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Finn’s Milestone Quilt Finish: Two Years!

August 28, 2017 kittywilkin 20 Comments

Whoa summer! What better post to spearhead my return to blogging than this one!?

This is a bittersweet post to share. Finn’s Milestone Quilt, the quilt that I created to document his first year of life, sewing and photographing one block per month, is finally finished. It’s quilted and bound and was gifted to my sweet third child for his 2nd birthday nearly 3 months ago. Yes! Baby Finn is officially into toddlerhood and joining the ranks of the twos (I daren’t call them “terrible”).

Finn is jumping into the twos with a gusto, expressing his emotions and emphatically requesting (demanding?) “I do it! I do it!” for just about every activity in life. He’s a joyful, social boy who absolutely adores his older siblings, and thusly, mimics their every move. While heart-meltingly adorable, this poses difficult when the 5 year old pitches a fit and storms off in a rage because he can’t cut up all the fruit and vegetables in the house and make soup in a giant pot on the stove at 8 in the morning. I should note that if he ate the soup, I would have no problem with this plan. Finn will watch, then as soon as Max storms off, will exactly replicate his angry sounds and stomps and follow him in an adoring rage. Life is… fun.

Truly, though, I’m blessed. Even on the most challenging days, I know that I will look back at these years with longing, wishing for Finn to come ask for kisses only so that he can impishly wipe them off with a giggle, then ask for more. Remembering how magically a mommy kiss can heal a hurt, and how simply holding my hand makes even a fearful task manageable. Wouldn’t it be fun to be able to hold onto the blissful moments, and like childbirth, block out the chaotic torpedoes of childhood destruction? Or will I miss those too? Only time will tell. For now, I’m happy to have completed Finn’s quilt and hope to see him drag it around behind him on his adventures.

Now, how about a bit about the quilt?

After debating whether to use different quilting designs in different sections, or going with an all-over quilting design, I decided to mix it up. I quilted with a variety of Aurifil thread to blend with the different sections of the quilt while creating a variety of textures. I used 40wt 1148-Light Jade with 50wt 4093-Jade in the bobbin for the dark turquoise sections, using a free motion quilting boxy spiral motif.

I used my go-to 50wt 2600-Dove to quilt wavy straight lines with my walking foot in the lightest areas, creating a smooth flowing feel.

Then I used 50wt 2692-Black to stitch nearly in the ditch, tracing the seam lines in the black log cabin section. This helps define the log cabins while emphasizing their boxy nature. I like the way the squared quilting in the darker sections plays with the smooth flow of the quilting in the lighter section. I certainly need to practice my free motion quilting more, but I’m happy with this quilt finish!

I opted for the Stoff fabric that looks like birch trees as the backing, and honestly until writing this post, I forgot that I had mentally decided on the *other* fabric I bought back when Finn was 10 months old! Oh well, the birch trees look lovely, too!

I used a scrappy binding, perhaps for the first time, using up some of my black and dark grey strip scraps. I machine stitched the binding to the front of the quilt, and then hand stitched it to the back with 50wt black Aurifil thread. Normally, for a baby quilt I would machine stitch the binding completely, but I wanted some extra time to reflect on the making of this quilt, and stitch my love into it just a tiny bit more. Or maybe I’m finish-averse. I haven’t decided yet! Either way, I know that if the binding ever begins to fall off, I know just how to fix it, so no worries! I think it will be nice and secure.

I hand wrote a label and stitched it down with the binding on one of the back corners. Doesn’t it look delicious? For as easy as labels normally come to me, this one was tough. I wanted to write more than the usual “Made for x, by y, date, location” but also didn’t want to write a novel. I definitely could have written a novel. This will have to do. My love is there. My silly boy clearly knows it! (Click the photo above to see a larger version for easier reading).

So, thus ends the era. The exciting, fun, endearing, and so sentimental Milestone Quilt project has officially come to an end. Finn will continue to grow, quilts will continue to be made, but I can’t help but be more than a little sad that this project is finished. Next up: I hope to create a photo book with all of the progress photos and growth updates. One more way to drag this project out juuuuust a little bit longer! I will also be lecturing about this and other quilts to mark milestones at QuiltCon 2018 in Pasadena, so please come have a listen if you are attending QuiltCon!

I also started another version of a milestone quilt in my Summer Adventure Quilt, about which I’ll share more updates shortly! Just because you don’t have a newborn baby doesn’t mean you can’t create a quilt to document your days!

snuggling with Finn under his finished quilt — Early morning story snuggles with Finn and his quilt.

Thank you so very much for joining in with this fun project, and I hope it has inspired you to find ways to make the creation of a quilt a manageable task even when impossibly busy, and to find ways to document your days through the construction of a quilt. Here’s to the next fun adventure!

For direct links to each of the monthly posts, visit the Milestone Quilt page here. Later in the week, I’ll link up with Let’s Bee Social, Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, and TGIFF hosted at Finished or Not Friday since this is a pretty epic finish and I’m excited to finally share it!

Life, Quilting

All in a Year: 12 Months

June 6, 2016 kittywilkin 22 Comments

And just like that, all of the blocks for Finn’s milestone quilt are finished and my baby is officially one year old. They say “babies don’t keep” but somehow it feels like the past year flew by especially quickly. I won’t even try to pretend I won’t miss this project dearly now that it’s mostly finished. I do still need to piece the top and quilt it, so no worries–you haven’t seen the last of Finn and his quilt!

Within the past week, Finn has fully mastered walking and now prefers it over crawling. He joyfully walks circles around the house, his wobbly steps getting stronger and smoother by the day. This joy of walking certainly made this photo shoot the most difficult yet! I got one, only one, photograph of Finn relatively near his final quilt block, and while it’s not as clear as I’d like, it’s staying.

Twelve months is 12 months, and not even mommy’s most sincere and pleading attempts will keep a newfound walker from walk, walk, walking! Just as a reminder, here is Finn with his very first milestone quilt block, 11 long months ago:

Isn’t it absolutely mind-blowing how much babies grow and learn in such a short time!? Life is an amazing thing.

My big kids brought home a couple of balloons from their cousin’s first birthday this weekend (we had a full family birthday weekend with both Finn and cousin Reagan born 26 hours apart), and they have become the favorite toy for all three kids. (Safety note: Yes, I know that balloons are not technically safe for babies, so I will reassure you here that I only allow Finn to play with the balloon when I am directly supervising him!) I figured giving Finn something fun to hold was my best bet at having him stand still for even a moment.

Even still, Finn would rather walk around than stand still, despite my best efforts. C’est al vie. Such is life with a brand new walker!

Add an eager almost-four-year old big brother helper, and the majority of my photos looked like this:

or, more accurately, like this:

This is part of what I have loved about this project, though. It has given me an opportunity to sit down, reflect, and write about life in the current moment. By documenting each month of my baby’s life, I’m also documenting our life as a family. With our busy lives, how often do we take a moment to write about our day? I have loved that this project has given me the motivation to write, reflect, and document the joyful milestones in Finn’s first year.

Finn continues to have a sweet and joyful disposition, complete with his newfound ability to express frustration and flop himself face down, crying, on the floor. Overall, though, he is a happy boy and a super helper. He loves to help me unload the dishwasher, taking out each utensil and holding it up for me (as long as I’m quick enough to take it within a second or two). When he does that, I always say “Thank you!” and now it sounds like he says, “Thank you!” right back. This morning while I was getting dressed, he joyfully opened my dresser drawer and started taking out folded clothes, tossing them on the floor one at a time and saying “thank you” after each one! Oh, the innocence of babes!

Finn has helped take these blocks off the wall for the very last time. Next up is squaring up the blocks and sewing the quilt top together. I’m going to give myself a month in which to do it, since it feels like an attainable goal. Setting realistic goals is still something I’m continuously working on, and something this project has helped with greatly. As much as I may have itched at times to make extra blocks, or up the ante to two blocks per month, I’m SO glad that I stuck with my original plan of one block per month, since deadlines have a funny way of sneaking up on me. Sure, it took an entire year, but all of the blocks for Finn’s quilt have been made! A finished quilt is just around the corner.

For those of you new to this project, you can see the full quilt layout plan, HERE in the 3 month post. The blocks are all completely finished now, and just as planned! You can see the full progression of Finn and his quilt’s growth HERE or by clicking the “Milestone Quilt” tab at the top of my blog. Thank you for joining me on this journey! I’m not considering the journey over just yet, since I will check in with quilt finishing progress, too, with Finn’s help of course!

I’ll end this post with a few peeks from Finn’s first birthday party. He had such a great time!

finn 1 year old birthday milestone quilt — Cheerful boy + good light = sweet shot!

Here’s to many more years of growth, joy, and family fun!

I’m linking up with Design Wall Monday, and Sew Cute Tuesday tomorrow.

Life, Quilting

The Final Stretch: 11 Months

May 6, 2016 kittywilkin 17 Comments

I’ve been here every day, experiencing every moment, yet still it’s hard to believe my baby is nearly a year old. Finn is walking more and more, beginning to talk a bit (he clear as day said “yes” when I asked him if he wanted more milk last night, and “mama” is a regular), he’s learned how to tell me when he doesn’t like something, and his wonder of the world around him only grows. I know that he has a lot more growing and developing to do, but his milestone quilt is nearly finished. I had to laugh to myself a bit a few weeks ago when Finn threw his first fit. You know the kind, where he gets his hands on something he really shouldn’t have (in this case, a pony bead that he surely would try to eat), you take it away, trying to distract him with something else, but still he whines, arches his back and makes it known that he is NOT happy. My first thought was, “Awww cute! Finn learned how to throw a fit!” True tale sign he’s my third child. While it’s still a bit cute when he throws a fit, I’m sure it will get old long before he outgrows it. But still, he’s such a blessing. Looking at these photos, you’d never think he’d be capable of throwing a fit. Now that walking and moving is old hat for Finn, this photo shoot was quite a feat. Just about as soon as I set him down standing, he’d start to walk toward me. Adorably cute, yes, but jolting movement doesn’t bode well for clear photos. Still I managed to get a few good ones, and of course I’ll be sharing them here. This month, we had some friends over during his photo shoot (which actually happened this morning!), so his friend Ronin joined him for the photos. Ronin is a few months younger than Finn, but it was fun to see them interact. Here I was asking and signing to Finn, “Where’s your friend?” I’m trying to sign all the time to Finn and it’s slowly starting to show. He finally signed “more” while eating eggs the other morning, and I think is beginning to sign “milk” and perhaps “all done”. He seems much more interested in verbal communication, and it sounds to me like he says: mama, milk, more, Maddie, Max, water, yes, and perhaps a few more. The development of a human brain blows my mind. Once again, the highlight of the day was ripping the blocks off the wall. Here Ronin looks on as Finn takes the first block down, and turns to check with Emily (Ronin’s mom) to make sure it’s ok.

finn milestone quilt 11 months — How happy do they look!?

Once I gave them the go ahead, it was a quilt block grabbing, tasting, throwing free-for-all. Ronin especially enjoyed the tactile-oral quality control job. Such adorable kids.

As you may have noticed in some of the photos above, I recently found potential backings for Finn’s milestone quilt. While doing a bit of quilt shop hopping during Maine’s April quilt shop hop, I spotted two prints that stuck with me at Mainely Sewing. After walking through the shop, I found myself coming back to these two.

They are by Stof Fabrics, which is a fabric company unfamiliar to me before now. The fabric feels sturdy and smooth, and based in Denmark, I anticipate high quality. After much deliberation, I bought a couple yards of each print, just in case. I haven’t seen them elsewhere, so I thought it was a wise purchase.

To be honest, the print that looks like birch trees was the one I thought I’d use for the backing, until seeing them hanging next to the quilt. Looking at the photo above, I’m leaning strongly toward the print on the left. I love the pops of gold in both of them, since some of the fabrics I used in the quilt blocks for the front have gold details, and the square geometric pattern reflects the log cabin structure. I can see this quilt coming together, and it’s such a fun sight!

I deliberated over which photo of Finn to use for his 11 month block photo, since this one of him carefully standing is pretty adorable, but I ultimately chose the one with him leaning over, peeking out into the kitchen where Emily and Max were talking.

This photo seems relevant to his stage of life right now–wanting to get into the mix, discover everything, and communicate and run with the big kids. He’s getting awfully tall, too! One more month before he’s a one-year-old! I’ll check in again next month to share the celebration.

For those of you new to this project, you can see the full quilt layout plan, HERE in the 3 month post. You can see the full progression of Finn and his quilt’s growth so far HERE or by clicking the “Milestone Quilt” tab at the top of my blog. Thank you for joining me on this journey!

Life, Quilting

Upward: 10 Months

April 9, 2016 kittywilkin 17 Comments

It’s hard to believe that my baby will be a year old in less than two months. They don’t lie when they say “babies don’t keep”. Finn is in the final stretch, as is his milestone quilt. I’ll warn you now: I took a LOT of photos this month. If you don’t feel like seeing far too many cute baby photos, you may want to just stop here. The rest of you may want to get a beverage and find a comfortable seat!

Finn is itching to run around with his older siblings, and that motivation is clear in his movement and development. A few days before 10 months, he took his first few (three, to be exact) small, tentative steps. Were they to mommy or daddy? No! They were to big sister Maddie, with whom he really wanted to play. He has been mastering climbing down as well as up stairs, and absolutely loves to dance. His solo standing is now quite steady.

His quilt is growing, too. Creating the blocks has become second nature, and with the extra precut strips saved from previous blocks, the new blocks go together quickly. As anticipated, the toughest part about this quilt now is the monthly photo shoot. Finn was *really* helpful this time!

While I taped the blocks to the wall as quickly as I could, Finn was helping me sort the project box for this milestone quilt. In baby terms, this means pull everything out of the box then proceed to mix around as much as possible. Oh, and taste all the things!

Taking the blocks off the wall is also a really well known and delightfully entertaining game. This month’s photo should really look like the photo above. As Finn adorably revealed. I’ve been hiding an outlet behind the blocks all these months! In a house with a million outlets and hardly any clear walls, you have to make do! He’s so proud of himself.

Finn now has four teeth, and his top two grow bigger daily. You can barely see them peeking out in this photo. Such a sweet mug!

Playing throw and catch is another favorite of 10 month-old Finn. Here we are playing with my newly made repurposed denim ball.

finn 10 months milestone quilt — I caught this gem action shot with the ball in the air!

He actually has quite an arm already, and almost always throws the ball forward instead of behind him!

He’s just SOOOO big! There are those top teeth!

With teeth comes the ability to eat more adventurous things. Toward the end of the photo shoot I discovered one of the reasons Finn was so intent on taking the blocks off the wall.

He was aiming to eat the blue painter’s tape right off the wall! Must be delicious!

So there we have it. Ten months old!

Life, Quilting

Tipping Point: 9 Months

March 5, 2016 kittywilkin 18 Comments

Finn has officially been growing on the outside as long as he grew on the inside. (Well, if you want to get really technical, he has another two weeks since he was born at 42 weeks gestation, but I’m just going with generalities a bit). This feels like the tipping point, for some reason. It’s amazing to think about the amount of growth that has happened over the past 18 months. Mind boggling, really. 18 months ago he was simply cells, and now…. wow! Life is miraculous, there’s no doubt. With month nine, I’m now working on the final row of his Milestone Quilt. Only three more blocks until it will be finished and ready to assemble. That means only three more months until my little baby will be a year old.

When I was thinking about what monthly milestones he’s been working on and meeting, and therefore which ones I wanted to document here, I immediately thought of his experiments with standing. He is getting steadier on his feet and will sometimes *briefly* let go of whatever it is he’s holding and stand on his own. Up until the photo shoot yesterday, though, these standing bouts lasted only a second or two.

You can imagine my surprise when Finn stood on his own for a few minutes, albeit propped against the wall! There’s my 9-month old boy!

As you can see, he’s still putting just about everything in his mouth, chomping at the bit as his teeth work their way in. He still has only those bottom two, but his top teeth look like they are getting close to breaking through. The drool faucet is often turned on.

I’m really loving seeing his quilt come to life. It does take some restraint to make such a simple quilt in such a long, drawn out time, but I think it is so worth it. I’m seeing my quilt-making mature as I watch my son grow, and I’m keeping the project completely manageable. This month I’m proud to say I made his block a few days in advance, and did the photoshoot yesterday. I won’t try to count how many months saw a last-minute day-of rushed shoot and late night sewing sessions. This month, I’m winning.

One of Finn’s new favorite positions is on his knees. He “stands on his knees” as Maddie likes to say, and bops up and down, chewing on a toy, or dancing along to music or just about any repetitive sound. He LOVES to dance. He still loves to smile, too.

With his increasingly steady stance, he is exploring the world with earnest. Those little hands reach and grab, trying to figure out every little thing. I’ve had to reevaluate the “safe zone” height in our house, since there have been a few large items pulled to the ground due to his exploring reach. No worries–all furniture and large items are securely fastened to the wall. Fortunately, Max made that a necessity so we are well prepared for our next active boy.

Finn still loves watching the chickens, and has begun to “talk” to them, as well as to the phone when it rings. He’s working on waving “hello” and loves to interact with others, especially his siblings.

Finn 9 month milestone quilt photo shoot — Finn “talking” to one of the friends who was here during the photoshoot. An epic 6-kid playdate was underway yesterday, but actually made the day more harmonious since everyone had a playmate.

As a year draws near, I’ve begun to think about how I want to preserve these milestone posts. While his baby book has been sorely neglected, I do have these updates each month and I’d like them to be in a preserved form. I’m thinking I will turn at least the highlights of each post (the photos and milestone accomplishments) into a book via Shutterfly. That way, Finn will have his quilt and his First Year book to look back on. I love this project more every month!

Life, Quilting

Exploration: 8 Months

February 8, 2016 kittywilkin 20 Comments

If I thought Finn was on the move last month, this month takes it literally to another level. A few days ago, I was helping Max get his socks on in the morning and casually glanced over to make sure Finn wasn’t eating anything he shouldn’t. I am so glad I did, since Finn was three steps up, headed gleefully up the stairs! He can crawl, pull up to stand, walk along with movable items, eat solid foods, and now climb stairs. I think he’s beginning to explore communication more, too, since he clearly understands the words and signs for “milk” and “food”, and anytime he sees his brother, he says, “bop!” I’m hoping he starts to sign back soon, since then the fun really begins! This kid is amazing!

As we know, as Finn grows, so does his quilt. With the eighth block finished, this is really beginning to look like a quilt!

Every month when I’m writing this post and looking at the quilt, I think perhaps I should up the ante and make two blocks per month to make it a bit larger when finished. But then, when the monthly milestone comes (and sometimes goes before a block is complete… ahem, this month), I remember that the reason I am keeping this project small is that it is meant to be attainable and fun, NOT stressful.

I’ll keep it to one block per month and will focus on the fun. At 36″x48″ finished dimensions, I think it will be the perfect drag-around size for Finn. Plus, this way if he feels like he outgrows his quilt, it can go right into the memory box (in tatters, hopefully) and I will make another one!

finn 8 month milestone quilt — Such a helpful boy!

As you can see, Finn enjoyed helping with this month’s photo shoot. All predictions related to the complexity of successfully photographing a fully mobile infant were absolutely correct! All part of the fun!

Who knows what kind of new explorations he’ll be tackling next month! Maybe he will be able to help me tape the blocks UP onto the wall instead of just pulling them off?

If you want to see the full quilt layout plan, I showed it HERE in the 3 month post. You can see the full progression of Finn and his quilt’s growth so far HERE or by clicking the “Milestone Quilt” tab at the top of my blog. It’s wild to see how he’s grown in such a seemingly short time. Four more blocks to go! Thank you for joining me in creating Finn’s milestone quilt.

Life, Quilting

Inching Along: 5 Months

November 6, 2015 kittywilkin 21 Comments

Five months; five blocks. Finn very nearly grew faster than his quilt this month, but I managed to sew up his five month block during his nap yesterday, and we had a fun photo shoot as soon as he awoke. Thank goodness for #sewtake20! For those of you new here, I’m making a milestone quilt for my infant son, one 12 1/2″ block per month for one year of his life. You can see the layout I’ve decided upon here, and I’ve created a separate page collecting the photos and posts from each month here (or you can click the tab at the top of this page that says “Milestone Quilt”).

Finn and his quilt are quickly outgrowing the background I’ve been using for photographs, so I may need to get creative in the coming months! For now, we had a typically smiley photo shoot.

In the past week, Finn has discovered that he can actually move across the ground by running his legs like mad and inching like an inchworm. Boy does he put his heart into it, too! It’s so fun to see his intent face and his one leg kicking up like a donkey. He still is a happy, easy going, smiley boy and talks up a storm to anyone who will maintain eye contact with him.

finn 5 month milestone quilt — “Oooh…. what are these? Feet! Toesies!”

Finn has also discovered his hands and feet, so he’s slowly working on his yoga poses, starting of course with “happy baby”. He’s mastering the reach and grab, and everything goes straight to his mouth.

This month was the first month where Finn noticed the quilt blocks next to him, so he’s already begun to break in his quilt with baby drool and tough love. Reach. Grab. Mouth. Mmmm!

Next month I vow to make his block before the 5th, but in the meantime I’ll continue to love on this boy every single day. I am enjoying these immobile days as much as I can, since it won’t be long before this guy is cruising around the house!