Ohhh I am excited to finally be sharing with you a Courthouse Steps quilt I made last year for our bedroom. The courthouse steps block was one of the first ones I ever learned when I started quilting. And then it is one that I haven't really touched for years. But here we go!
First things first, I had been gifted a gorgeous FQ bundle of ginghams and linen hearts from Fableism called Queen of Hearts. This line is 55" wide and so the FQs were a bit longer than the standard 42-44" wide fabric.
This FQ bundle included 14 fabrics and I although I LOVED it, I needed to add a bit more Meghan colors to it to really feel more like my vibe. I went to Betty Blue (our big ol' fabric cabinet in the studio) to see what solid FQs I had on hand that were calling to me.
And here they are all together.
Originally I was thinking of making a Sawtooth Star quilt or some other specific two fabric combo design. So I had paired up one quilting solid with one of the Queen of Hearts fabrics. And snapped some photos.
Even though I didn't end up using the fabric separated like I photographed, it really does show you how well the fabrics play together.
Since I wasn't convinced by my original idea, I thought about other classic quilting designs I hadn't made before or in a long time. That is when I remembered a really enjoyable Courthouse Steps quilt I made years ago. I knew I didn't want to do any math or figure out anything on my own - sometimes these makes need to just be about creating and I try and use a pattern or tutorial someone else created. At this point I remembered that Taylor of Toad and Sew has a free Courthouse Steps Zine.
The Zine includes 3 different layouts for a 16" x 16" block and includes information to make a 16 block, throw size quilt finishing at 64" x 64". I knew I had more fabric on hand than this exact size requires but I was wanting to make a larger quilt for our King size bed anyway. It is amazing too because you print it out and then cut and fold according to her directions and you have a little printed booklet. It's perfection.
Layout 1 is the traditional 3 main colors plus the center in each block. Layout 2 is a modern echoing square that is achieved by color placement when sewing the block together. Layout 3 is a more allover quilt design that requires 4 fabrics in each block plus the center. Layout 3 requires you to be more intentional and work block by block in relation to the quilt itself and I knew that is what I wanted to do. Layout 3 was exciting because the quilt could change while I worked on it and what a fun prospect!
The very top fabric is a Fableism print that I had on hand that I wanted to use as the center square of every block. I loved the gold with some black and burnt orange stripes. I liked the idea of it connecting each square through color.
I'm not gonna lie, I sort of forget how I decided on what I was cutting from each FQ but just follow the Zine and you'll be golden. There is a short side and a long side to each Courthouse Steps block so I know I cut even amounts out of each fabric with the hope that they'd each have equal share in the quilt.
Here are a few of my favorite blocks!
The center squares I made sure were oriented the same way before sewing it all together - the orange stripe laying vertically. And remember, as I work block by block, I CANNOT flip the block at all or I would mess up the pairing of the blocks connecting to it. For example, if the block above was the upper left corner, that means the left and top colors would NOT match up with another block but the bottom and right fabrics WOULD have matching fabrics with the blocks they touch.
Here is what the quilt looked like at the 16 block grid.
I easily could have stopped here but I kept going because I wanted to make it a 5 x 5 grid that would finish at 80" x 80" for my bed. And then I wanted to add some fun borders to get it to a slightly larger size. I didn't have enough fabric to go to a 6 x 6 grid.
I choose a rusty red for the first border that finished at 1", then a hot pink for the second part that finished at 2" and finally a 3" border with the fabric that was used as the center squares. It really makes me so so so happy.
All four corners. This is the first time I've ever made a multiple border quilt and it definitely won't be the last time.
This lady is large and required my two ladies to help hold her up!
Knowing this would live on our bed for most of the year, I choose my backing with a lot of intention. I used my favorite gingham from Elizabeth Hartman called Kitchen Window Wovens in Dragon Fruit. And then I bound it in the same darkest fabric in the quilt top (almost a black).
I sent this off to Emily of So Sunny Quilts to quilted in the Dunes pantograph. I wanted a subtle movement to it that would add texture without being too distracting to the top itself. And I choose a shiny almost teal thread to blend more with the saturated colors but still had an unexpected touch of color on the lighter fabrics.
The texture is SOO good. The second time the girls had to whole this quilt up, it was MUCH heavier.
I really like how the dark binding just frames it beautifully and connected all the darker moments in the top.
Okay, so this quilt as been on our bed for about a year now and we still love it so much. We painted our room back in the spring and we are slowly making progress on continuing to add things we love. We are going for moody, cozy, joyful, vibrant and classic.
There we have it! And this is the first time I've ever made a quilt for my personal bed! Only 10 years in and finally did it.
And don't sleep on Taylor's Courthouse Steps Zine!! It is FREE and so well done.