Pattern: Small Mod Rectangles Quilt

It’s here! The first pattern from The Crafty Minimalist. I’m so excited to share with you the Small Mod Rectangles Quilt! You can buy it here on my website or my Etsy shop.

This pattern comes with two sizes: crib (49”x28”) and doll (21”x14”). This pattern has some midcentury modern vibes to it. I originally designed it to coordinate well with the decor in my house: simple lines, bold colors, and fun!

I envision this as the perfect baby quilt to gift to a friend, or a fantastic set to make for a child who has just transitioned to a toddler bed and also has a favorite doll.

Since my daughter is now 10, the way these quilts are used in our home is for our cat, Luna. While she is, of course, the world’s most perfect cat, I don’t necessarily want to share all my furniture with her. When we first got her earlier this year, I bought her a special cat ottoman. She preferred to sit in my favorite chair — right next to the cat ottoman. And while I don’t mind sharing, this is a fantastic chair, and I didn’t want to see inadvertently ruined by my wonderful cat.

So I designed these two quilts that also happen to fit perfectly on my favorite chair, and on my brand new upholstered dining chair that she also loves. I needed a way to protect them without destroying the decorating scheme that I had painstakingly been putting together for the past year. The old towel I busted out the first time she got sick was just not cutting it for me.

Enter the Small Mod Rectangles Quilt. A quilt that makes us both happy.

I wanted to make it a little special for Luna, so since she is named after the moon, I appliquéd a crescent moon on the back of the larger quilt.

There are also a couple of things I love about this quilt that don’t involve my cat. :-) Number 1: There aren’t that many places where you have to worry about exactly adjoining seams between the rows. Since most of it is staggered, it has a little bit of extra give when putting it together. When I was a beginner quilter, lining up row seams was not my strong point, and even though I can do it now, I always appreciate something that makes it a little easier on me to put together a quilt.

Also, I love that none of the colors touch the same color. It keeps your eye moving and provides little pops of color in just the right spots.

This quilt can be made using mostly fat quarters. I used 1 fat quarter each of navy, yellow, green, white, orange, light pink, medium pink, and dark pink, and that was plenty for both quilts. You will need a small amount of yardage for the light blue, since there is one long block in there, but I used the extra from that to make binding. I also got some additional yardage of the navy and medium blue to use those for bindings and backings as well, but you could get scrappy and make do with fat quarters and stash scraps. (This is a minimalist craft site after all!)

My tech editor, Aubry, provided some great feedback on this pattern, and I hope you can see the time and care we both put into providing a well-rounded pattern for you.

So, whether you use this for a human baby or a fur baby, this is a fun and beginner-friendly pattern that creates a stunning mod result!

Pick up your copy from my website or my Etsy shop. I’m also planning to create larger versions of this pattern (throw and twin) in the near future - is that something you’re interested in? Let me know what you think!