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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Scrap Pack Giveaway

When Amy at 13 Spools approached me about being a part of her Up & Coming Designer Program this year, I was beyond honored. She introduced me over at Craft Buds about two weeks ago, and today she is talking about one of my new fabrics designs: Pistachios. If you've arrived at my website from her post, welcome! Stay a while. Click through the archives or scroll down the blog roll. If you started here, hop over to Amy's blog to read her review of the dark grey pistachios. And lastly, what you've all been waiting for, the giveaway!

I am giving away a scrap pack full to bursting with different prints and test prints in mint and citron, some that are available in my shop and some that are not! Plus, it includes a piece of the famous dark grey pistachios that caught Amy's eye. This special limited edition bundle is perfect for a myriad of things from English-paper piecing projects and scrappy quilt blocks to mini wall quilts and strands of quilty bunting. It's 50+ grams of hand-printed goodness and could be flying to you next week.

Just answer one or both of the questions below or let me know how you follow me, then enter the Raffelcopter giveaway. (Note: if you don't enter the Rafflecopter giveaway to tell me you commented, you won't be entered. Don't accidentally miss out!) The giveaway is open until midnight EST Sunday, April 19. I will announce the winner on Monday morning. Good luck!

NOW CLOSED Thank you to all who entered and left such lovely comments and ideas.

1) What is your favorite fabric from the Lovely and Enough Etsy Shop or elsewhere on the blog?

2) What is your favorite colorway of those available or what would you love to see?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Uniola and the Price Lowering Party

You may know Chelsea over at Patch the Giraffe. She is pretty amazing when it comes to juggling teaching and quilting and taking amazing photos and making friends and being encouraging. The list goes on. So, when she purchased a bundle of fabrics from my Etsy shop, I was over the moon! You can see the bundle she picked out over on her blog today. It's gorgeous, and I am beyond excited to see what she does with it.

That got me thinking. I want to do more projects with my fabrics, but not only that, I want more people to be able to as well! However, with the expensive and time-consuming process of screen printing, prices felt high. So, last night, I lowered them. I had a price lowering party complete with hot chocolate and comfy pillows, and I finagled with numbers until I was happy. Go check it out! You can now get fat quarters! And because I don't want to gyp those of you who supported my endeavor from the start, just message me on Etsy with which fabric you would like, and I'll send you an extra little panel free of charge.

And while we're talking about fabrics, I want to officially introduce my newest pattern: Uniola.

Inspired by electron scanning microscope images of plant seeds, the base of the pattern is printed in white. It is then overprinted with beach dune fences. The pattern draws its name from uniola paniculata, a dune grass that grows along the coasts of the southeastern United States and helps to prevent the erosion of its sandy habitat. I experimented with lots of color combinations and was geeked when I found this one last July. I can't believe it's taken me this long to share about it on my blog, but I guess that's what starting grad school will do to you.

What would you make with this fabric?

Crisp Slices and Fresh Starts

Rolling the rotary cutter across new hand-printed fabric gives me such a rush. Seeing the crisp slices through white pistachios and citron fences is akin to smelling the first breath of spring. New projects, new combinations, new quilts. It's all so fun!

Brainstorming for the new collection, I sketched during my afternoon grad seminar. Lone stars. Ohio stars. Swoon blocks. Corn and beans. Then once home, I pulled stack after stack of fabric and left them piled on every flat surface in my room to simmer. Thursday morning I woke up and saw the stack at the foot of my bed and thought: Fresh Starts. It was the last quilt I pieced for my senior show, a large cut glass block, printed in one corner and stitched in straight and diagonal lines. After this, I promise I will branch out to new patterns, but what pattern is better to start my PhD program with than "Fresh Starts"? And what better place to photograph the flimsy finish than my new library?

Check out other breaths of spring air at WIP Wednesday on FreshlyPieced.

A Bench with Potential

It all started with an estate sale. (This is pretty much the best way to start any story, if you ask me.) It was my first weekend in Raleigh, and I was feeling rather furniture-less. No bed, no desk, no chairs, just one comfy sofa and two old wooden ironing boards. Now, to be fair, that is a pretty great starting point, but in the spirit of nesting I was interested in finding a couple more pieces. And lo and behold, my mom found the bench.

Tucked in a little girl's room and covered in pink and white stripes, I may not have given it a second glance, but that's where my mom is awesome; she saw potential. She pulled me over to it and painted visions of reupholstery and furniture wax, and then I, too, was hooked.

We proudly carried it out of the house for just $30, and the true planning began. Evenings were filled with schemes to print and wash screens in my little apartment. Afternoons were spent dashing between Lowes and Home Depot, frantically requesting backup from Brent on furniture wax purchases. Until it all came to fruition Labor Day weekend.

I printed up some light grey hydrangeas, waxed the bench to smooth goodness to the tune of Thanks for Sharing (if you haven't seen this movie yet, it's a worthwhile watch, albeit a serious and adult one), and stapled till the cows came home.

Now, the lovely bench graces our entryway and reminds me of Northern climes where I might actually need a bench on which to don boots. I truly wish I had the guts to march into the Hunt Library and carry my bench to the fifth floor for photographs, but alas, my apartment shall have to do.

Geeked

Wow, it's been three weeks since I've been here! So much has happened. I printed official yardage to list in my soon-to-be etsy store. I packed up my life in Michigan and moved cross-country to North Carolina. And I started grad school! Tomorrow is the first day of classes, and I couldn't be more pumped to study Fiber and Polymer Sciences and dyes. Check out this video about my PhD project. It excites me every time. Gah, so geeked!

Printing Pistachio yardage, I tried my hand at new registration methods, previously described to me as "complicated string systems." Well, I think I have string theory figured out, and it means a lot less drying the edge of every panel before printing the next one. I promise not to be gone for three weeks this time, but I have to run. Free grad student dinner and board game night are calling. Can you hear me smiling?

Test Print Day 6.2 // Pistachios

Sometimes I have to bargain with myself to keep going on test print days.

Chai tea latte in my mint mug. Test print. Chips and queso break. Test print. Gossip Girl. Two test prints. Rainymood.com. Test print. Surprise "inspirational Arnold Palmer" from my lovely sister. Three test prints.

But these days are so exciting too! A simple screen can become my next favorite fabric and potentially a whole set of quilts. Just check my coral hydrangeas and my senior show! The hydrangeas, however, have held my attention long enough. Today was a Pistachio day.

Inspired by Blueberry Park, I prepped with a whole stack of solid panels and then went to town. Karen (the mind and hands of Blueberry Park and an inspiration to me as she manages her own hand-printed fabric business) prints mostly white on solids, and they all look gorgeous and modern and classic, so I thought I would give it a try. My favorite is white pistachios on light grey. My sister votes for white on mint. What's your favorite of the bunch?

Bunting on Words

A week ago last Friday was my last day printing in the studio at school. I thought it would be Thursday and shed a tear for the fabrics I hadn't had a chance to print, but a happy accident occurred among the administrative staff, and my commencement rehearsal was actually at eleven instead of the previously stated nine! I woke up early, grabbed my last breakfast at Saga, and made a beeline for Adams Hall to print my last Wheaton fabric. And I'm so excited about it!

The words alone are cute and so is the bunting, but the bunting and words together have a new life to them. It's subtle but fun and fills the field nicely. I feel it would be a lovely backing to a baby quilt or an adorable square on the front, and I haven't decided yet if I should print more or what project they should become. What would you make with this fabric?

Yep, I did say that: print more. I may or may not have borrowed a couple of screens from the school so that I could print this week if I so chose. I'll be driving right back to Wheaton next week for a dear friend's wedding and will return the screens then. But until then, I am off to print!

The designs are printed on Pat Bravo solid Icy Mint and Robert Kaufman solid Ice Peach.

Good Friday

Some days are just great. Good Friday was one of them. I woke up to sunshine, rolled out of bed to a quiet and warm campus, and hied to the printing studio for a day away from assignments and dance rehearsals. This time around I decided I should prewash, so I threw them in the night before and pulled from the dryer...a crinkled mess of fabrics. No amount of ironing or steam would remove the wrinkles, but as always, mother came to the rescue. She said that Grandma used to spritz her wrinkled fabrics with water and then roll them into logs before spreading them out to iron. It works like a charm! An hour or so later, with a little company from Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, I had a fresh stack of fabrics ready to print.

I printed three colorways from my artist statement screen from my show. It is the first color-on-white fabric that I have printed and liked. I can't wait to print a bunch more yardage experimenting with overlaying colors. For now, I have coral and coral over mint. The mint is quite subtle but adds texture and interest. You can just see it in the picture if you look closely on the right side. Next came the peach and mint colorways, pretty simple tone-on-tone. I have plans to print a panel or two of solid-colored bunting over these fabrics in white on the mint and coral on the peach.

Recently I had been struggling with my screens clogging up and needing to wash them after only a couple of pulls, but I called the helpline at BuyPermasetInks.com, and he suggested spritzing the screen with water in between pulls. This also worked like a charm. Yay for spritzing, and I only had to wash the screen when I got too distracted watching the movie or talking to my mom and didn't pull the next panel fast enough.



With new tips and tricks under my belt and a new fabric design, I am so pumped for designing a new line of quilts this summer. The fabric collection is growing, and I can't wait to dive into it!

Six Yards!

Six yards I printed! Six yards! Contrary to expected, school has felt exceptionally relaxing since returning. Quiet days and content evenings spent with friends and books. Last night I made pizza with my girlfriends and then snuggled in on the couch for some peaceful homework camaraderie. Today, after an uplifting breakfast date with my dear friend Steph, I settled in for an entire day of fabric printing. And now I have six yards of straws. Six. On Thursday I will print four more, two each of coral and aqua. And then I will start the next one! I am feeling re-inspired to try delphiniums. This time I think I will free-hand paint the layers onto acetates. After a very computer-intense design, the free and hands on approach of painting will be a welcome change. How are you doing post-Thanksgiving break?

Stripes and Straws

Following the garden graduation party theme of bunting and hydrangeas, the newest fabric design in the set is straws. Inspired by my sister's pinterest-perfect grad party, I created a "stripe" for the set based on the adorable stripey straws she used. They play well in all sorts of color combinations, and I am very enthusiastic about printing yardage of several of these. Tone-on-tone fabrics are some of my favorite to use, and I think I will definitely make good use of these!

Mini Starburst

Fall colors are here! Bright citrons, burning reds, and crisp golds. The streets are overflowing with lively, crunchy color, and it is a joy to sit at my desk and enjoy the view of our neighbors. Their lot is a jungle, packed with trees, shrubs, and burgeoning plants, making for a gorgeous conflagration of color. In light of the inspiring bursts of colors outside and an impending quilt-a-long, I made up a mini Starburst Quilt with some of my freshly printed bunting fabric. Yep! Two of those coral corners came straight from my printing table to the rotary cutter. So fun and rewarding. This week's task (outside of getting screens shot for the new fabric design and beginning test prints) is to quilt and bind it before the real-size quilt-a-long begins November 18th. I am so excited; I can hardly wait!

{See the progress and the finished product}

Coral Hydrangeas

This weekend has been a lovely one. A chemistry dinner party kicked off Friday night. Then Saturday brought a fun dance rehearsal and a lazy afternoon napping under my quilt and watching Teen Wolf while designing the next fabric. It's my new guilty pleasure, a cross between Twilight and Gossip Girl, and I can't stop watching. In fact, it may or may not be playing in the background right now... Nevertheless, Scott and Alison's star-crossed werewolf-vs.-werewolf-hunter-family romance hasn't completely commandeered my productivity. I was able to print a new fabric this week during my two day break! I'm excited about the new coral and greyed mint hydrangeas, and I am literally fidgeting in my seat with anticipation of cutting it up for a quilt. I'm supposed to save it for my senior show, but it may not last that long, considering Megan's Giant Starburst Quilt-a-Long next month over at CanoeRidgeCreations. I have been itching to quilt all week, so enough writing, I'm off to cut up fabric!

Modern Mint and Red

Here it is! My first yardage of the year. With the help of our studio associate, I wrestled my makeshift printing table into position and went to town. Two yards later and another win for the Michigan Wolverines and it is accomplished. A bunting fabric design in modern mint and red. It is slightly more minimalist than I was aiming for for the whole fabric line, so it may become a one-off that I enjoy separately from the rest. I do love it, though. For its "freshness," as my housemate Brie described it, and for its whimsical geometric imperfection. I may have gotten a bit over-excited with how many photos I took, but who could resist an outdoor photo shoot on one of the first beautiful days of autumn?

{Vote on what colorway I should print my bunting in next over here} 

The Test Print Day Sulks

It happens every time. And every time it feels real and legitimate.

I print my designs.

And I don't like them.

And I sulk.

My sister has repeatedly experienced this, from bowls to hydrangeas to bunting. She's always so encouraging and gets the satisfaction of saying "I told you so" when I fall back in love with my pattern three days later.

The thing is I'm still new to fabric designing, even though I had some incredible success with my first designs, and I just hate feeling like I've gone backwards. And test prints always feel like backwards.

I know that, for the most part, I dislike them because they're test prints, which means I'm testing colors and they're probably not right yet. But do I give myself a day of grace? Of course not.

I was politely reminded that it took five colorways of bowls before I hit one that I was pleased with. Five. And that wasn't even varying the background color. So far, I've only done two. I just need to take a breath.

It will all be fine. It is every time.

Bunting and Happy Things

Sometimes the best ideas come when your brain takes a break. So, after three weeks of sketching and thinking and trying to come up with my new fabric design, I stumbled across it during my Art History class on Wednesday morning. Bunting! I was doodling instead of taking notes (typical), and I suddenly had a page full of swaying triangles and strung loops. That's when I ripped out a sheet from my notebook, tore it into four pieces, and started working on the repeat. It accidentally somehow ended up a block repeat (probably because the lights were off for the lecture...), so I pulled out another piece during Inorganic Chem and redid it as a half-drop. Now, eight episodes of Elementary later, I am happily making progress on my bunting acetates.

On the topic of other happy things. One, the weather is gorgeous outside. Crisp and bright and lovely. Two, a kind man bought me my chai tea at Starbucks today, and before you nod knowingly with that look in your eye, he was middle aged and with his wife and felt bad for cutting me in line, which he didn't actually do. Yeah, exactly, wipe that smirk off your face. It was nice anyways, though, and there were no awkward expectations as follow with younger wifeless men. And three, my cabinet of tea is heartily stocked thanks to my father who brought me new black teas from his travels through London and Melbourne. Thanks, Daddy. All in all- fall, chai, and tea. Perfectly autumn to me.

Favorite Floral

Last but certainly not least: my mint and lemon hydrangeas. I love them. They are peppy and springy and lovely. I want to print them on bags and skirt fabric and dress fabric and huge pieces of quilt fabric rather than just on my mint remnants. This was a rather perfect end to a whirlwind class. Although it is sad to leave the Fuji Studio and long, rewarding days of designing and printing, I am excited to see what the next two weeks of sewing and a fall of textile independent study will bring!

Hortensia

This summer I've found myself more and more fond of hydrangeas as I arrange them for grad parties, steal them for bouquets on the dining room table, and plan to plant them in front of my house in the fall. The blue ones, the white ones, the green ones. They spill over their boundaries and happily improve the mood of whichever garden or table they are inhabiting. With that in mind (and after scrapping a poppy idea), I set about to create a hydrangea print that made use of overlapping colors and generally filled the fabric more like a Liberty floral. And here is the result!

After an unusual experience with ink bleeding to the edges of the screens...probably because I was lazy and didn't send the fabric through the wash first...I struck upon a collection of blues and greens on grey that I think would make a lovely back to a quilt if I do say so myself.

After the first big piece was done, I experimented with green-yellow hydrangeas with white centers, and I'm quite pleased with them as well. These create the third tone I was rather hoping for with the overlapping colors in the blooms.