Simple i spy quilt - use Heat n Bond to cheat instead of piece
Years ago, I swapped 4″ squares of fun i-spy fabrics with a group of gals online. And they have been sitting in a drawer ever since. While I love fabric swaps, the thought of piecing all these squares together, when some were cut better than others, to make a quilt, was not a task I wanted to tackle. Then I came up with this fast and easy way to turn these squares into an i-spy quilt, and was able to whip up this i-spy baby blanket in a single day!

That’s right – from collecting my materials to stitching on the binding, this quilt was done in one day. Had I chosen to machine bind instead of hand bind, I could have had it done in an afternoon! Instead of cutting all the light blue squares to make a checkerboard, and piecing all the squares together, I used the light blue as a background, and fused the i-spy fabrics on like applique! The squares were stitched down during quilting (super simple with a walking foot). Without all the extra cutting and piecing, this is such a fast quilt to make! I’ll show you how. You need:

supplies for fast and easy i spy quilt top

1 yard of background fabric
Thermoweb Heat n Bond® Lite
i-spy fabric squares (mine were 4″, and I used 40 of them)
Blue “wet-erase” fabric marker or chalk pencil
Ruler
Iron and ironing board
batting
Spray n Bond®
1 1/4 yard backing fabric
1/2 yard binding fabric
Sewing machine with walking foot

Start by cutting the Heat n Bond®. I needed 40 squares, each 1/4″ smaller than my i-spy squares – so 3 3/4″. Fuse each of these to the back of an i-spy square. It should fit nicely inside each of the squares, leaving a small border.

fuse thermoweb to back of i spy squares

 

Using the ruler and marker or chalk pencil, draw a grid the size of your squares on your background fabric – my grid had 4″ squares. I chose a plain blue solid, which helped my i-spy fabrics “pop” better than a busy print would.

draw grid for squares

 

Peel off the backing paper, and fuse each square onto the grid, making a checkerboard pattern. If any of the squares aren’t exactly 4″, just float them in the square. It won’t even be noticeable when you’re done – I promise!

fuse squares onto grid

 

Fusing the squares down won’t take much time at all… and then your top is done! Easy-peasy!

fused on quilt squares

 

Use Spray n Bond® to baste together the backing, batting, and top. Then quilt down with your walking foot. Stitch rows and collumns about 3/8″ from the edge of the squares. This will secure the edges down, while still giving you a great rag-quilt look after washing. Make sure you stitch down all four sides!

quilt down i spy squares

 

Then quilt down the angles, making an X on each of the squares. At this point, my son crawled on my lap to find all the squares… he loved finding the cars, frogs, airplanes, and more!

picking out the squares on the i spy quilt

 

After quilting, trim and bind your quilt.

i spy quilt top fused together instead of piecing

 

Then throw it in the washer and dryer to get the awesome crinkly, rag-quilt look. When you take it out of the dryer, you’ll notice a lot of fraying.

frayed edges ready for clipping

Just trim off the frayed ends, and you’re done! A fast and easy i-spy quilt… without all the tedious cutting and piecing!

i spy quilt made with raw edge applique squares

 

This baby quilt would make a great baby shower gift, and is easy enough for a beginner to make. There is no need to match points or press open seams, and no fancy quilting… just a quilt that will be loved for years to come!


To go along with our fun Quilt Week we’d like to give you a chance to win some fun goodies including this NEW Idea Book from Designer Christina Cameli!

Christina Cameli Book
Plus we’re going to include some of our favorite products to assist you with your next project!!300-FFUSE-FPO--CMYK Fusible Fleece HNB Lite

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2 Comments on Fast and Easy i-spy Quilt with Thermoweb

  1. Cecilia
    August 9, 2014 at 12:28 pm (10 years ago)

    Thanks for the great tutorial for a quick gift.

  2. Debbi Crowl
    August 10, 2014 at 1:44 pm (10 years ago)

    I love the quilt as you go quilting. I am just starting to get into quilting and I think that this book would help me out with the free motion quilting. I love the baby quilt with the personalization of the babies name!