I Spy Swap

Recently, a friend from high school extended an invitation to those following her blog, to participate in an “I Spy Swap”. At first I had no idea what that could even possibly be, but as I read on I realized it was right up my alley and an amazing opportunity. Now, I like to sew, but I am NOT a professional. I know enough to get by; enough to hem pants, sew small blankets, or fix minor clothing issues. I attempted quilts for my brother and my sister when they each got married and they turned out…fine… I guess. At the time I was so proud of my accomplishment, but NOW, I’m a little embarrassed. I’m almost positive the quilts are falling apart at the seams and my siblings probably resist the urge to throw them away or donate them for fear that my feelings would be hurt. If I could do it over, I would have liked to put small binding around the edges and then send them off to a professional to Machine Quilt over the top of them. Maybe one day I’ll be able to do it. Anyways, back to the I Spy Swap. You sign up to be a part of the swap, then each member goes shopping- or raids their fabrics at home for 10 different fabrics with different images on them. You contribute 20 4x4 squares of EACH fabric and then mail them into your “leader/organizer”. They in return divide up the squares giving one or two of each design to each person, and then they mail it back to you. You end up with 200+ different patterned squares to make a quilt (for a child of course). I am so excited to start this project. I plan on turning this quilt in after it’s put together so someone can Machine quilt over the top of it. These are the squares I turned in: I love bright colors-if you can’t tell.

And these are the fabrics I got back.

Counting all the squares I got in return and the extra squares I have from my scrap bag, I believe I have 245 squares. Should be enough for a twin size (or slightly smaller) quilt right? I want to try and do a neat design/pattern for the blanket. I don’t want just a "plain jane" rectangular/square straight lined quilt. I want it to look like I put some effort into it, you know? I’m going to try and post pictures of my progress along the way...but I have a feeling that this isn't just a weekend project. Luckily, my Aunt Melba who is (what I consider) a professional and expert quilter has agreed to help me with this project. Can anyone say road trip to Phoenix? :) At least she can help me get it started, and give me some pointers along with some techniques. It'll be some nice bonding time. I'm excited. My sweet boy Clayton. He's excited for me to start on this project too.