Nesting for Baby | Mountain Themed Quilt | Whitney Beth Photography
 

It's DONE! This is by far the longest that it has taken me to finish one of the baby's quilts (and if I know myself - I'll be saying the same thing when the next kid comes along. ha!) Like I've mentioned before, I try and make sure things are even with my kids. I come from a huge family (oldest of 10) and I don't want my kids to wonder where their baby book is, or why Jones got a handmade quilt and they didn't. So I do this to myself every pregnancy to try and match the effort that goes into baby prep. (I'd just like to publicly say, "Stop doing projects!" to my 24 year old-kid-free self.) Anyways! The top two things that I wanted my kids to all have the same of was a baby book containing all the weekly pregnancy updates and then monthly updates of themselves, and a quilt. I really wanted to make a scene out of a quilt and learned more or less about aplique quilting. I am 100% sure I am doing it "wrong" in regards to technique, but it turns out how I want and I'm able to turn my vision into a reality. The quilt encompasses their nursery theme - which will eventually get shuffled around as more kids are added. I try and make it cohesive with the other kids since eventually they'll be sharing rooms. (Take Jones' adventure + hot air balloons and Fields' woodland theme - easy to merge together.) My kids' quilts are also where I stick a lot of meaning and symbolism behind the design. Jones has Mt Hood in the background and hot air balloons flying over fields like I used to see out my window back home. Fields has pine trees as a homage to Oregon as well as his brother, Banks, who would've had a pine tree themed nursery. Now this little one - with his mountain theme has the rolling peaks of the mountain range that we see behind us and is the same view that Banks has from his gravesite - with a slight nod to Mt Hood in the background. This little babe also has a rising sun with brilliant sun beams since he's our little rainbow baby. I've been able to use scraps from the previous quilt and integrate them into the new one. So lots of meaning behind these quilts! I move them from their crib to their big kid bed and they use them almost exclusively in the summer. It's also when I get some quality time with my mom in law - she and her sisters have a giant quilting machine and we get to spend a morning together quilting it all together. So much love and work goes into these, and I just treasure them! So without further ado, little bird's baby quilt!