I Spy Quilt for Mom--Last Finish of 2018

I have one finish from 2018 that I haven't shared yet.  I finished it on New Year's Eve (getting it in at the last minute!) but didn't gift it until January 6th.

While I was pregnant, I made a twin bed-sized I Spy quilt for my future child.  (That quilt predates the blog, but a photo makes an appearance here.)  I later made a similar quilt, also a twin size, for my niece.  My mom told me that what she really wants is an I Spy quilt.  So I made her one!  See, I Spy quilts are not just for kids!

Like the other two, this is a twin size and has 192 I Spy squares.  I avoided duplicates based on my own thinking.  What I mean by that is, for example, a pirate ship and a sail boat are not the same thing.  I know that this has sunflowers, lily of the valley, and dogwood blossoms.  Those are all flowers, but they aren't the same.  They also all happen to have meaning.

I tried to pick as many squares as I could that have special meaning.  A few are children's book characters.  There are items that are associated with family vacations, favorite foods, favorite animals, school mascots, in jokes, etc.  Of the mental list of things I wanted to include, the only things I didn't find are Coke (her favorite beverage for most of my life) and a tiger (her Chinese astrology sign).  I love this picture because she clearly just saw something and is excited about it.

You can kind of see the back in the picture above.  I realize that I didn't get any pictures of the back.  There are four fabrics.  Three are cowboy/western themed that she bought, didn't use, then gave to me.  I've used them in I Spy quilts and swaps but in two cases, had a lot left.  I used those for the majority of the back and used a book print (we are both librarians) to fill in what was still needed. 

When I asked what color background she wanted, she told me her favorite color is purple, which of course I knew.  I wasn't sure what shade, though.  She said she wanted purple like royalty.  This is Kona Hibiscus.  She seemed pleased with it.

This was #2 on my list of Q4 goals for the globally-hosted Finish Along.  It was also on my list of UFOs to finish to earn my PhD (Projects Half Done) with Quilting Gail.

I'm so excited that I got to gift it in person and that she seems to absolutely love it.  An I Spy for my bed, queen size, is next for me in terms of I Spy projects.  I just love looking at them so much that now *I* want one!

Happy Mom with her new quilt