A few weeks ago I came across a matching game and carrying case tutorial by Chris Dodsley. In this blog post from 2017, Chrissie shows how she made a matching game for her grandson using two sets of an alphabet panel. I loved the idea and started looking for panels I could use to make my own matching game. I wasn’t able to find any alphabet panels I really liked, but then I found this adorable panel by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. It’s called I-Spy and comes in two variations, Spring and Bermuda.
I got two sets of I-Spy Spring and cut both sets into square blocks. With one of the sets, I made a simple quilt. The panel measures 24″ by 44″, kind of an odd size for a quilt without any borders, so I decided to turn the panel into a larger sized square quilt. This also gave me the opportunity to rearrange the blocks so that the colors were more evenly distributed. Since the panel has only 60 blocks, I needed to add 4 more blocks to make a square quilt. Luckily I already had Novelty Christmas Labels fabric by Makower UK in my stash that seemed to go well with the rest of the blocks.
To make the quilt slightly bigger (37″ square) and help the blocks become more distinguishable from one another, I added 1″ (finished) sashing borders all around.
With the other cut up panel, I basically followed Chrissie’s tutorial to make individual “cards” with each block. To give the cards additional body, I used fusible fleece rather than batting. I like using fusible fleece in applications like this because I don’t have to worry about the batting shifting while stitching around the piece.
This part was the most time consuming of all, since I had 64 blocks to turn inside out and top stitch. But the final product made it all worthwhile, don’t you think?
I haven’t yet made a carrying case for this game, but that will be on my to-do list for the near future! So, what do you think? Would you make one of these matching game quilts for the special kid(s) in your life? Which fabric panel would you use? Let me know in the comments below!
I can’t wait to share the carrying case with you once I get around to making it! 🙂