I have a really fun announcement to finally share today. I finally get to spill the beans that I will be releasing my next fabric collection at the beginning of 2023 and here is the sneak peek!
My next fabric collection with Riley Blake Designs is called Portsmouth – after the New England seacoast town where my husband’s family lives.
Portsmouth, New Hampshire might be one of my favorite places on the planet. Twenty-five years ago I married into a New England family – my husband’s parents and extended family are all from Portsmouth and southern Maine, right on the Atlantic coast.
As a result I’ve been able to spend many summer vacations and family reunions soaking in the New England nautical perfection: beaches, sailboats, lighthouses, thriving hydrangeas, the smell of saltwater, and American flags and buntings hanging from colonial houses built before 1776.
We were able to go visit New Hampshire and southern Maine at the beginning of the month – our first time since 2019 – and it was heavenly to be back. (Although, it was a pretty hot, humid, sticky heat wave while we were there. But we still loved it.)
I’ve wanted to create a summer-y, patriotic, red, white, and blue fabric collection for a while now and this was the right time. But instead of bright saturated colors that I’ve used in my collections in the past, I wanted to use more washed-out, faded, nautical hues and tones.
This collection is inspired by faded vintage quilts at the beach, sand in your toes, celebrating summer and the 4th of July with flags and picnics, lobster rolls and barbecue, and ending the day with the perfect sunset.
At this point I don’t have a lot of yardage, just strike-off scraps to work with but hopefully you can get the feel and the flavor of the colors and prints from these swatches. I can’t wait to get my hands on real yardage!
I’m excited because I teamed up again with my sister, Laura Miller, who created another beautiful watercolor toile print with lighthouses, sailboats, beach houses and other scenes of New England nautical life.
Another favorite is the watercolor hydrangeas – because I wish I could grow those kinds of beauties in my mountain/desert climate the way they thrive on the seacoast.
And of course, ginghams. (Fun fact – did you know that every one of my fabric collections has a gingham print. 🙂 This is my first collection with a bias gingham!)
Coordinating solid colors from Riley Blake Confetti Cottons include Oxford Blue (navy), Dream (light blue) and Pewter for the sand color.
The Portsmouth collection will be available in stores in February 2023. I know it’s a bit of a wait, but if you’d love to see it at your favorite quilt store, let them know so that they can order now and not miss out.
Here’s how the collection looks with some of my favorite summer-inspired quilts.
Fly the Flag
I’m also releasing a new pattern in connection with this collection called New Castle Beach and I’ll share more about it in a few weeks when the pattern is ready!
This new pattern will be released in the next month – with plenty of time for shops to stock before the Portsmouth fabric collection arrives.
Sorry to be a tease and share fabric that you can’t get your hands on until February, but I will admit, it is really fun to get to finally let the proverbial cat out of the bag! I hope you’ll love this collection as much as I do!
I’d love to hear what you think!
Karen
Love your new line
Beth
Absolutely stunning! Love it, as well as the quilts shown. Can’t wait to see your pattern!
Madeline
I love the soft reds and blues. Patriotic but no too. Reminds me of the time I spent in Maine.
Jan
Love the new colors Amy!!!
Linda E Mahoney
I love these fabrics! I like the subdued colors. Soft and beautiful.
Bridget
We are from upstate NY but my son is starting his senior year at UNH. I love that area! Will be keeping this fabric line in mind to make him a quilt for graduation!
Sandra B
Amy, this fabric collection is amazing! I love the lighter color tones so much….these colors just scream coastal living!! I have been planning a new quilt to hang on the wall at our beach house and these fabrics are just perfect for what I have been envisioning…..thank you so much….cannot wait for the fabrics to be available!
Nancy Burdeniuk
Love the collection, softness of the colours and some really pretty prints!
Elaine Heinrich
Hi Amy, I just love your new collection “Portsmouth”! I have lived in Southern NH all my life and Portsmouth is about 45 minutes away from me. My husband and I love to go there when ever we can and have also been to New Castle Beach frequently. I love the color pallet of this collection, the sun faded colors are very appealing to me and will give the quilt an aged look. Thank you so much for this fabulous line of fabric and I can’t wait to have it available to purchase in February. Sincerely Elaine Heinrich (and new subscriber)
Lorrie Langdon
That palette is PERFECTION. I am already itching to get my hands on it! 😍😍
Dawn
Love your new collection and the new pattern too. Looking forward to its release in February!
Lisa
Oh I love ❤️ this so much!!! Just a beautiful collection, I need to start sewing so I have room for more projects when it is available. Congratulations!!!
Tina Stout
This is so exciting! My daughter’s boyfriend has family in Portsmouth, where his mother lived most of her young life. They were ale to visit there in 2018 between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Her souvenir for me was a tea towel from Brighton!
I have yet to go to the UK, but maybe I’ll travel in my dreams when I get ahold of some of this beautiful fabric. 😁
Amy
Well, I should clarify, this collection specifically was inspired by the US Portsmouth (named for the original Portsmouth), but I’d love to visit Portsmouth Great Britain one day too!
Deborah Bardsley
As my sister lives near the Hampshire Portsmouth, we go regularly, especially as my quilt tutor’s down that way (it’s on the south coast here). I can’t see anything too American in these fabrics, so am hoping some of the UK stores will be fighting to stock it! It helps the Union Jack’s red, white and blue too!
I’ve just come home from the Festival of Quilts, with the names of more stores to check out online, so even more of a chance of finding it!
Robby Bottom
Wonderful line Amy and I too can’t wait. I shall start saving immediately. Congratulations.
Diane
You’ve knocked it out of the park with this collection Amy! I want all of the blues!!!
slmrn1
Your new collection is gorgeous. I love the soft tones and the colors are the perfect choice for seaside dreams
Debra Drew
I love these swatches. I order from Missouri Star Quilt and will be letting them know I hope they carry this new and beautiful line. Thank you!!!
Jan
February, my birthday month so I think the timing is perfect. I like the large snowball block on the new pattern for showing off the toile prints. Overall everything is much softer
Laura Bair
CANNOT WAIT!!! I only keep r,w,b quilts at my shore house and I love this faded look!!! I’m keeping my February open to schedule in a new summer quilt!!!
Catherine
Amy, I can’t wait to get my hands on your new fabric line….it’s beautiful and so soft looking. I’m dying to make the quilt Land That I Love. Did you say you were revising the pattern in your last post?
Penny
I live in Portsmouth, NH and I LOVE THIS!!!
Amy
Oh hooray! Portsmouth is SO wonderful. I can’t ever get enough of it.
Lorrie
Love it! We visited that area this past weekend for the first time and it’s so beautiful….the lighthouse, the homes, the coastline, the sunrises, etc.
Sue H
You are so lucky Penny!! I was lucky enough to live there for 4 years while my dad was stationed at PNSY. Love it there so much, and I really love this fabric too! Can’t wait to order it.
Barbara Lueders
Your new Portsmouth fabric collection is just beautiful! I love red, white, and blue fabrics anyway, but those muted reds in the collection are gorgeous. I can’t wait until I can buy some.
carololsz
Love the color combinations.
Stacy Hillman
The new fabric is gorgeous! Can’t wait to get my hands on some, the new pattern is beautiful too!!
Pat Chubb
How fun! My maternal grandmother – Nana – was born in Falmouth, Maine. I took my mom and her sister to visit the Maine cousins in 1999. They had not been since the 1940s and I had never been and Nana had died in 1977. When the Maine cousins started talking, I burst into tears. “You sound just like my Nana!”
Christine Sherman
This is so beautiful Amy! I see lots of beachy flag quilts with this!
Lisa Lilly
Amy I love your new Portsmouth collection!!! It is absolutely Gorgeous!!! I cannot wait for it to be available for us to create with. Thank you for designing it and thank your sister too!!!
Kathy
Love that all the beach vibe fabrics are all in one collection! I can’t wait to get some! Absolutely beautiful!!
Maureen Rogers
Love your new collection!
Jen Glenn
This new collection looks beautiful. I love the softer palette you chose.
Leslie K.
Amy, I have loved all of your fabric collections but this is by far my FAVORITE. Those colors are fabulous. Hydrangeas are my favorite flower (having lived for decades in Virginia) and I see a lot of your hydrangea fabric in my future! Thanks so much for the preview! Congratulations on a wonderful collection!
lindsay614
Very cute, Amy! I also am a sucker for New England and hydrangeas!
Dottie
Oh, Amy…….I live near the area and you captured the charm of Portsmouth beautifully. Am super excited about the cool pastel colors and everything about the line. Very different from your past lines, which I liked, too. This one will be my favorite for sure. Good luck with it.
Sharon B.
Amy, Congratulations, it’s a beautiful collection! I love the soft colors and look forward to sewing with it. Although I’ve never been there I loved seeing the homes shown in your photo. It is such a different world than where I live too here in Wyoming. By the way, I’ve been a long time follower of your blog and newsletters. I used your baby quilt pattern to sew my first quilt quite a few years ago.
Ellen in Oregon
I jsut wanted to tell you how much Ilike Portsmouth. I am from New England and it made me remember many vacations spent at the “shore” and exploring the light houses along the coast. While I still live less than an hour from the beautiful Oregon coast and go there often, your fabric depicts all the icons that make Maine so special. It will be hard to wait until after the New Year to get my hands on Portsmouth.
Keri
What a beautiful fabric line! Makes me think of a porch swing in the summer. The more I look at it, the more I like it, and want it!!!
Tanya Mace
I LOVE your new fabric line! I’ll be looking for it in 2023!
Linda Holman
Another winner! Love everything you do!
Dorothy R Scott
I love your new collection Portsmouth. The washed out look is just lovely. Can’t wait for Feb 2023!
Miriam
Oh my goodness, you’ve done it!!! I’m a New Jersey girl who has spent many a summer in Maine and Martha’s Vineyard, and Portsmouth is our usual stop for a day along the way. It is instant love, and you have captured the charm. Love love love the hydrangeas and little colonial houses, BRAVA!!!!! I can’t wait to sew with it 🥰🥰🥰
Robyn Bechthold
Amy, I love this new fabric and I can hardly wait to see your new pattern. I hope you do a kit. How can I find out if there will be a kit available?
Lisa
Beautiful! I Love the your fabric designs! I love the beach ⛱
Nilene Thompson-Finn
Utter perfection! I have wanted for a long time create one of your faded, washed out flag quilts but gathering the right fabrics felt a bit daunting. But now…! WooHoo! And entire collection of stunning beach coastal prints with a lovely toile. Thank you so much. Can’t wait for February. ❤️❤️
Nicole
Those are absolutely my colours, love them so much. Now to find a shop in Germany that’ll sell it…
Jacquelynn Z Cook
Amy, I’m thrilled with your Portsmouth collection. Every summer we visited where my father grew up on the mouth of the Connecticut River and Lomg Island sound. New England is so incredibly beautiful it can’t be described to my friends who live here in the western mountain states. I love all Riley Blake fabrics and will just have to make something. Love the toile design too.! Thank you for bringing my love of the new England coast to the world!!!! Such sweet memories to capture and enjoy! And I vote your new pattern too.
Sandal
This is wonderful!! Portsmouth, NH is my birthplace and very dear to my heart. I love this collection. I don’t often buy a full collection but this may be the exception. So excited to make a quilt with these gorgeous fabrics!
Helen
Beautiful I love the washed out look and yours sister illustrations a perfect combination. Can’t wait for its release
Angie VE
Portsmouth looks great! Will you be doing a sew along with it and any of your patterns once the fabric comes out?
Cindy
I cannot wait for its arrival and see ideas how to use! Just lovely! Looks like summertime at the beach!
Sandy
Fantastic! So soothing and peaceful.
lee
Love the new line and something to look forward to! Thank you for sharing!
Pat Chubb
Portsmouth available for pre-order on Fat Quarter Shop! Yay!
Pat Chubb
Whoops! Jumped the gun – Fat Quarter Shop is *NOT* taking pre orders just yet. They will let you put in a request for notification as to when the bundles are available. I’m so excitable and mis-read it.
Nathalie Crowley
Hello, I love this collection. Yes, I’m partial because I live in Newmarket, NH which is on the Seacoast. My grandmother lived on the water in Portsmouth, when I was growing up. My hubby was born in Portsmouth. So meaningful to us, can’t wait to create a quilt with this fabric! I’m sure the owner of Portsmouth Fabric Company will be stocking it for her customers.
Karen S
This is wonderful! Especially love the hydrangeas – they are my favorite – and the beach colors. Bravo!!
Barbara Barnett
Love your new collection very comfy feeling. Barb
Rhonda
Love it! Cant wait
hopflower
YOU can’t wait for the new fabric line to come out? Please. I am absolutely rabid about waiting for it. It’s just beautiful; florals, gingham, and the nautical theme just scream New England! And those colours…
Martha
Beautiful! I love how the patriotic quilts look in this collection!
rtrittel
This is a gorgeous collection. I have never been to Portsmouth, NH (though I have been to Portsmouth, UK!), but I am a coastal girl, so I can relate! I really love the soft, faded colors you have used in your fabrics. Oh, and the photo of you holding the quilt with the view behind you – stunning! I look forward to getting this collection – and the new quilt pattern!
Carol-Ann Rogers
This coastal Massachusetts woman loves your Portsmouth colors!
Mary Kolb
Portsmouth is a beautiful line Amy. I can’t wait to make your new pattern New Castle Beach!
Katie A.
I live here in NH too, this line is so Portsmouth! It’s absolutely beautiful! Well Done!!! I’m so looking forward to the release of this fabric!
Rhonda C
Absolutely gorgeous! Hydrangeas, beach, the watercolor toile and soft tones, all absolutely brilliant!
pamgiunta5070
Your collection is SOOOO BEAUTIFUL. When can we order? Congratulations, Pam
Suzanne McLean
I am in LOVE! You don’t know this but I am also a Smart and in fact, your father-in-law is my cousin! This line means so much to me because many of my childhood summers were spent in Portsmouth and as you know, our family goes ‘way back’.
I am thrilled to have advanced noticed so I can clean up my current projects and work on my skills. I am beyond thrilled!
Lynne Thomas
Amy, I live in North Hampton, NH just a skip, jump from Portsmouth,NH. I am very excited for your new line “Portsmouth”. I can not wait to get my claws on your new line. I hope you had a great trip and missed the humid hot and steamy weather. The beach is such a great place. I also am very curious about New Castle Beach. When I had my children we lived in Portsmouth and during the summer we went to New Castle Beach/Common every day either beach or playground. Such a great place and have soooo many memories from that time. Enjoy the winter and looking forward to your two new lines of fabric!!!
Vicki
I can’t wait til this new collection is in the store! It is just so pretty!
Penelope Kindt
I am so excited to see your new line of fabric. I would like to get the pattern when it becomes available. Do you ever sell kits for the patterns that your show? So looking forward to the time I can purchase this fabric. I love everything that you do.
Sue Klinge
Love your new fabric line, Amy! I will absolutely be buying plenty of those gorgeous, subdued colored fabrics and using your pattern(s).
SandyMay
Love your new fabric line; those muted colors are so New England. A few weeks ago when you mentioned you were vacationing on the coast of NH, I wondered if it could be Portsmouth. I was born there, and I was excited to read all the comments about it and the surrounding areas (New Castle, Hampton Beach, Newmarket). I now live on the West Coast (So. Calif.), and as all my Portsmouth relatives have moved away or passed on, I have no reason to make the cross country trip. Still, I yearn to drive by my Nana’s old house and once again stroll the neighborhood I lived in.
dondim
My sister lived in Portsmouth for many years so I got to see much of it. I’m so glad to see this new line! It’s beautiful! The new patterns are just great, too!
Linda Starrett
Amy, Wonderful new collection. I am always partial to a Nautical theme. How blessed you are to have such a talented Sister, and to be able to collaborate with her. I do normally like the bright and vibrant colors, but I do love this. Your reasoning of a faded old family quilt makes so much sense. I am sure that this will create many wonderful family treasures. Thank you for sharing, Linda
Roxy Sherburne
Beautiful! I’ll watch for the pattern release and for the fabric line so I can order. Thank you for sharing, Amy!
Sally Dube
Living in New England and spending Summers on Cape Cod this will be a line I will definitely be ordering!! Love it all!!
Sabra
This is a great group of prints – I can see them used in so many projects. Can’t wait until they are on the market.
Joanne M
Love the coastal cottage look of your new fabric line. Since I live in Maine, it will be a nice addition to my stash and will start looking for the perfect pattern to make a cozy New England quilt.
Ellen K
I only lived In NH 18 months, but I agree Portsmouth is the quintessential NE town, with its square and white picket fences. 13 miles of Atlantic coastline, I wanted a house that looked out on the churning waves and enjoy long walks on the beach. Maybe because my boys were small and the children’s museum was a great destination I so love our short time there. A Portsmouth summer quilt here in the PNW to remember those days will be nice.
Leeia Graham
So beautiful!
Gwyn
Fabulous fabric for this girl with New England roots. I really like the muted color palette. Love to poke around Portsmouth. I hope you go to Newick’s for some great seafood! Whenever we drive around the rotary before you go into town, my mother is always pointing out the Holiday Inn, “We spent the first night of our honeymoon there.” That was 1967!
Carol A Osborn
Your line of fabric is beautiful, and the patterns look fun.
Jenni-Hope Kelland
Amy! You’ve absolutely captured the feelings of home for me! I was raised in Massachusetts, born in Rhode Island, and though I now live in Utah I will always be a New Englander!
Lea
Amy, you’ve nailed it with a wonderful New England looking fabric line. I’m from New England originally and this fabric reminds me so much of New England. It’s beautiful!!
LeAnne K
So pretty!
Renee Welton
I love this💙💙💙 I always enjoy everyone you share and this is no exception. Well done♥️♥️♥️