilting designs, gloves and a teflon slider to go on the machine bed.  I chose everything from Leah Day's Day Style Designs website.  You are probably familiar with Leah's blog  The Free Motion Quilting Project.  I really enjoy her posts and she is very generous with her helpful information and patterns.

This is the top I chose to practice on.  It's not too big, and it divides easily into four sections

 so I could try some different quilting patterns.  The squares are the I Spy #18 pack at Two Bits Patches.

First of all I stippled with easy curving 'U' shapes.  I worked from the centre to each side and back again, leaving four quarters to fill in with different patterns.

The first quarter got a squiggly line across the middle, then echo quilting each side.

Next was a squiggly shape followed by echo quilting.

Then, a paisley pivoting design.  This was the best ever, I had so much fun doing it.

Finally, an edge to edge bubble wand.  Hmmm, needs some more practice.



Here's the final result.  It does look like a practice piece rather than a finished work.  I had been avoiding free motion quilting because everyone said it was so difficult to do.  But I was pleasantly surprised with the result and I wished there was more space to fill. 

 The back of the quilt is a panel that I scored somewhere.

So, how do you quilt your I Spy quilts?  Do you use free motion quilting?  Will I be brave enough to try it out on a special quilt for a granddaughter?  (Yes, I was!)

Don't forget the blog give away for free I Spy charms.  You have until the 20th May to add your comment to the blog.

Celebrating a Six Months Blog with a Give Away

I Spy with my little eye a blog that has been going for six months. So, let's party!  I'm giving away a set of I Spy charms from my Two Bits Patches online store.  The winner can chose any one of the 6.5 inch charm packs.  There are fourteen different sets to choose from including mixed I Spy charms, cats, butterflies, Australiana, and boys or girls. 



I Spy #20 Sugar and Spice

The giveaway is open to blog followers.  If you're not already a follower, that's easy, just click your Follow This Blog button.  To enter leave a comment about which I Spy pack you'd like to win.  You can browse all the available sets here.  If you post a link on your own blog to here you get a second entry.  I will post to anywhere in the universe, so make sure I can access your snail mail if you are the lucky winner.  The competition will run until the 20th of May.

The quilt pictured was my Queensland Flood Relief auction quilt.  The appeal raised over $99,000 for flood relief in 2011.  My quilt raised $50, it was great to be a part of the solution.