crafterhours

sleeping babes. crafting moms.

I Spy Something Sorta New

By 39 Comments

Sometimes things come together when you’re not expecting it. I never thought I’d get excited about an I Spy swap, let alone become a hawker of gourmet I Spies. But that’s what’s happened.

As I was deciding what would go in the next I Spy assortment, I talked to my friend Kyra about it a bit. She took part in the last swap and helped sort it out, so she’s on the (very) short list of friends who a) understand what I’m talking about and b) at least pretends to care. She had a genius idea. What about a set of alphabet I Spies? Ding ding ding ding! I knew I had to do it because I want one myself. Yes. Sign me up.

We’re still building that set, and if you have a Spoonflower fabric suggestion for the set, pleeeease send it my way. I love that I’ve gotten some great suggestions so far and that it makes the whole effort more collaborative and fun. I’ve spent many, many hours combing Spoonflower and there are just. so. many fantastic designers.

So to accompany the upcoming set, I decided I wanted labels for my own project, and thought it’d be worth sharing. I dug through the Eden and Alloy sets and added a few squares from my swap stash. I’m obsessed with this work in progress:

The labels set is printed on Kona cotton and starts out looking like this:

A ruler and a rotary cutter make cutting these up a two minute task. I created both 4″ and 5″ sizes, knowing that Spoonflower I Spy loving folks have a lot of 5″ squares, and non-Spoonflower folks are more likely to have 4″ squares. And then there are people like me, with both.

I’m also in the category of “both” as far as deciding how to use these. I loved how they look with the full-size squares– and there are some prints that aren’t halved as easily as others.

But so far it’s the half-sizes that have gotten most of my attention. I’m working out the plan for sashing and a border, thinking that this will be bigger than a doll quilt but smaller than a toddler quilt. I’ve already had to say “hands-off” to K who wanted to run away with parts of it. I’m thinking my plan for this particular quilt as a gift might not work out they way I was hoping. Hmph. The cool part about the half-size cuts (two rectangles of 5″ x 2.5″ from the assortment/swap sized squares that were 5″) is that now I’ve got two A-Z print sets, ready to go. Really, the hard part is deciding which print to pair with each letter. Some letters have so many options. And if this is for a little kid, I’d choose different prints than I might choose for an older kid. I like to think about making the older ones work a little harder. And for grown-up I Spy lovers they can be really funny.

Whenever I work on quilts I get a little crazed to finish them. So I’m expecting to be back with an update in a few days. You can check the labels out in the shop. So far I’ve printed a handful of sets with blue letters, but there’s an option in the shop for special orders of other colors of lettering, if you fancy those instead.

You might notice in that top image that “Q” is for… quicksand. A square of sand-colored linen. In allll of the squares I have, hundreds, I had nothing for Q. I’m looking forward to the new alphabet set to remedy that. Have a fabric suggestion for Q? Lay it on me.

Comments

  1. Megan says

    Q is a tough one for me too! The only thing I have come up with is quilt. I also can NOT find anything for X! I have been looking for x-ray fabric and every time I click on a link, it is for a discontinued (or already sold cut of) fabric!

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  5. Kristi says

    This is a great idea. I have always been interested in Eye Spy quilts, but I love the idea of incorporating the letters with them. Great work!!

    Reply

  12. Leslie says

    How are there no queens on on Spoonflower? That really surprises me. If you want to make an older kid think try a fabric with racecars or runners to elicit quick. Or maybe a finger over the lips for quiet. Or ducks for quack, which might even work for a younger child.

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    • crafterhours says

      I’ve shied away from that print, even though it’s a favorite of mine, because it was included in at least one, if not both, of the swaps. It may reappear in a second alphabet set… part of the consideration set. :)

      Reply

    • crafterhours says

      Not rude at all, I love it! Adding it to my list! I comb through to check for scale and resolution and to look at how it fits with the rest of the set. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply

    • crafterhours says

      Thanks! There were a bunch here I hadn’t thought of. And now I think I need to dig back through my pile for “quill”. I might have one and I might’ve automatically jumped to “feather”. Although for now I think quicksand is kind of funny. We’ll see what my kids think. Ha!

      Reply

  22. Caroline says

    Quarts – any milk carton prints?
    Quavers – the musical note
    Quarks – the sub-atomic particle (spoonflower has a physics particle print i think)

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  23. tricialee says

    I like the Q is for Quilt suggestions, I think that instead of looking for fabric that depicts a quilt, you could actually just piece your 5 inch square. Although the pieces would be small it would be neat as 1/2 square triangles or something. Also, your W is for, is upside down.

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    • crafterhours says

      Yes, and I couldn’t decide whether to fix it, and then I realized I was “waffling”! HAHAHAHA! Okay, maybe I’m the only one who thinks that’s funny. But either way, I decided to keep it. :) Susan

      Reply

  24. Leslie says

    I neither quilt nor have an obsession for I spy, but I had a dream the the other night about a zig-zag I-spy in which the top zigs were brightly-coloured letters (as in alls a’s or all q’s) in fun fonts on a white background and the zags were the prints. I remember a lot of aqua, blue, red and orange. I hate busy quilts, so there must have been a row of solids between each zig and zag, most likely in a descending rainbow, knowing how much I adore colour. It would be cool to see someone bring this to life. Just an idea.

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