Modern Courthouse Quilt | featuring navy Pistachios

I can't get enough of the Modern Courthouse Baby quilt pattern. This is the fourth I have made. Someone needs to stop me. The pattern is just so perfect for highlighting a hand-printed panel while maintaining a minimal aesthetic.

modern minimal Courthouse Baby Quilt in grey and navy | Lovely and Enough
modern minimal Courthouse Baby Quilt in grey and navy | Lovely and Enough

This little guy was happy to be my quilt model while we were hanging out one afternoon. I mean, who wouldn't rather lay on a quilt on a warm fall day than go car shopping with mom and dad? And how perfect that he was wearing such a fun citron diaper, since I didn't manage to sneak any citron into this quilt. Pudgy thighs, stylish cloth diaper, quilt to be photographed: it was a match made in quilting heaven.

modern minimal Courthouse Baby Quilt in grey and navy | Lovely and Enough
modern minimal Courthouse Baby Quilt in grey and navy | Lovely and Enough
denim binding on a modern baby quilt | Lovely and Enough

Sometimes picking out binding and backing can prove tricky, but with my hand-dandy quilt consultant (aka boyfriend) along, it went very smoothly. First, he pulled this lovely lightweight denim off the shelf at Joann that matched perfectly. Navy with a bit of a fleck, I could not have chosen better myself. Then when I sliced it up, I realized the fabric is automatically on the bias. That is what I call WINNING in the binding fabric department.

For the back, I was hoping for a grey or navy lowkey print or solid. When the quilt consultant suggested robot for his nephew's quilt, I was rather skeptical. Robots? For a minimal modern quilt? However, after circling the store a second time, I started to appreciate the minimal nature of the robots he had chosen. As you can see below, robots won.

flannel robots for the back of a modern baby quilt | Lovely and Enough

This quilt should have arrived at is new home last week! I hope that the second little guy who gets to lie on it likes it just as much as the first.

modern minimal Courthouse Baby Quilt in grey and navy | Lovely and Enough

Check out the other versions of the Modern Courthouse Baby Quilt (named by their centers):

Minty Long-legged

Citron Hortensia

Navy and Citron Hortensia

Follow the progress of this quilt with the links below:

Piecing

Navy and Grey Courthouse Baby Quilt in Progress

I have found my go-to baby quilt pattern. This Spring, my Mom made a modern baby quilt that highlighted one of hand-printed fabrics, and just like that, she started an addiction. This is the third one I have made now. For the center of this modern courthouse baby quilt, I printed a panel of navy and white pistachios to pair with the bold Lotta Jansdotter stripe and solids I had chosen. The panel was a tad subtler than I intended, but I forged ahead. I am so happy with how bold and modern this one is turning out!

Check out the other versions of the Modern Courthouse Baby Quilt (named by their centers):

Minty Long-legged

Citron Hortensia

Navy and Citron Hortensia

Follow the progress of this quilt with the links below:

Finished

Modern Courthouse Quilt | featuring Hortensia test print

This crinkly version of the Modern Courthouse Baby Quilt in navy and grey was delivered to its new parents. It is backed in a soft and silky stripe and bound in it as well. The bindings that I had chosen ended up feeling a bit staid, so I trimmed off the excess backing and pieced it into binding tape! It adds a fun finish as the stripes alternate around the edge. Plus, who doesn't love a good striped binding?

Be advised. I think I'm going to just be posting photos on the blog for a bit. My work has been demanding quite a bit of writing, so my heart just hasn't been in my blogging. That said, the lapse in my blog is disheartening, and I would prefer for silent photo posts than no posts at all. Enjoy the eye candy!

-Kelsey

Modern Courthouse Quilt | featuring citron Hortensia

I may have mentioned last week that I want to make a baby quilt for every one of my fabric designs. Here is the first. Let me tell you, I am just getting started.

Digging through my stash, I am realizing just how many colorways and test prints I have accomplished. There could be a lot of baby quilts in my future. Inspired by Hopewell's Courthouse Steps Baby Quilt and a quilt my mom made with my minty Longlegged print, I jumped right into the pile.

I paired some gorgeous buttery Art Gallery Pure Elements solids in Empire Yellow and Peach Sherbet with my very own Hortensia in citron (available for sale in my Etsy shop). Magically, I had a sumptuously soft peach floral stashed that went perfectly for the backing.

When I sat down to quilt it, I made a discovery. My stitch guide does not attach to my walking foot. How silly is that? (I have now seen Nicole of Modern Handcraft masking tape her guide to her foot, so I will try that next time.) Not to be stopped, I had a masking tape party with Paul and Mary of the Great British Bakeoff. Together we plowed our way through cakes, biscuits, and quilting. I have found my new favorite quilting companions!

Initially I thought a fun stripy citron binding would do the trick. However, the longer the stripes sat on the folded quilt, the more I felt they clashed with the backing. At the last second before walking out the door to sewing night, I traded the stripes for Pure Elements Apricot Crepe. The result is delicious.

Per encouragement from my mom, I practiced my machine binding skills to give it a sturdy washable finish. It truly is much faster to machine bind. (If you get it right the first time and don't take the whole thing out twice like I normally do.) I think I am going to keep practicing machine binding. It adds a quick and sturdy finish to quilt.

And on the next baby quilt! (Shh don't tell, but I've actually already finished the next one and will be sewing on the binding tomorrow night.) Can't stop. Won't stop. Have a lovely Tuesday.

Modern Courthouse Baby Quilt | featuring minty Longlegged

My cousin is having a baby! We all know what that means: baby quilt time. Her nursery colors are mint and grey, and she is expecting a boy. Mint and grey boy baby quilt. Challenge accepted.

My mom (also an avid quilter) and I decided to tag team the effort. I picked out my coveted minty long-legged flamingo fabric print to use as the central print. (After all, if I will not cut into my hoarded fabric for family, is there anyone I will cut into it for?) Then my mom went to Pink Castle Fabrics to find more greys and mints. (I may have slowly siphoned them all out of her stash and into mine...)

Mom decided to pattern the quilt after our mutual quilt-design idol, Hopewell Quilts. Although Hopewell has closed their doors, you can still find many of their quilts on Pinterest and Instagram. The pattern we chose was their modern Courthouse Steps variation.

There were many iterations of color choices. Sometimes choosing just four fabrics is much harder than choosing ten! I didn't see or feel the final product until my cousin opened it at her baby shower, but backed in light gray double gauze, it's just about the softest cutest minimal modern baby quilt I've ever seen. (I, of course, am biased, but there you have it.)

I now want to make a baby quilt for every one of my hand-printed fabrics. It requires less than a fat quarter of the focal print and then can be paired with solids and low volumes from your stash or local quilting shop. Which of the prints in my shop would you like to see made into a baby quilt next?

In all honesty: I have an entire slew of photos ready to post about the second Modern Courthouse Quilt I just finished a few nights ago, but I realized that I should perhaps post the inspiration first.