It’s about time! Six months after finishing the last block, I finally squared up and assembled Finn’s Milestone Quilt top! For those of you new to this project, I made a quilt to document my third child’s first year–one block per month for one year of his life. I finished the blocks at his first birthday, and until just this past week, they have sat quietly reflecting on what a year it had been. You can see all of the blocks taken with monthly photos of growing Finn HERE.
I finished this quilt top two days before Finn’s 18 month milestone, which was the mental deadline I gave myself, so I guess that’s what I get for giving myself such a far-off deadline! But life with kids is busy, this summer was a whirlwind of new endeavors and family adventures, and it, like so many other projects, got tucked away out of sight and out of mind. I’m glad to have it out, quilt top together, and ready for basting and quilting. I won’t count on a Christmas finish since I have two other projects I also want to finish and Finn truly won’t mind waiting a bit longer, but I can hope.
So, Finn! He is as wonderful and cheerful as ever, growing into such a bright soul of a little boy. In these photos he’s wearing a shirt gifted to him at birth by Nancy, one of my quilty friends met through conversations over blog posts–thank you, Nancy!
I really wanted to get some photos of Finn wrapped up in his quilt, but he wouldn’t have it. When I tried, he enthusiastically shook his head no and ran off. When I flopped the quilt to the ground, he at first picked it up and looked at me as if to say, “What are you doing, Mama? This doesn’t belong in a pile on the ground!” Even still, this post is full of photos. I know you wouldn’t want it any other way!
When I asked Finn to put his quilt on his head, he ran off to jump on the trampoline instead, impishly grinning at me the whole way. He loves to jump, loves to run around with his older siblings, playing chase or attempting hide and seek. He loves “shooing” the chickens and exploring the natural world. Finn is so independent, and will often focus on a project (shaking a toy around in a bowl, or putting something in and out of an empty bottle, for example) for quite a while. If you will play with him, Finn would throw and catch a ball for hours.
He’s so much fun to watch, constantly learning and exploring the world. Finn is starting to talk a bit more, but still primarily communicates with “Daaa” and pointing. His signing is just now starting to take off, which is fantastic since we’ve recently discovered that he has hearing loss, same as his older siblings (and same as me, his mommy, although mine started much later in life).
I was finally able to lure him back to his quilt with a block tower. Finn loves to stack blocks and then knock them over! I love to play the game of seeing how tall I can make a tower before he decides it’s smash time. Unlike his big brother who excels in demo, Finn likes to help build just as much as break down the towers.
Once I spread the quilt out on the floor, Finn was all about it. I was able to get some fun photos of him playing with blocks on his quilt with fun little upward grins when he discovered that I was standing on a chair photographing from above.
Such a sweet boy!
Then of course, as soon as I was off the chair, he wanted to carry it around and climb up on it, too.
He loves flexing those muscles of his, and boy does he learn fast!
A little more about the quilt. I ended up switching around some blocks to get a better aesthetic balance. Since the quilt design developed as I went, I didn’t necessarily make the blocks in any order, so this rearrangement was pretty easy to accept. Sure, the final layout is different than the ones that appear in the progress posts, but that’s okay with me.
After I sewed all of the milestone quilt blocks together, I did a “victory lap” of stitches around the entire perimeter of the quilt, about 1/8″ from the edge. I saw Christa Watson of Christa Quilts encourage people to do this after finishing a quilt top, and figured it’s a great idea for holding everything together, especially when a photo shoot with a toddler is imminent.
Although Finn didn’t drag the quilt around as much as I thought he might, the victory lap was definitely worth the extra time it took to stitch!
Now all I need to do is get this layered, basted, quilted, and bound. No biggie, right? I think I’m going to use an all over boxy meander free motion quilting motif with my favorite neutral, Aurifil 2600-Dove in an attempt to keep it simple. I’m looking forward to getting this quilt into the circulation of family use, but am also savoring the journey.
Thank you for following along, and hopefully your final update on this quilt will be before Finn turns 2!
I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Friday. Gosh, it’s been a while! A flimsy finish is still a finish worth celebrating, though!!
Night Quilter 
I absolutely love the color combination on this quilt! MMMM!!! Your photography is amazing and your little boy is absolutely adorable. I really enjoyed this post. Would love to hear your favorite setting you use on your camera when taking pictures of your little guy.
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I love everything about this quilt. The sentiment behind it. The colors. The adorable Finn.
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ahh its so lovely and the photos show them both off so well! I have a favourite aurifil too 2400 a very pale pink that seems to go with everything though many not a boys blue quilt!
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Yay!!! He’s gotten so big since I “met” him. 😀 I recently pulled out a three year old quilt top and wished I had done a victory lap… I really need to make that a habit!
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Adorable son and beautiful quilt top! I love the picture of him kneeling in the chair with the quilt behind him. Thanks for sharing.
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Kitty, your quilt top and Finn are both so awesome!!! What gorgeous photos, too. I love the term “victory lap” – that’s one I need to do more often.
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Precious little boy and beautiful quilt!
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It’s fabulous, Kitty! I love the layout you ended up going with ~ I think it looks like a heart. Love all of the pictures, too.
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Loved watching Fin and the quilt grow!
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It’s gorgeous, he’s adorable, and it’s an all-around fantastic project. Well done. 🙂
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Not only love the colors in this quilt but the layout is wonderful.
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I love this quilt and the story that goes with it. Finn will have the memories and you will have photos at regular intervals of your third child during their first year. (Something I lack). The shirt looks great – I always buy large. He is such a sweet child.
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It’s beautiful. Love all the photos of Finn. It’s been fun watching him grow as you made the quilt. Great job!
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So sweet! Looking forward to the finish and wonder how much he will have changed by then!
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Gosh, he is so cute! Those eyes are gorgeous. As is the quilt. It is lovely and you will finish it when you can. Life is full and busy with your littles which is as it should be. ❤️
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I love this colour combo! Your pictures are beautiful and what a cutie!!
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This is such a sweet quilt. It’s great to have a quilt to commemorate a wonderful first year of your sons life.
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It was fun to watch this project grow and your son as well 🙂 Both are beautiful 🙂
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Love the wonderful photos of Finn and his beautiful quilt!
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The quilt top came together so well, Kitty, and once again Finn just steals the show. I just love the photos of him sitting on top of the quilt top and playing. ❤
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The top is beautiful Kitty and Finn is so adorable! I enjoyed seeing how the quilt and he grew during his first year!
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Beautiful photographs, and I love the colors that you used in this quilt!
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Finn doesn’t need any words to show how much he loves his new quilt 🙂 I’ve loved watching this milestone quilt come together!
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The childproofing step of a victory lap had me laughing! It has been fun watching this quilt evolve. What a cute bunch of kids you have (as I know Finn is not the only cutie).
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It’s so amazing to see how Finn has grown with this project. But he seems to have grown so much faster. 🙂 I just love his little smile. Hope you have a wonderful holiday with your family. They’re all at such a fun age right now. Merry Christmas!
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Finn looks so grown up in these pictures! I loved all the pictures you shared of him 🙂 The quilt top looks fantastic and I think the boxy meander quilting will look great on it. Looking forward to the finish, though I notice you have yourself another far-off deadline… 😉
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Just catching up on reading blogs – so glad I saw this. I have seen it progress, along with Finn, and it’s so nice to see the top finished. Congratulations!
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So wonderful! Great post, awesome son and gorgeous quilt! You are blessed!
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