I Spy for a little brother

I have a very close-knit group of friends my college days, though we don't get to see each other very often.  One of those friends, Devin, now lives in Australia and had his second child last year.  I love I Spy quilts and I had just done an I Spy swap with Val of Val's Quilting Studio at the time I learned of the expected baby.  So I picked out my favorites from the swap and went to town!

Shepherd "Sheppie" joins older sister Miren.  I made Miren a quilt when she was born and intentionally matched Sheppie's quilt to big sister's.  Miren's quilt pre-dates the blog but I did find a photo:

Miren's quilt used 5" I Spy squares and Kona Peach.  Sheppie's quilt has 4" I Spy squares and Kona Parakeet. This is the first time I've done intentionally matching sibling quilts and I like how they look and feel like they are in the same family. Like they belong together!

close-up of some I Spy fun

The back is meant to have meaning and connections for Daddy Devin.  The main fabric is a smiley face print.  A smiley face is the unofficial trademark of Devin's college roommate and best friend Josh, also one of the close-knit group I mentioned.  (And I noticed there is a smiley face in Miren's quilt, so they will kinda match!)  I didn't have quite enough, so I pieced in a leftover piece of the backing from the baby quilt of Josh's second child--Rainbow Elephants that you can see here.  Devin might not get the connection of the backing scrap but I know he'll get that the smiley faces are for Josh.  With Devin being about as far as one can be, it's good to have small things to make us feel connected.

I've actually had this done except for the label and about 20" of binding since October!  But Devin isn't great with checking his email and he did have a newborn at home.  I'm glad to finally be able to check it off the list and send it on its way!  "Devin's Baby Quilt" was on my list of projects needed for my PhD (Projects Half Done) with Quilting Gail and was #2 on my list of Q2 finish along goals.