I Spy Quilt FREE Pattern & Tutorial!!!

I Spy Quilt 5" Charm Packs are NOW AVAILABLE in our fabric shop!!! These quilts are SO much fun to make, and the special little in your life will have hours and hours of fun playing I Spy! These quilts are fun to cuddle on the couch with, a really fun addition to a bedtime routine, as well as really fun in the car!!! I keep one in my car at all times and my kids have been well entertained while waiting for appointments as well as road trips. Can you tell I'm excited about this Free Pattern & Tutorial!?!

Our I Spy Charm Packs contain 80 - 5" squares of super fun kid fabrics, no repeats! Currently we are offering separate Boy & Girl versions, and throughout our Christmas In July Sale we are offering these amazing little charm packs for $30 each, or $25 each when purchasing two or more! After our Christmas In July Sale these charm packs will return to our regular value price of $35 each. Even if your schedule is full and you are lacking sewing time this summer, I highly recommend purchasing your charm pack(s) while supplies last!

Shopping List:

- I Spy Quilt 5" Charm Pack (includes 80 different 5" squares)
- 1/4 Yard of Frame Color #1
- 1/4 Yard of Frame Color #2
- 1/4 Yard of Frame Color #3
- 1/4 Yard of Border Fabric
- 1/2 Yard for the Binding
- 1.5 Yards for the Backing
- Batting of Your Choice (I use Warm & Natural)

Cutting List:

7 - 1" Strips of Frame Color #1
7 - 1" Strips of Frame Color #2
6 - 1" Strips of Frame Color #3

5 - 1.5" Strips of Border Fabric

5 - 2.5" Strips for the Binding (or whatever size binding you prefer to make)

I Spy Quilt FREE Pattern & Tutorial:

Step One: Arrange all 80 charm squares into groups of four.

Step Two: Sewing in groups of four, sew two squares together, then the other two squares together. To save time I don't stop between each pair, instead I chain stitch (continue stitching without overlapping) both pair. For the duration of this project, all seams are 1/4".

Step Three: After sewing the two pair of squares, iron the seams opposite so that one will lay to the right, and one will lay to the left.

Step Four: Carefully match the center of each seam in the middle, pin, then sew both sets together. Iron seam down.

Step Five: Repeat for the remaining 19 blocks of four squares each.

Step Six: Arrange the 1" strips in whatever color pattern you prefer. I arrange mine in a diagonal, but this is entirely up to you and what you like the look of best. This is the time to be picky and arrange them and rearrange them as many times as you like!

Step Seven: Add the frames around each block. I begin with the right seam, then the bottom, the left, and lastly the top seam.

Press all of your seams out and flat. Here is a peek at the back of my block:

Repeat this until each block of four squares has the frame sewn. Then, sew all of the blocks together!

Step Eight: Add the border strips. Before you begin, cut one strip in half, and sew each half onto another strip so that you have two strips that are 44" in length, and two strips that are 66" in length. Starting on the right side, sew the border strip. Next, sew the bottom border, left border, and lastly the top border.

Step Nine: Make your quilt sandwich. Begin by ironing the backing fabric for the quilt. Lay our the backing, wrong-side up. Add the batting. Then add the quilt top, righ-side up. Baste your quilt however you like. I have yet to quilt this sample because I am waiting for my brand-spankin'-new longarm quilting machine to arrive!!! If you have a longarm, awesome. If not (the following is how I have quilted ALL of my quilts together for the past 15+ years) use safety pins and secure your quilt sandwich. I pin through all three layers about every 4". This is entirely up to you, but I am very, VERY fussy about not making puckers and folds while quilting, so I pin, pin, pin. If you can't find your safety pins at the moment DO NOT use straight pins, get into your car (or Amazon!) and get yourself some safety pins. Not to be bossy, just been there and done that, and I couldn't give my first few quilts away when I first started because they were soaked in my blood - all from using straight pins! Yes, my first few because I'm a slow learner! ;-)

Step Ten: Quilt however you like. If you like to free-motion quilt, great! If not, ANY kind of quilting will be great, just make sure you follow your batting instructions and quilt the suggested minimums. For me, I like to "stitch in the ditch" or stitch between all of the squares on their seams, otherwise I really like the look of stitching through the squares on the diagonal. Want to be really fun and creative - try quilting waves or random straight lines! This is a FUN quilt so do what you love or try something new!

Step Eleven: Finish/Bind your quilt. I have made quilts with all different sized binding...some skinny and some fat. I love them all. For this particular pattern I suggest cutting 2.5" strips, sewing them all together, iron/press them in half with the right-side out, then I stitch them to the back, and top stitch them down using my machine on the front. I ONLY sew my binding on by machine, never by hand. Hand sewing is beautiful as well as traditional, but whenever sewing anything baby or kid related it is important to know it will be washed MANY more times than possible to imagine! Machine sewn binding is very sturdy and durable while hand sewn binding needs mending after multiple washes. As always, do what you like best, these are just my opinions and suggestions!

I have yet to quilt this I Spy Quilt because I am waiting for my brand-spankin'-new longarm machine to arrive! I'm SO EXCITED, can you tell!?! I have already prepared my quilt binding so I am ready to go as soon as I can finish the quilting, so the following picture is with the binding along the edges - when sewn it will be 1/4" skinny binding!!!

If you are interested in our I Spy Charm Packs and/or the additional fabrics, feel free to use the Shopping List at the top of this tutorial, or for convenience we offer the fabrics in a completion kit. Please leave a comment on this blog post, live chat with us, or message us on Facebook if you have any questions or if you would like to share a picture of your finished I Spy Quilt!

As always, you may use my Free Pattern to create and sell as many of these quilts as you like! No written credit to me is needed, but if anyone ever asks where you purchased your awesome fabric, please share our website!

Happy Sewing!!!

Pink & Purple Unicorn Strip Quilt

While I was on bed rest with my last baby the Pink & Purple Unicorn fabric from Michael Miller arrived. It was absolutely painful to not be able to get my scissors into it back then, but I did today!!! I feel like a little kid in a candy store when I walk through my shop choosing fabrics, and creating this bundle absolutely made my day!

Pink & Purple Unicorn Bundle

I wanted to make a quilt for my girls with these fabrics and decided on a strip quilt for several reasons but mostly because I LOVE making them!!! The strip quilt design is perfect for letting the fabric be the focus, rather than the piecing. The fact that I can quilt as I go feels like I'm skipping a step and saving time...although it takes me just as long to make one of these as it does any other quilt!

My Unicorn Quilt

The finished size of this quilt is my new favorite "Kid Size Quilt" or 40" x 60". The size of this quilt is perfect for your little to snuggle up with on the couch to read a book or watch a movie. We are big snugglers in my family, so we all LOVE and very much need our quilts to take naps, read books, watch movies...this is basic survival in this Diva's house! I used the seven fabrics pictured in the Unicorn Bundle (see above) and these are the cuts I made of each:

1) Pink & Purple Unicorns 14"
2) Pink & Purple Mini Chevron 8" (I cut 8" to create a 6" cut, details to follow)
3) Violet Mini Dots 5" for the top strip and 5.5" for the bottom strip
4) Once Upon A Time 14" (I cut 14" to create a 12" cut, details to follow)
5) Grape Ta Dot 6"
6) Pink & Purple Small Castles 12"
7) Pink & Purple Princess Chevron 8" (I cut 8" to create a 6" cut, details to follow)

To make a Quilt-As-You-Go Strip Quilt, you begin with the backing right side down.

Add the batting

Then, you begin by adding the first strip at the top. As messy as my layers look in these pictures, I actually spend a lot of time getting them lined up perfectly to start my first strip. After I have my first strip lined up I take the quilt sandwich over to my ironing board and iron all three layers at once. After ironing, I then pin a LOT to keep the quilt sandwich from shifting. I use straight pins because I am lazy and have gotten really good about not sticking myself constantly, but safety pins would be the smart choice!

The Quilt Sandwich

I like the heavily quilted look on my strip quilts so I spend more time than is really needed making my quilting lines, but this part is entirely up to you and the look you are after. I quilt in straight lines no more than three fingers between lines.