It was about this time in my last pregnancy that I took it into my head to make baby-to-be a heart quilt. I remember smiling over the post title, “I Heart You” which was doubly true – hearts for her and for you, dear reader, as we neared Valentine's Day, 2015. So much has happened since then, so much changed, but this is still true:   I love.

I love, I love, I love, I love... Twenty-five applique hearts recycled, love notes for babies like Eleni, who lack the storybook beginning that we all wish birth-day would be.

Over the past week, I basted, quilted and bound seven little quilt tops. My great big bolt of Warm & Natural batting was put to efficient use. Batting by the bolt surely reduces waste, whether quilts are large or small! Luckily I could baste these cuties on my table top rather than crawling around on hands and knees. It's the little things.

I did run out of basting spray (I buy batches of 4, which last me about 2 years) mid-way through basting the series. While waiting on my new shipment, I opted to pin baste one quilt in a 6” grid. Apparently that was not at all enough! Minimal straight line quilting ended up pulling the patchwork design out of whack. So frustrating! I can't say enough about basting spray. So much easier. So much faster. So very, very worth the extra cost, in my opinion.

Quilting seven quilts could have been a chore, but I played with the quilting on some and focused on pushing through on others, accepting my mood either way. I like the U-shaped rows I quilted on this log cabin design. It was interesting to vary the size of the U's based on the width of the fabric strips.

I'm also pleased with this loopy heart quilting, an all-over design I quilted on three of the quilts in this series. At first I thought I'd quilt all my loops as hearts, but soon realized that mixing in the occasional loop-de-heart was more to my taste. Sometimes a sprinkle is sweeter.

Bound, folded and stacked, it seems I managed to use a good amount of pink after all.  Well, look at that!  Now my pink fabric stack has been tamed to reasonable dimensions. Mmmm... there's nothing like a stack of quilts. It's like the lure of a fabric cabinet with all the colors, patterns and mix-n-match combinations.... only better, because it's fabric well used.

Yesterday we had some friends over to play in the beautiful autumn weather.  I roped the kids into helping me photograph my NICU series before the quilts are donated.

And so our hearts are full, healthy and healing.... one stitch, one day at at time.