Ruby Sue quilt - the Beach Day version
I’m back with another Ruby Sue sample! In case you missed it, last week we launched the Ruby Sue quilt pattern, and I showed you both the Ruby Sue cover quilt and the Ruby Sue dog bed I made with our new pet bed tutorial.
Those samples feature lots of pinks and purples for a very sweet, girly feel. I wanted the next sample to have a different vibe…so meet the Beach Day version of Ruby Sue!
Designing the Beach Day version
You might remember that I designed this quilt pattern to feel playful and bold... a little bit chaotic with a slight pattern and repeat. And for this sample, I wanted to amplify that playfulness and boldness even more…so I went all out with the color palette!
My color inspiration actually came from an Instagram post by Art Gallery Fabrics back in March. I loved the palette in the post, so I immediately saved it, knowing I had to use it in a future quilt. I just didn’t know which one quite yet!
Then last month, Peter and I took a trip to the beach, where we found out Ruby Sue LOVES playing in the sand and the waves! Seriously, our girl would live on the beach if we let her. All her seaside romping made me realize that we needed a beachy Ruby Sue sample! And luckily, it came together easily…because that saved Instagram post already had the bright, sunny look I was going for.
I did decide to swap out just a couple of colors. Where AGF used Autumnal and Atmospheric, I chose the slightly brighter Coral Reef and Forget-Me-Not to get the bold, beachy look I wanted.
Here’s the complete list of AGF Pure Solids I used:
- Coral Reef
- Cosmos
- Festival Fuchsia
- Forget-Me-Not
- Grapefruit
- Morning Frost
- Rock Candy
- Summer Sun
- Very Berry
I made the throw size (60” x 70”), so I need just one half-yard cut of each color for my Ruby Sue quilt.
I’m no stranger to brightly colored or deeply saturated fabrics, but we normally use them as an accent or offset them with a neutral. With no background or sashing, this quilt came out brighter than my usual…and I love it!
And yes, we have a quilt kit with these fabrics!
CREATING MOVEMENT WITH VALUE
While the color palette came together quickly, I did have to think carefully about color placement when it came time for piecing.
For most of my quilts, I pick different values of color…some dark, some light, and some medium fabrics. Those different values help to create movement throughout a quilt. But for this Beach Day sample, a lot of the fabrics have pretty similar values. I didn’t want to give up on that movement, though!
Since it was hard to see the different values with my naked eye, I took lots of black and white photos during quilt assembly. The unsaturated pictures made it much easier to see the value contrasts, which in turn helped me place my blocks to create the movement I wanted.
Piecing fabrics is (probably?) my favorite part of the quilting process and I always love seeing the fabrics come together, slowly but surely. For this quilt, since it has some mix-and-match and also some strip piecing, it's really fun to watch the fabrics all come together. Then once the strip piecing part is over, it's already time to assemble the quilt top. It's probably one of the quickest patterns in the Lo & Behold library!
BACKING, BINDING AND QUILTING
A top like this one needed a breezy, summery backing and binding to match…and I knew just the fabrics to use. Last month I created a Tangerine Knitted Blooms quilt with the new Tangerine collection from Art Gallery Fabrics. The collection is bursting with fun, summery prints, so I pulled a couple that I had used on that Knitted Blooms quilt, and this time I used them to back and bind my new Ruby Sue.
I picked Wind Dance Blaze for the backing, and I just love how the organic shapes of the print contrast with the straight lines of the quilt top. For my binding, I used Striped Field, which brings together the colors of the backing and the stripes of the quilt top..and it just looks fun! (& who doesn't love a stripe-y binding?)
Like the cover quilt, I took this one to Megan of Blue Ridge Quilt Co. for long-arm quilting. She used the Diamond Drift pantograph from Longarm League. The horizontal lines really emphasize the flow of one color to the next…and they kind of remind me of waves on the ocean horizon!
I’m just thrilled about how this Beach Day quilt turned out! The end result really does embody happy, beachy times…like tossing around a beachball, soaking up the sun on a bright beach towel and sipping a fruity drink. Looking at it feels like an instant mood boost!
And best of all? Making this sample reminded me how much fun I can have by stepping outside the box a little bit!
Make your own Ruby Sue quilt
The Ruby Sue quilt isn’t just fun to look at…it’s a blast to make! If you haven’t already, you can grab the pattern and make your own.
QUILT KITS
If you want to recreate this Beach Day version, you can preorder a Beach Day quilt kit…with or without backing and binding!
We’ve also got the gorgeous cool tones of the Sea Glass quilt kit, the warm earthiness of the Clover quilt kit, and the classically feminine Cover quilt kit.
DESIGN YOUR OWN
I love seeing the fabric pulls you come up with. We’ve put the Ruby Sue pattern on PreQuilt, so you can use the free mockup tool to plan your quilt. Or you can print out our free quilt coloring pages and mock up your quilt that way.
I’ve already seen some Ruby Sue quilts pop up on social media, and I’d love to see yours too! Make sure you tag @loandbeholdstitchery and use the hashtag #loandbeholdpatterns so I can see what you make!
Happy sewing!
