Quilts for the boys

My daughter and her family are once again stateside after living on the island of St. Kitts in the West Indies. On St. Kitts the two boys shared a bed but now that they are in California their creative dad, Andrew, has built them an awesome bunk bed. (I don't usually use the word "awesome" but it just seems to fit in this case:)

Six years ago after retiring I started to make "I Spy Quilts" for the grandchildren. I managed to finish three and did the fussy cutting for some more. At that time I purchased this book by Marti Mitchell as well as a set of her templates. I loved the templates because I could view the fabric as I was fussy cutting from novelty fabric. I also made them "memory quilts" because I would cut two identical "pictures" to include so that they could find a match.

I always planned to make "I Spy" quilts for Henry and Raymond once they were back in the states and no longer in a tropical climate. Well the boys grew and grew, so the planned quilts grew, too, and became more twin bed size as I worked on them this summer. I had all the hexagons and triangles sewn together and wondered about colors for borders when, viola, problem solved! The above picture appeared on the Internet and aqua green or turquoise or whatever that paint color is called became my answer. I would not have thought of it on my own, but I think it worked out amazingly well.


This is Henry's quilt. I loved the multi-stripped fabric that I found. Not only did it have turquoise, but it also tied in the colors of the triangles and blocks.

The "H" and "G" are the only blocks that don't quite match. I had cut holes in that piece of fabric so many times so that each grandchild could have their first name initial X 2 that there was just no way to cut two of "H". I decided that maybe it was even preferable to have both of your name initials!

Raymond's quilt has gold color spattered triangles while Henry's quilt has green triangles with multi-colored circles. That is another reason way I was so thrilled to find the stripped fabric.

One of the things that I most enjoy about quilting is the color choices and the way a fabric color can change the look or make other fabrics sparkle. I love the color play.

I used common fabrics for the hexagons in each quilt, but I tried to make it so that each quilt had a different motif from that fabric. That way, they can "I Spy" on both quilts.

I decided to use fleece (really wanted minky but couldn't find it in the turquoise color or any other color that I really liked) for a backing. The walking foot on my machine did not do well with the fleece as I was machine quilting. I think that was part of my sewing machine woes. When I got the machine back from the shop, I just started quilting with the standard foot without thinking. It worked so much better!

I can't wait to see the quilts on their new beds and I hope that they always remember how much I love them and want to hug them every time they snuggle down to go to sleep! The quilts should be perfect for cooler weather.