New Castle Beach Quilt Pattern

I have been so tickled by the response to my latest fabric collection, Portsmouth (pronounced Ports-muth) for Riley Blake Designs. I’ve loved seeing what creators are making with this fabric. (You can see some of those projects here.) I also wanted to share some of the projects I’ve designed for and made with the Portsmouth fabric collection.

One of the new quilt patterns designed specifically with this collection in mind is called New Castle Beach.

This quilt is inspired by a nautical stars, picnics, and a day at the beach.

The quilt is named after one of our favorite beaches in New Hampshire – the beach at New Castle Common – a little island at the mouth of where the Piscataqua River meets the ocean. There’s even a lighthouse at one end of the beach that welcomes and guides boats safely into Portsmouth Harbor.

Here are few shots on location last summer when we visited family. We hit the beach right at sunset on a perfect night. There was definitely some wind (you can see an action shot on my Instagram page) so any photos of the quilt required my holders to stand on the bottom edges to keep it from blowing away! So the quilt looks a little distorted in these beach shots, but it was the only way to keep the quilt still.

I specifically designed this quilt as a way to show off an alternate focus fabric – in this case the New England lighthouse and nautical print. But it could easily be used for any feature fabric.

I loved using the other low-volume prints to give this quilt a washed-out vibe.

This recent version that was just pieced was quilted by Melissa at Sew Shabby Quilting using the Cherrio pantograph and I LOVE it. I’ve been waiting for just the right quilt to use this quilting design and this felt perfect. I love how it kind of echoes the life preservers in the sashing print.

You can find a kit for the New Castle Beach Quilt here.

Where to find the New Castle Beach Quilt Pattern

There are four new or re-released patterns coordinating with the Portsmouth collection. Hopefully they are available at your latest quilt shop. If not, you can find them all in PDF or Paper versions in my online Pattern Shop.

I’ll be spotlighting the others over the coming weeks.

New Castle Beach Quilt Pattern HERE

This quilt calls for a lot of Half Square Triangles. Here’s my favorite method and tool for making and squaring up Half Square Triangles.

Where to Find Portsmouth Fabric

Go here for more Portsmouth inspiration + list of shops where you can find this fabric collection. It’s just the right thing if you’re looking to channel some summer beachy vibes this time of year. 🙂