Textiles: I-Spy Alphabet Quilt

This is my current project: it's an i-spy quilt for a child. 'i-spy' is the name given to a quilt that incorporates lots of picture fabrics, so that you can play games spotting or matching up items in it, e.g. fish or dogs. This is a great excuse to buy some lovely, fun fabrics like this one with butterflies on it, which I got at Hansons in Dorset this week.

Lots of the i-spy quilts I've seen in exhibitions have seemed chaotic to me because their makers used only picture fabrics, so the whole thing was very busy. As with a painting, you need 'quiet' areas where the eye can rest. So I decided to include plain and nearly-plain fabrics too, like these which I bought as two packs from Hobbycraft some time ago. Just the sight of these colours made me want to start work!

I've started making nine-patch blocks (2" squares joined to make a 6" block) which I'll alternate with 6" picture fabric patches. I hope this will give an interesting structure to the whole quilt, while being relatively quick and easy to make. It's interesting to see which fabric designs work well in 6" and 2" pieces, and it's fun picking out different areas of a design. I'm using the quick nine-patch method where possible (joining strips and cutting them apart), but some picture fabrics require individual 2" squares to be cut out. This quilt design should also be flexible, as I don't yet know the required finished size. I'll just make lots of blocks, play around with them and use the leftovers in something else.

The other element in the quilt is this alphabet panel fabric, which also came from Hobbycraft. The size of the individual squares was awkward with the 6" blocks, so I think I'm going to cut it into four horizontal strips and separate them with the other blocks.