Another Smooches Quilt

This was a commissioned quilt. My friend Marybeth asked me to make another baby quilt for her (Sofia’s quilt was the first one she requested), and when I asked her if she any designs or ideas in mind, she said, "I don't know, maybe something with hearts?" Well, Smooches popped into my head. It's a bit big for a baby quilt, 51" square, but that's okay because it will be useful forever, right? Here's where we ended up:

Smooches is a free pattern here on my blog. Of course, this one, like the others, started with a massive pile of fabrics in colours she'd picked: peach, soft pink, green, lavender… 

On August 17 Marybeth, her daughter and son-in-law (whose brand new niece it is for) all came over to check out the pile of fabrics I’d pulled and choose some for the quilt. I showed them the photos of the three previous Smooches quilts and they loved the design. I’d also pulled some baby/toddler themed fat quarters that were part of a bundle I’d won from Fabric Nook last year. I thought a couple might play together nicely for this quilt.

Well, five of the six heart fabrics were from the fat quarters I had set out! It’s amazing how well they go together yet they are not from the same line. The light green floral is an older fabric of mine that I used for a quilt I made one of my sisters. It worked perfectly with the others.

Being blocked on the design wall

I wasn’t sure if they wanted white for a background, cream, but when I heard that the baby’s room was peach and grey, I knew Kona silver would maybe be the perfect background. They agreed.

This quilt goes together so fast (this one within ten days, and two or maybe three of those days I didn't sew) that I only took a couple of progress photos, the one above and one on Instagram of a few blocks. They originally wanted the top and bottom borders to be the same as the backing fabric, but the harsher whiteness of the background on that fabric seemed to clash a bit with the soft silver background so I went to my healthy stash 😇 found this Valori Wells Wish print by Free Spirit Fabrics that I’ve had for a few years, bought with binding in mind, so I had bought just a half yard. I thought it was perfect—there were even some soft grey stripey ‘ladders’ in it—so I took it to Marybeth to be sure she liked it and she did. I am so grateful for my fabric collecting passion over the past two decades. It has served me well. 

I knew two of the murals around my town would be perfect backdrops for the quilt. The pretty green heart on the side of the building where Green Heart Kitchen resides made a pretty cool shot.

A sweet girl named Karen helped me tape it to the brick

Of course the wind decided to frolic right then so I taped the left side down as best I could and jumped into the street, a side one, good thing, to take a quick photo of the side of the building to give perspective. Fun! 

Here's the back, a Bonnie and Camille print, back at home.

Perfect backing fabric! I had bought five yards a few years ago for a particular quilt (as yet to be made). There is enough left for another similar-sized quilt. Use it up! is my motto these past few years. 

And the label. I love that Marybeth is adamant about labelling quilts she commissions. She tells me what to write on it. I added the date and the little hearts.

Of course, I stitched her name in the quilt.

When I made the first of the directional fabrics, my favourite, the castles and unicorns, I had a conundrum: one fat quarter we’ll give you two hearts as long as the fabric is non-directional. I did some math and made the bottom of the heart as a flying geese unit but then I realized I would not have enough of the fat quarter to make a second heart this way.

A closeup of my favourite fabric. Marybeth's too!

What to do? Because the hearts go in both directions, I decided it didn’t really matter if rainbows or clouds that are ‘raining’ hearts were sideways or upside down. It all just works. 

Beautiful texture and not even laundered yet! Love Hobbs Polydown for baby quilts. Look and you can spot my initials quilted in the lower right corner. 

The first photo and the one above is a mural on the side of the building in Kingsville where an optometrist office is. This is significant because Marybeth's daughter and her husband, the auntie and uncle of Abigaille, are both optometrists in Windsor! 

I quilted it with a wandering hearts and loops motif that I’ve used on some of my other Smooches quilts.

Aurifil 2600 Dove Grey was perfect for the quilting.

Binding was done by machine using a celery green Essential polyester. I wasn’t sure of the effect of this fabric because the sort-of-stripes went the width of the fabric rather than the length. But they aren’t exactly lined up so it looks just fine. Was I glad I had enough for the top and bottom borders as well as the binding!

Rufus was watching the proceedings at home, so I just knew he would want to be a quilt model.

In our tropical oasis — we think the banana is 8 or 9 feet tall!

Quilt Stats:

Size: 51" x 51" 
Fabric: from stash; background is Kona silver

Batting: Hobbs Polydown Premium 100% polyester

Backing: Miss Kate by Bonnie and Camille for Moda Fabrics

Quilted: on Avril 58 087 stitches

Threads: pieced on my Bernina with Gütermann 100% cotton; quilted with Aurifil 100% cotton, Bottom Line in the bobbin

Linking up

My Quilt Infatuation

Alycia Quilts

From Bolt to Beauty

Songbird Designs