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Tuesday, January 8, 2019

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


6 comments:

  1. I love your mom! I think it is so sweet that you made her an I Spy quilt. I have the fabric for one (or more) but haven't yet cut into them.

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  2. Emily, this is so fun! How on earth did you have so many novelty fabrics? Do you trade them with people? That is really a fun quilt with lots of special thought going into it. Great gift for your mom!!

    needlendfoot@gmail.com

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  3. This is so sweet! I love that you were able to incorporate specific little details into the I Spy fabrics. The excitement in her face in the one picture, just makes you smile :) So I have to ask, how many squares will it take to make a queen sized quilt?

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  4. LOVE this story!!! I feel the same way...that it's time to make my own eye spy!

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  5. It's obvious it was exactly what your Mother wanted. Love the photos!

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  6. You are all so correct! I absolutely love this quilt. She gave it to me on Jan. 6th, 15 days ago. And I would estimate that the LEAST amount of time I've spent looking at each square, each day since, is 20 minutes.
    Emily's Mom

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