Modern Eye Spy Quilt 36” X 50” I love the idea of an “eye spy” quilt! Not only will this quilt look wonderful on your little ones bed, but it is a learning tool as well. They love to spot all of the little images, and you can even make sure there is two of everything and than it becomes a matching game. It is also great fun to collect lots of fun fabrics to include in these quilts! I made this for my 2 ½ year old, and it fits perfectly on his toddler size bed. I used a pewter background fabric from Riley Blake (my new favorite neutral), but you can easily swap it for white, pink, black, whatever color that will match your child's room the best or is their favorite. Materials: *1 ½ yard of pewter fabric:we like Riley Blake Pewter for the background *1 ½ Yard of fabric for the backing * Lots and lots of scraps or ¼ yard cute for the “eye spy” fabrics. I used about 50 different fabrics in mine, but it will work with much less as well. Try to find fabric prints with items you child will love and recognize. I have monkey's, cars, scooters, apples, dogs, owls, bugs, and even a potty! Cutting: Cut from your pewter fabric (3) strips that are 2 1/2” X 10 1/2” (1) strip that is 4 1/2” X 10 1/2” (1) strip that is 8” X 50” (1) strip that is 18” X 50” Because there are so many different fabrics, it does not make sense to strip piece, so therefore you will cut 2 1/2” squares of all of your “eye spy” fabrics. You will need to cut (100) 2 1/2” squares. Each one can be different, or you can have two of each to create a matching game option. ** I had a print that was a scooter that I really wanted to include, but it was too wide for 2 1/2”, so I cut a piece that was 4 1/2” X 2 1/2” and it counted as 2 squares, do the same if you have any fabrics you would like to use that will not fit the image. All seams are 1/4” Stitching The Quilt Together: Start stitching your squares into rows of 5. You will want to create 20 rows that are 5 squares each. Press half of your rows seams all to the right and half of your rows all to the left (so every square on row will have a seam pressed to the same direction). The strips will look just like the picture below. Once all of your rows are finished, start stitching rows together to create 4 blocks that each have 5 rows, they are called 25-patches. Arrange them how you like and make sure that as you pin and stitch rows together that the seams are pressed in the opposite direction. This allows you to butt the seams which aligns the squares perfectly. You should have 4 25-patches that measure 10 1/2” X 10 1/2”. They will each look like the picture below. Stitch a 2 1/2” X 10 1/2” strip to the bottom of 3 of your 25-patch blocks and the 4 1/2” X 10 1/2” strip to the 4th block. Refer to the diagram below for the finished quilt layout. Now stitch all of these blocks with pewters strips together to form one long strip that will be the main center of your quilt. Finishing: Once you have the main center done, you will just add the other 2 pewter strips to either side, as shown in the diagram below. Once your quilt top is complete you will need to baste your batting and backing to the top and either machine quilt it yourself or send it off to be done for you. I machine quilted this quilt myself on my regular PFAFF sewing machine. I marked a cross hatch pattern, that is very easy because it is all straight lines. Once the machine quilting is done, just add a bias binding and you are finished! I just love this quilt and I love the way it looks on my sons bed! This is a free pattern courtesy of the Piper's Girls of Piper's Quilt. www.pipersgirls.com