Life

Introducing Baby Finn: My Epic Friday Finish

June 8, 2015 kittywilkin 42 Comments

I am so excited to introduce the newest member of our family: Finnian Steven Wilkin, born at 5:59am on Friday June 5th. He weighed in at 9lb 3oz and 21 inches long, and has been warmly welcomed by his big siblings (even if his big brother insists his name is “Taco”)! His birth was smooth and completely natural, and we are all doing great!

Finnian's first photo — Finnian’s first photo

For those of you on Instagram and Facebook, you’ve already been introduced to baby Finn as my epic Friday finish. I’ve been doing a whole lot of cuddling and snuggling and nursing, and as Finn sleeps peacefully in his daddy’s arms, I figured it’s a perfect time to share our happy news here.

What better way to introduce you to my newest bundle of joy than through photos? Here are a few photographs of Finn at 3 days old.

Since Finn’s birth, I’ve been thinking that he really needs a quilt. I’ve decided to make child sized rainbow quilts, since Maddie loves hers so much. I have a few design ideas in mind, and plan to pair rainbowy goodness (which we know is in good supply in my fabric stash) with either low volumes–for one design idea–or black–for the other design idea. I probably will go with both designs since Max still needs a quilt, too.

Here are a few of the new stash additions that I plan to use in these quilts. They definitely need to be properly photographed and described in a stash post, but that will come in time. I’m eager to put all of these to good use and create more beautiful things for my children.

I really can’t wait to put this rainbow fat eighths roll to use in some quilts!

Now begins my transition back to snuggling a newborn, and sewing in very small increments. I will focus on appreciating every moment, and remembering that creating 20 minutes at a time results in a finish eventually. I’ve learned that taking those 20 minutes to create each day is so essential to my balance, and being happy and balanced will benefit my whole family.

As I enter this next phase of my journey, know that I read and appreciate every single comment on here, even if my responses dwindle or are quite delayed in the coming weeks. I will still try to reply to all of you, but baby snuggles trump all (as we all know!). Thank you for joining me on this journey, and I look forward to sharing the new inspiration that comes with every big change in life!

For the fun of it, I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday this upcoming Friday, and Molli’s Sunday Stash–does adding a baby to the family count as stash building!? If not the baby, then I’ll count this sneek peek at my new fabrics that have yet to be shared as my stash building!

Color Inspiration, Life

Color Inspiration Thursday {49}

June 4, 2015 kittywilkin 6 Comments

Since I don’t have any tiny pink baby toes to share yet (Go ahead, ask: Have you had that baby yet?), today I’m sharing more color inspiration from my garden. While the days have gotten pretty chilly lately, the flowers continue to bloom in earnest. Color palettes are made using Play Crafts’ Palette Builder 2.1 and my photographs. Matching solids and Aurifil thread are all care of the awesome Palette Builder!

Corresponding solids from left to right:
Bella Etchings Charcoal, Bella Thistle, Bella Orchid, Bella Violet, Kona Pewter, Kona Rose

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
5013 – Asphalt
2566 – Wisteria
4030 – Plum
2479 – Med Orchid
2606 – Mist
2445 – Victorian Rose

This beautiful Columbine was photographed last week during the last light before dusk. I love the varied shape of this flower, and how it looks so different depending on perspective. Here it is again, during a darker rainy day, from the top:

Over the past few days of rain, the peonies began to bloom. Peonies are among my favorite flowers because of the vivid, voluptuous flowers and bold color. The jewel-drops just add to the luxuriousness! (For the record, forget-me-nots are my favorite flower in terms of color, peonies are my favorite in terms of voluptuousness, and dahlias are my favorite in terms of geometry and perfect symmetry).

Corresponding solids from left to right:
Kona Magenta, Bella Boysenberry, Bella Violet, Kona Bordeaux, Kona Garnet, Kona Crocus

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
2545 – Med Purple
4030 – Plum
2540 – Med Lavender
1103 – Burgundy
2345 – Raisin
2566 – Wisteria

Corresponding solids from left to right:
Kona Plum, Kona Cerise, Kona Bordeaux, Kona Violet, Bella Betty’s Teal, Kona Grasshopper

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
2479 – Med Orchid
1100 – Red Plum
1103 – Burgundy
5003 – Wine
2850 – Med Juniper
5018 – Grass Green

I wonder what gorgeously colorful flower will bloom next! Are there any turquoise flowers? I’m thinking how wonderful it would be to have a turquoise flower right next to these peonies–my two favorite colors!

Design, Hand Stitching, Life

June Goal {ALYoF}: Summer Stitching

June 1, 2015 kittywilkin 15 Comments

I completely missed May for A Lovely Year of Finishes (ALYoF). It actually is a good thing, since I was going to make my goal “have a baby“. Here we are in June and I still have not had this baby, which means I wouldn’t have had a successful finish to link up anyway! (Enter: haveyouhadthatbabyyet.com)

For June, my goal is to have this baby! He absolutely must make his way out by the end of the month (fingers crossed for by the end of the week!) Since I know that I need to have some little quilting/stitching project in the works, too, I’m also going to make another small goal: to finish piecing the top of the English Paper Pieced table runner I started last summer.

While going through my mental list of old works in progress I could dig out and make a bit of progress on while waiting for this baby, I mentally stumbled upon my Sweet as Honey EPP table runner. I realized that the color scheme is exactly the same as my newly started summer placemats, and decided it would be the perfect handwork project to add to my active to-do pile.

When I last left off on this EPP project, I was planning on making the next row of honeycombs either orange or yellow. In looking at the bundle of fabric for my placemats next to the project, I am going to take a design turn and make the next row of honeycombs for the center Lucy Boston block (the one shown on the right, below) in the dark blue. Then, I plan on making a bunch of 1″ squares (or maybe more honeycombs?) with which to border each of the blocks before joining them together in a row and binding.

Color planning for the outer row and borders of table runner — Border option 1: burnt orange

I’m planning to buy a little extra yardage of one of the Moda Bella Solids from the August bundle from Fiddlehead Artisan Supply to complete the border squares, and am leaning toward option 2 above: the medium blue. I’m excited and think that this table runner will go really well with my pixelated summer placemats.

This is only a rough visualization of a placemat, but I’m excited at the potential outcome. It looks like even with only 8 colors, the aesthetic works for me. I love that each placemat will be different, and I am looking forward to playing around with color placement. For this progress shot, the half square triangles (HST) aren’t squared up or sewn together yet, and I may make a bunch more and play around with layouts before sewing them together. According to my initial math, I will be able to make a set of six (6) placemats with my bundle of 8 FQs. I may buy another bundle just to be safe.

In lieu of the popular “feet in the photo” quilt shot, here’s my 41+ weeks pregnant version, posted on Instagram a few days ago (and in posting this, I’m realizing I laid out the bottom row backwards in the photo above!):

I’m linking up with the June Goal Making party for A Lovely Year of Finishes, with a goal of having a baby (and maybe finishing the EPP piecing for the table runner top as icing on the cake). I’m also linking up with Monday Makers & Design Wall.

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Thank you for supporting my sponsors!