Interested in an Alphabet I-Spy swap?

15 years ago

I'm going through my I-Spy squares and thinking of quilts to use them in...

I think that an Alphabet quilt would be great for any young child, boy or girl. As in "A-is-for-Apple" and "B-is-for-Bird" and etc. With (26) 6" squares plus some sashing and some fillers, it will make a nice crib-sized or snuggly-sized quilt.

So here's my idea for a swap:

If each person chose an alphabet letter, and fussy-cut (26) nice 6" squares representing that letter, they could send in all the same fabrics and get back all different, enough to make an entire alphabet set. --OR-- we could each choose two letters and send in 13 squares of each, that way we'd only need a dozen or so people to make it work.

Has anyone done a swap like this before? Anyone interested?

Let me know, if there's enough response I'll put it together. - Cathy Palmer

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (91)

mollie_booklover
15 years ago
Although my monkeys are not precisely CENTERED, I made sure a whole monkey face is in the square. It would've taken more than two yards of fabric if I had exactly centered the figures.
So as not to disappoint any of the swappers, I am withdrawing my fabric squares for "M," so it is up for grabs again. Hope it is a succesful swap!
Michelle Reynolds
15 years ago
hello
the fabrics I listed I already purchased , I'm not worried if they are not all used there are fat quarter swaps and I can use them for any number of projects, I just wanted to pick them up wile I was there and they were all on sale so it was not oot much.
I just love this swap
I'm having so much fun
michelle
Related Discussions
WANTED: 2007 Spring Swap - Interested in Participating???
Q
Comments (77)
Updated 1. Terri 2. May 3. Linda 4. Teresa 5. Phyllis 6. Diana55 7. Sue (Goldgirl) 8. Jessica 9. Cathy Arabella Diane Catherine Adele Katie Michelle (Msafirstein) Alison Lori Stacie (girlsingardens) Karen Nancy Maryanne (earthlydelights) David Pauline Shaun Gina Andi Janet (Granjan) Diana Lori(316) Brenda (Msprettyky) Dolores (Finally) Janet (Chancesmom) Ann
...See More
Note to biwacko re: your I Spy quilt
Q
Comments (5)
Here are the directions I posted in December, when I finished the quilt. As you can see, each circle was separately lined with unbleached muslin, so the edges were already "turned under" and then I machine stitched them down. After finding that the 6" squares I got in swaps weren't quite big enough for the 9" circles, I cut down the template that I used to draw the round stitching line when lining the circles, so it is now 8&7/8" in diameter. My second Peek-a-Boo I-Spy was much easier to make, thanks to that change, and I have changed my original directions in a few places to reflect my experiences. 1. MAKE CIRCLES I lined them with unbleached muslin because it was cheaper and because I rather liked the effect of a bit of white edging peeking out on the rounded spots, but you could line the circles with their own colors: From the backing material, cut out circles (You are going to draw a line for where you stitch, so these do not need to be anywhere near perfect; just make sure they are big enough to take a 8&7/8" circular template and still leave around 1/4" for a seam allowance. Cut the same number of unbleached muslin circles, or--save yourself some trouble, though it wastes material, and just cut rough squares big enough to hold the colored circles you cut out. I used a 28mm Olfa cutter and an Easy Circle Cut "ruler" to cut the circles, having found one at a WalMart, though two local quilting shops didn't sell them. But so long as you make a round template for marking that 8&7/8" stitching line, you don't really need to cut out circles at all until after you stitch the colored "circles" to their linings. Then you trim all around them about 1/8" from the stitching. Before stitching, fold several at a time of the UNBLEACHED circles, or rough squares, in half and make a slit around 1" long right across the fold in the center with your rotary cutter. This will leave slits of about 2". They needn't be neat, as they are only for turning the circles inside-out. Be careful not to make this slit in the COLORED circles, only in their linings! You lay a colored circle on top of each muslin circle or square, check to make sure that there is enough for a 1/4" (at the very least, an 1/8") seam all around--but this seam allowance need not be even, nor do the white and colored circles need to match exactly--pencil around the template on whichever side will show the marking best, pin it if that makes you feel better (I skipped the pinning on my second quilt, and everything was still fine.), and stitch right on the line you marked. Trim the seam to about 1/8". Turn. Use a pointed Japanese chopstick or whatever else is handy to push the sewing line out all around to make a smooth pancake-like circle. DH did a lot of that for me. Iron on both sides. 2. SEW THE CIRCLES TOGETHER Now take a stiff piece of plastic or cardboard that you have cut to approximately 6&1/4" square--maybe a bit more. You want it the right size so that its four corners will just touch the edge of the finished "pancake". I had to fudge a bit on some of them or turn the circles around until I found a position where the square did what I wanted it to. Draw a pencil line all around this square on each of the unbleached muslin sides. Pin circles together with the pins through the penciled lines, AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE HAVING THE POINTS OF THE PENCILED SQUARES EXACTLY MEET EACH OTHER ON THE EDGES OF THE TWO CIRCLES you are sewing together. You will see why this is important when you begin to sew different rows together. If the points don't match up, you will have one circle flap that extends out longer than its neighbor, leaving you with the choice of stitching across the tip of the longer flap, which makes for a less pretty center where the flaps meet, or--much worse--in making sure not to stitch across the too-long point on one flap, you will stitch too far away from the shorter-pointed flap and end up with a little hole between the "squares" that make up the back of your quilt. When you can't make the points match up, I would go for stitching across the tip of the flap that is too long. This sounds confusing, but as soon as you begin putting the circles together and rows or groups of circles together, you will see what I mean. 3. PUTTING THE WHOLE THING TOGETHER When sewing the rows to each other, be careful to put pins right in the stitching line between the circles so that the points of the squares on the back will match up. I messed up a bit on some of them. Then pin along the line where you expect to stitch the rows together, and stitch. You may find that your penciled lines (made along the top of the square template) are no longer a good guide for this stitching. At this stage, ignore them if you have to; just try to stitch straight in such a way that you go exactly across the tips of the lines of stitching where you first sewed the circles in a row to each other. I put six rows together in the beginning, but stitching the flaps down on top of the pictures became a bit of a nuisance when I had to keep turning the quilt around. So for the remainder of it, I did 2 sets of 3 rows each, stitched down all their circle flaps except those that were going to be part of the seam when I joined these rows to others, and after that, put the whole thing together. I found that even when I joined 3 rows to the last 3 rows and then sewed those 6 rows to the previously-completed 6 rows, stitching down the last flaps in the middle was not too hard. If it had been a queen-sized quilt or something, though, I might have had trouble with the small opening in my old Kenmore. 4. INSERTING THE PICTURE SQUARES I used 6" squares I got from a couple of swaps. So long as your circles and penciled squares and the way you stitched them together is perfect, this size will be no problem. If, however, like me, you end up with some flaps that don't meet perfectly at the corners of the pictures and leave a bit of the unbleached muslin showing, you will have to fudge and use indelible colored pens to cover it up. Probably 6&1/8" or 6&1/4" squares would be ideal. But if the squares fit the space in the center of the circles too perfectly, then you have the problem of their corners tending to stick up here and there at the point where two flaps come together. That is why I made a 6&1/4" square template to mark the lines for sewing circles together, although the fabric squares are only 6". When you have put several rows of circles together, insert squares of low-loft batting (I used polyester) cut just a bit smaller than the pictures. Put the batting right over the slit (which I don't bother to sew up) in the circle lining and position the I-Spy square over it. If you realize that any particular corner is likely to have exposed lining because the circle flaps don't meet correctly, then try to make sure that in THAT corner, the I-Spy square covers all the lining. Pin the 4 circle flaps down over each picture square; I used those bent quilting safety pins for this and they were great. One pin per flap will do the job. Machine stitch along the curved edge of each flap, then stitch an "X" right across the picture, from corner to corner. I did not draw lines for this, and maybe I should have, but if I ever make this quilt again, I probably still won't draw lines. Enough is enough!! "Done is better than perfect," and all that. I hope this explanation will help anyone interested in making one of these quilts. At first making the circles was so boring that I thought I'd never do it again, but putting in the pictures and sewing the flaps down was fun and I did do it again recently. Besides, when you have put the rows together and sewed the flaps, you're ALL DONE! No more quilting to do; no binding to put on! So have fun!
...See More
'Wild Kingdom' I Spy Swap
Q
Comments (1)
Michelle, I would like to be involved in this swap. I make charity quilts for kids and preemies so this is right up my alley. I have lots of "critter" fabric. Thus, I could probably share more than 2 or 3. I am so sorry I missed the ABC swap. goldie
...See More
interested in an I-Spy swap?
Q
Comments (19)
Annabelle, you are welcome to join us and I will work with you to ensure that you can participate. The issue is not that the postage is expensive, as this will be a centralized swap, so each of us will pay our own round-trip postage. If you send a smaller package, the postage will be less on the way in and on the way back. A larger package will cost more both ways. In your case, sending the package is straightforward, but you of course don't have access to our U.S. postage to send back to yourself. I'll connect with you via email to make shipping arrangements. Consider yourself part of the swap, and I'm excited to have you included! Any other international lurkers out there, who are curious or interested to participate? You are welcome to join us too! Contact me directly and we'll work out the details. Thanks - Cathy Palmer (who has set aside 100 "extra" squares for this swap yet still has at least 18 other fabrics to cut into swapping squares)
...See More
marty_mo
15 years ago
Mollie ~ Monkeys would have been great, sorry you are dropping out.

I have some fabric with music notes, bars, scales (whatever you want to call it) I have both black fabric with white print and white fabric with black print, I could do either or a mixture of both you want to include it with the selection, just let me know for sure.

Marty
deannabsd
15 years ago
I don't think I am interested in the swap but I know that there is volleyball fabric around that would work for V if you are still needing ideas. What a fun project. Hope to see some finished projects. Deanna
polardream
15 years ago
well, I checked and I have R - roosters and W - witches.
Let me know if you want them.
Sue
robin1962_2008
15 years ago
Hi,It`s okay if my ballet slippers won`t work.Just let me know what letters to find.It`ll be great fun to find the wonderful fabrics!! Robin
grammyp
15 years ago
They are violins, I will have to see how many there are left on the piece. I think I may have enough watermelon fabric too, will have to check.

beverly
polardream
15 years ago
I also have C for cats.
Sue
magothyrivergirl
15 years ago
I found "Y" - yacht - I live in "America's Sailing Capital" - why couldn't I think Y for yacht???? I was buying the fabric for something else & someone said that's a "Y"!
So I have the fabrics for
"U" - Umbrella
"K" - Koi
"Y" - Yacht
marty_mo
15 years ago
Hey Cathy ~ now that Y has been located, does this cover all the letters?

Marty
sewsew_quiltr
Original Author
15 years ago
Sorry I haven't compiled and confirmed the alphabet swap letters yet. I just started graduate school, and am working on my first homework assignment in over twenty years... Working on this quilt project will be my reward when homework is completed and turned in. I will be traveling for the next week, and hope to get the swap settled before leaving town.

Thanks for your patience - Cathy Palmer
grammyp
15 years ago
I have my potatoes ready to go. I checked the violins and there should be enough, but the bow is 6 inches long, so after sewing it will have the ends cut off, but the violin itself will be there. Is that ok with everyone?

beverly
magothyrivergirl
15 years ago
Cathy - In reviewing the list of letters, I see that Gwen has "S-Sailboats".
The "Y - Yacht" fabric I found is in fact large realistic looking sailboats.
If Gwen 's sailboats are juvenile print, I think that would be fine for Sailboat vs Yacht. If not this may be a duplicate. I ended up with 3 letters - I am more then willing to eliminate my "Y" if you can sub her boat for Y-or someone find another suitable "Y". I do not want to eliminate someone because of a potential duplicate.
Good luck in Grad School - I admire you doing homework after 20 years!
grammyp
15 years ago
I only have 20 violins, but will search the stash for something to finish with.

beverly
sunnycentralfl
15 years ago
Here is my tiny colorful sailboats...Hope this helps with your decision...Gwen
magothyrivergirl
15 years ago
http://www.joann.com/images/35/98/6/359869_z.jpg
I hope you can open this link to the Y - Yacht fabric for evaluation.
Gwen - your fabric is perfect for the S - Sailboats. Absolutely keep it in the swap.
There is a contrast between the fun sailboat & the sailing yacht - like in real life actually :). I am new to all this - so you all have the experience.
If someone can find a better "Y" - that's okay with me. I ended up with 3 letters & I have no small kids to sew for! I am good with whatever you tell me to send.
Thanks to all!
geezerfolks_SharonG_FL
15 years ago
Cathy, I'm finding I will not be able to join this swap, so please take out the flamingo for F. Thanks.....

SharonG/FL
polardream
15 years ago
Sharon and Cathy,
I have FROGS for F - lots of frogs! I will be happy to take F.
sewsew_quiltr
Original Author
15 years ago
Hello Swappers - Building the alphabet has been fun and challenging, to get the right mix of fabrics. Here are some changes:

@Sharon, sorry you won't be joining us, but thanks for letting us know. The letter "F" is open.
@micyrey, do you still have frogs?

@swappers - Are you OK with the letter "K" for Koi? Thinking about it for a while, I'm concerned that it may look too much like a Fish for a kid to identify. Let me know what you think about this one. Perhaps we can move this to the letter "F"?
((magothyrivergirl, send in your Koi no matter what, I'll take every one of them for myself and get you an alphabet back.))

@magothyrivergirl, I think the fabric you showed was closer to sailboats than yachts... let's keep the letter "Y" open for now.
Can anyone find yoga fabric? Would that be kid-centric enough?

@Beverly, send in the 20 violins that you have for the letter "V". I've got very nice colorful vegetables to fill in the balance, and can happily send you back a complete alphabet.

@swappers, how do people feel about Witches for the letter "W"? I had some swappers in an earlier exchange who were specific about not wanting anything "supernatural" or against their religious beliefs.
@Sue, let's see what the response is on this.
@Beverly, do you still have some watermelon in your stash to fill in a few if people are opposed to witches? You could fill in the amount for the few violins that you're short.

@Marty, thanks for offering the black-and-white music fabric, but I'm hoping for something more colorful in our alphabets. Since you have another letter in the swap already, I'm hoping that you don't mind if I keep the letter "M" open. We've made other arrangements for Mollie's Monkeys, so the letter "M" is available.

I'll confirm and repost the entire alphabet shortly...
grammyp
15 years ago
I do have 2 types of watermelon, one is larger than 6 inches, one is more like an illustration of a melon slice with a grid in the background. I don't have a lot of the first, but have a lot of the second and am willing to send which ever, or both.

I also have butterflies, bricks, clouds, fish, hearts, Thomas train, and Hawaiian shirts.

beverly
grammyp
15 years ago
I also have some fabric with smiling mouths on it (no idea why, but I do) would it work for M?

beverly
sewsew_quiltr
Original Author
15 years ago
- yogurt
- yawn
- yoga
- yardstick (but that would look like a ruler)
- yam (but that would look like a sweet potato)
- yak (has anyone ever even SEEN a yak?)
- yarn (found online: Red, yellow, green, blue and purple balls of yarn on blue background. Krafty Kitties collection by Shelly Benton for Henry Glass & Co.)

Hmmm... post any other ideas that you have.
Then we just have to find fabric to match!
magothyrivergirl
15 years ago
http://www.robertkaufman.com/assets/fabric/detail/EHJM-8609-91.jpg?1307915593
This is the K-KOI for your evaluation - for fish or K- The gold is vibrant & reflective.
Another idea for Y is Yo -Yo or Yankees (NY) baseball - I could not find either
I have a YAK in an alphabet panel - it looks like a buffalo with horns.
The quilt shop had an all over print of yellow corn on the cob. We distinguish between white corn & yellow corn - probably a regional thing! I thought others in the country would see it as corn (C).
Michelle Reynolds
15 years ago
hello
I'll just post a review of what I have
I --Ivy
c- clouds /// or s for sky
V - valentine conversation heatts
O -owles
T -train - but only enough for 12
T - teddy bears enough for other half
W- water mellons lots
R - rainbows

michelle
sewsew_quiltr
Original Author
15 years ago
BTTT (back to the top)

I'm returning from my business trip tonight, and will be able to focus attention on this swap over the weekend. - Cathy
polardream
15 years ago
Thanks Cathy,
I am fine with whatever you decide. I would like to participate with whatever letter you give me. I really appreciate all the work you put into organizing this.

Sue
anjea
15 years ago
What about yellow for Y? I know it's not a "thing" but it's readily identifiable by young children. A yo-yo was the other thought I had, but I couldn't find any pictorial fabrics of yo-yos, only the fabric yo-yos like from the 30's.

I'll take yellow for Y if that would be okay with everyone! I could also take K (kites).
Anjea
sewsew_quiltr
Original Author
15 years ago
* Posted by magothyrivergirl on Wed, Jan 21, 09 at 8:04
======================================================
http://www.robertkaufman.com/assets/fabric/detail/EHJM-8609-91.jpg?1307915593
This is the K-KOI for your evaluation - for fish or K- The gold is vibrant & reflective.
======================================================

All kids asked said fish immediately. We adults will know better, but seems best to consider these Koi as the letter F. We lost Sharon's Flamingos, but then had an offer of Frogs from miceyrey & Michelle & Sue/polardream as well as an offer of Fish from grammyp. I'm tickled to have people with (apparently) large stashes of fabric ready and willing to contribute to multiple alphabets! I'll contact everyone to finalize their contributions, aiming for a balance of participation.

So tons of coverage for the letter "F", leaving the letter "K" open. In my stash I only have 2 Kangaroos and 6 Keyboards left...
sewsew_quiltr
Original Author
15 years ago
Sorry Anjea, I didn't see your listing before posting the previous message.

K = YES! You're in with K-is-for-Kites!

Y = NO! Don't want just the color Yellow for the letter "Y", looking for an I-Spy image (though it is getting more and more tempting as a fallback).

Either we find someone to locate and purchase "yarn" themed fabric, or I will run the swap without filling the letter "Y", leaving each of us with that gap in our project.
grammyp
15 years ago
I will get the Y fabric. I should be able to get yarn fabric. DDs and I are going shopping tomorrow, I'll see what I can come up with.

beverly
anjea
15 years ago
Do we have a date for sending these out, address, etc.? I found some super cute fabric for kites, but I need to order it, so it'd be a week at best turnaround for me.

Anjea
marty_mo
15 years ago
Anjea ~ We don't have a date or address yet. Cathy is building the letters and will let us know which letters to send to her. However based on her posting (three above this one) you are a go for the Kite fabric.

Marty
grammyp
15 years ago
Still looking for Y. My regular haunts don't have any yarn fabric left.

beverly
sewsew_quiltr
Original Author
15 years ago
I found some fabric with yarn today, actually pictured kittens playing with balls of yarn so that it looked more like kittens than yarn, and the image scale was so small, too tiny for a great I-Spy. Not quite right.

Has anyone found "Y" themed fabrics for sale online? Post any info here, as we'll find a swapper willing to get that fabric as their entry into this swap. Thanks!
amazingcm
15 years ago
I found this one... more knitting..

Here is a link that might be useful: yarn
amazingcm
15 years ago
This one is just yarn

Here is a link that might be useful: yarn2
anjea
15 years ago
I found some Yorkshire Terrier (Yorkies) fabric where you can also choose the fabric color (yellow, anyone?). The Yorkie is kind of mean looking, though...
http://www.hotdiggitydog.com/yorkshire/yorkshire3.htm

I also thought of yin-yang but haven't found any fabric for it. Yo-yos are another options, but all fabric + yo-yo searches come out with the 1830's fabric variety.

Anjea
grammyp
15 years ago
Thanks Grace, I think I will get the second. The one I had looked like RJR's market place fabric but was just balls of yarn. Can't for the life of me think why I only got a FQ, and now it is gone. I'll order tomorrow.

beverly
sewsew_quiltr
Original Author
15 years ago
Hello swappers -
Thanks to amazingcm and anjea for locating fabrics to represent the letter "Y" in our swap. Thanks grammyp for volunteering to order fabrics! I just located the Timeless Treasures Yarn fabric (amazingcm's first example) at a quilt shop near me, so can pick that up if needed.

Now we're really close...
Summary of letter assignments soon! - Cathy
robin1962_2008
15 years ago
Hi,I found and ordered a great yogi bear fabric for y.Also I found zebra and a pretty white zipper on red background. If you want I can order them. Robin
grammyp
15 years ago
OK, I have my potato, violin, and yarn fabric all ready to go. When do we need to send it?

beverly
polardream
15 years ago
Just curious ... do we know for sure who is doing what letter, where & when to send?

Thanks,
Sue
robin1962_2008
15 years ago
Hi,Is our swap still active?I found some fabric today,pencils,umbrellas,watermellon,raindrops,cows,pigs, grass,just to name a few at a fabric shop I hadn`t been in for a while.It was so much fun!I`m so excited about this swap!Cathy,I hope your schoolwork is going okay,please let us know what`s going on as soon as you can.I don`t mean to rush you,I`m just starting to worry a little about you. Robin
mrseldoo
15 years ago
Are there any letters left in this swap?
hagar23
15 years ago
I have Q and E ready. Looking forward to this swap, wondering if it is still active????
mollie_booklover
15 years ago
Hi to all interested in this block exchange. For some reason, I sort of thought most of the letters had been claimed. I'm ready with some monkeys.
Michelle Reynolds
15 years ago
hello
I think this swap has stalled and I want to drop from it, I will use the fabric I bought for it in the fat quarter swap.
sorry
michelle
sunnycentralfl
15 years ago
Cathy must be overwhelmed with grad school!

My blocks are cut and ready to go....just like most of you.

Gwen
marty_mo
15 years ago
Has anyone heard from Cathy by email? I sent an email last Friday (27th), usually she responds quickly.

Marty
grammyp
15 years ago
I sent an e-mail also, but no answer. Anyone have her address?

Interested in an Alphabet I-Spy swap?

Comments (91)

Related Discussions

sewsew_quiltrOriginal Author

sewsew_quiltrOriginal Author

sewsew_quiltrOriginal Author

sewsew_quiltrOriginal Author

sewsew_quiltrOriginal Author

sewsew_quiltrOriginal Author

sewsew_quiltrOriginal Author

sewsew_quiltrOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

sewsew_quiltr
Original Author

sewsew_quiltr
Original Author

sewsew_quiltr
Original Author

sewsew_quiltr
Original Author

sewsew_quiltr
Original Author

sewsew_quiltr
Original Author

sewsew_quiltr
Original Author

sewsew_quiltr
Original Author