I Spy Quilt for the Fire Monkey

Occasionally, my son (age 5) will get interested in sewing with me.  This summer, I did an I Spy swap hosted by Val of Val's Quilting Studio.  I let Fire Monkey (my son) pick out his favorites and whenever he was in the mood to sew with me, we'd get them out and put them together into rows.  Mostly he'd sit on my lap and help move the fabric but sometimes he'd get on the floor and watch my foot work the pedal. 

I'm pleased to say that I finished it on Christmas Eve day!  We've had the top done for a while but I knew I had to piece a back and that held me up a bit.  I did most of the quilting alone but did save a few rows for him to help me with.  It's straight line quilting just inside each of the seams.

I did the back on my own but all fabrics were pre-approved by the Fire Monkey.  The sashing and binding are Kona Cardinal. I used red because that's his favorite color, and it's his favorite color because red is the color of fire trucks.

You may have noticed that there is a hand in the middle of the back.  I traced his hand and had him write his name, then I dated it and added my own label.  I like that it's in the middle and easily visible.  In addition to being a great way to record the history, he's still in daycare until school starts in August and I'm sure this will go with him frequently, so it's good to know it's clearly labeled. The day we made the label happened to be my birthday, so that's a nice touch, too.

In addition to choosing all the fabrics, Fire Monkey told me which ones went together.  There are duplicate fabrics and like things next to each other, both things I avoid in my I Spy quilts, but this one wasn't for me, so I really let him be in charge.

upper right

"Quilt for Fire Monkey" was #8 on my list of Q4 goals for the globally-hosted Finish Along. 

Upper right.  Note that this is where most of the fire fighter related squares are.

With this finish, I have officially earned my PhD (Projects Half Done) with Gail of Quilting Gail.  There were two parts to Gail's challenge.  The first was to make a list of all your UFOs at the beginning of the year and finish at least half.  I had 29 on my list and have currently finished 17, with the possibility of one or two more before the end of the year. This was the easier half of the challenge for me.

Lower left.  The pandas doing yoga are my favorites.

The second half of the challenge is that you must complete all project started in 2018.  Well, between 2018 Mystery Quilts and Quilt Alongs and babies that I didn't know about in January plus a few other distractions, I started several.  This quilt for Fire Monkey was the only one not yet completed.  I made it with a week to spare!

Lower Right

I'm so glad that Fire Monkey enjoys sewing with me!  I hope he continues to ask to do it and that we make many more quits together.