TGIFF! - Growth Chart Mania

Growth charts for my boys

Welcome to TGIFF!, where every finish deserves a party! This week, I'm very excited to share Micah's growth chart, which I finally finished! Woo hoo! And since I don't think I ever shared the other two, which I finished last year pre-blog, I'll share Patrick and Daniel's charts too.

When I first started thinking about this project, I sketched out a bunch of fun designs geared for young kids. I knew I wanted the charts on this wall right by the garage door, just off the kitchen. It's a very central space in our home so whatever was going to go there needed to last at least 20 years. While my kids might like something cartoonish or kid-like now, they probably won't when they are teenagers or adults so I decided to try the art quilt route and use some of the elements for each of their quilts: earth (grass), fire and water.

Earth/Grass - Daniel's growth chart

Quilting detail on Daniel's chart

Daniel's was done first. It's pieced and appliqué and quilted like crazy. I was trying to do something like Elaine Quehl's hostas, but it ended up looking more like grass. I'm good with that though. I also learned to quilt it or mostly quilt it before putting the backing on because it did go a little wonky in one area.

Water - Patrick's growth chart

Quilting detail on Patrick's chart

Next up was Patrick's chart with the element of water. His chart was the simplest to make, using just two fabrics in water area that have been cut up and pieced so it looks like the ocean (or at least that's what I hope it looks like). The quilting is also very simple.

You'd think the charts would get easier as I went along, but Micah's was the most difficult. I tried using repositionable spray instead of fusible web so that I wouldn't waste so much fabric by making it fusible. However, it was a long time between when I made the top and when I quilted it so some of the repositionable spray wore off and some of the flames came loose. Grrr! I stabilized it by doing some general all over quilting in a flame pattern and then satin stitched each flame down. A pain in the arse, but it looks good and I learned how to get a really good satin stitch point. Just don't look too closely because there are a couple of pleats sewn in. Oops. I then added some free motion quilting spirals as smoke swirls and added some more free motion flame quilting and it was done.

Fire - Micah's growth chart

Quilting detail of smoke swirls

Satin stitch detail

I'm going to be doing a growth chart for my niece. If there's interest, I could document the process and make a tutorial. Yes?

[Edited: I almost forgot! This is my One Week, One Thing Challenge for this month. Thanks Amy for hosting such a fun challenge every month!]

It's one of my finishes for Quilter in the Gap's Finish-A-Long!

I'm also linking up with Fabric Tuesday for the first time!