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Guest Blogger: Quilt Dad on I Spy Quilt Layouts

August 5, 2010 By crafterhours 13 Comments

Before we let Quilt Dad take over, we have a few things to say. As you might expect.

1) IT’S QUILT DAD! HOLY MOLY!
2) Seriously, a dad who quilts? Awesome.
3) We are anxiously awaiting the next issue of Fat Quarterly. And the blog article about quilt retreats makes us want to go. right. now.
4) Totally TOTALLY can’t wait to see what you do with your I Spy Swap squares!
5) Thanks for offering to letting us yank you in to guest blog!
6) Enough yadda yadda yadda. On to….

Hello, Crafterhours readers! My name is John and I blog over at QuiltDad. If you’ve never visited my blog before, please swing by and say “hello”.

As you may know, I am participating in the Spoonflower I Spy swap here on Crafterhours, and I haven’t been this excited about a swap in a long time! I am absolutely smitten with Spoonflower and the opportunity that it’s giving to artists and crafters to more personally bring their visions to life. I love all of the independent artists that are creating such cool, fun designs. It really opens up a whole new world of possibilities for sewers and quilters … like us!

I emailed Susan and Adrianna a couple of weeks back and asked if we would be sharing quilt layout ideas for all of the awesome 5″ squares we’ll be receiving as part of the swap. I should’ve known better. The response was, “what a great idea! Why don’t you write a guest post on Crafterhours and start the conversation?”

So that’s why I am here, and the topic of this post. Have any of you fellow swappers started considering how you will use the squares you receive? I’ve been thinking about it some (it’s a great way to pass the time while Spoonflower is printing all of our fabrics!), and I rounded up a few pieces of inspiration. Take a look at the photos below, and be sure to share your additional ideas in the comments!

Hmmmm … now how can I get S & A to amend their tagline to “sleeping babes. crafting moms & dads”??

—

OK, so my first idea was to feature the charm squares in rows, separated by solid color bars with lots of white (or gray, or blue) space, similar to this beautiful quilt made by Jona of Fabritopia fame:

quiltfront

Of course, a straight-up patchwork layout is always classic:

Munki flannel patchwork quilt top

I recently met the supremely talented Cherri House and have had many of her City Quilts patterns on my brain. This one in particular could lend itself nicely to charm squares:

City Green

What do you guys think about snowballs? This easy block is a fun way to use I Spy prints with a little more visual interest.

I spy full crop

Wonky stars are always a popular block choice over in the Flickr groups. This beginner-friendly block is a lot of fun when the center features a novelty print, like this example by MimiPark:

I Spy Stars: WIPing along

Here’s a Chinese-coin inspired layout suitable for charm squares:

quilt front coin I Spy

Ah, an old favorite – wonky square-in-square blocks a la Denyse Schmidt:

sophie's i-spy

I’ve always loved this layout, which I believe is from a pattern called “Slide Show”:

Sports quilt for Killian

I Spy houses … what a great idea!

I Spy Houses

Here are a few more inspiration quilts, all pulled from the I SPY quilts group on Flickr:

Henry Quilt Finished
I spy quilt
I Spy finshed
I spy for Donovan, 46x46, 2008
Peekaboo Quilt
I Spy for Christian, 48"x48" 2008
I Spy quilt

So what do you think? See any patterns that you’d like to try?

Thanks, John/Quilt Dad/Mr. Incredible! And we’d be happy to make it “sleeping babes. crafting moms and DAD.” Singular. Bahahaha!

Related

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: guest blogger, I Spy

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Comments

  1. Amber says

    August 5, 2010 at 10:16 am

    Oh how this makes me want to go quilt :) I love the wuilt by Jona!! Beautiful colors and I am really wanting to make a quilt with lots of white in it. I think it makes all the funs colored fabrics stand out more. Maybe my bed needs a quilt!!! Now what fabric should I use??!!

    Reply
  2. Tanyia says

    August 5, 2010 at 10:44 am

    Wow, I am not even participating lol but I have to say that Jona and Cherri House’s are amazing!

    Reply
  3. Kris says

    August 5, 2010 at 11:11 am

    WOW these are some beautiful quilts!!! Thanks for the inspiration, John!! I can’t wait to get my fabrics in the mail, cut them, and send them off!!!

    kris
    everywhereorange.blogspot.com

    Reply
  4. Ashley Renee says

    August 5, 2010 at 11:51 am

    And here I though I already had my mind made up on my quilt design!! How inspiring! I’ve been leaning towards the ‘rainbow’ patchwork of colors… now I’m thinking I might want to put some borders around…?

    Reply
  5. Erica says

    August 5, 2010 at 12:42 pm

    Thanks for the inspiration! I cannot wait to see what everyone creates with the fabrics!

    Reply
  6. jona says

    August 5, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    Thank you John!! What a treat to have my very first quilt in such fine company!! I really love Cherri’s quilt. It reminds me of a tile mosaic. She has such a stylish, clean look.

    Reply
  7. Cassie and Lou says

    August 5, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    This is great! Thanks for sharing. I’m actually in the process of making the SlideShow quilt for my niece as part of the Chinese tradition of the “100 Wishes” Quilt…

    Reply
  8. Belle + Bee says

    August 5, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    I can’t believe that was Jona’s first quilt! It’s my fave and probably going to become my inspiration.

    Reply
  9. Belle + Bee says

    August 5, 2010 at 2:19 pm

    IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE! My Spoonflower package just arrived:):):)

    Reply
  10. courtney says

    August 5, 2010 at 10:39 pm

    Thanks for all the inspiration – that first one is amazing. I was thinking of doing a disappearing 9 patch a la obsessively stitching, but now I am not sure!

    Reply
  11. jill says

    August 6, 2010 at 9:57 am

    hhmmm I thought I would be going in one direction, but with all these amazing ideas..I just don’t know anymore. Is there such a think as too many options?

    Reply
  12. happy zombie says

    August 7, 2010 at 3:01 pm

    I found your blog via John’s tweet. Love your blog! Love your name. Love this post! Don’t mind me. I’m just having my own little Saturday afternoon love fest.

    Reply
  13. happy zombie says

    August 7, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    The love fest continues…

    And I love John, and Jona, and Cherri. And I love your header. I love your tag line.

    And now I’m off to go annoy another blog.

    Reply

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