i Spy Swap

I started blogging last Summer and very soon found some favorite blogs that I still follow today.  One of those blogs is Obsessively Stitching.  For months I watched as Care made i Spy quilts and hosted i Spy fabric swaps.  Basically, the quilt is made of 200 or more squares, each of a different novelty print.  They are made for kids to cozy up with and play i Spy.  Same premise as the books.  So anyways, I stalked her blog long enough and finally jumped in on her last i Spy fabric swap.  Basically, a bunch of women sign up. Each buys 10 prints, cuts 20 squares from each, and sends them to her.  You get back 200 squares...all different!  This is such a great idea because if you sew, you can imagine what a pain it would be to come up with enough fabric to make one of these quilts using just your scraps.  Here's the prints I contributed to Care's swap.

The picture sucks because it was taken at midnight, but there's strawberries, spools of thread, blue ribbons, hand prints, racing flags, cupids, clovers, Norman Rockwell silhouettes, guitars, and robots.

I was planning on making the i Spy quilt for Logan's 6th birthday in April.  He's obsessed with our i Spy type books.  So I was very excited about this project.  Then I had the idea to double up and also make one for my nephew's 8th birthday just days after Logan's.  I wanted to do both quilts at once so that I'd have a total of 400 squares in front of me at once and have more to play around with.  So I joined in LAST minute with a swap my friend Elisa was participating in.  In one night I cut another 200 blocks (thanks to my sis who did a fabric run for me.....thank goodness for cell phone cameras) and mailed them off the next morning.  Here's the blocks for Katie's swap at FabriKate.

More robots, horse, dino letters, chickens, floral with bees and ladybugs, school letters, more guitars, Noah animals, space, and candy hearts.

Elisa and I should have our squares by February 20th and then we're having a crafting day to get going on them together.  We can't wait!  Stay tuned for the progress.  And if you're interested in seeing what an i Spy quilt looks like, follow the link to Care's blog.  She has a Flikr group full of pics.