The Beatrice Quilt - Darlings Version
A while back, I picked up a layer cake of Darlings by Ruby Star Society. I didn't have any particular plans for the fabric and I kind of forgot about it since I rarely use layer cakes and I wasn't interested in cutting the fabric up into little pieces.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I was wanting to make some different samples for the Beatrice Quilt Pattern and I started wondering if I had any layer cakes on hand . . . the Darlings layer cake was perfect!
Since there are several novelty-type prints in the collection, the quilt let me show off the fabrics without chopping them up. It works well for directional fabrics so I didn't have to worry about any upside-down or sideways horses or strawberries. And one layer cake is perfect for making a twin size quilt.
I pulled out some solid fabric (Designer Essentials in Mist) and a Ruby Star Society metallic grid print that I wanted to use for Fabrics A and C.
A few weeks ago I stocked up on some 108" wide Speckled backing fabrics and had just enough of the Berry color for the back of the quilt. It coordinated so wonderfully well with the Darlings prints that it felt meant to be. Plus I love not having to piece the backing fabric.
On almost all of my quilts, I do some type of grid because I really like the effect of having the quilting lines intersect on the quilt. I decided to use my quilting guide on this quilt to make regular lines that are about an inch-ish apart. My plan had been to do lines going in both directions, but after quilting the vertical lines on half of the quilt, I decided that I really liked the simplicity of the look on this project and I didn't want to make the quilting more dense and lose any of the drapey-ness of the quilt.
I am in love with how it turned out - I am glad I stepped out of my lap-size-quilt-comfort-zone to go a little bigger and I love the prints.
Darlings can be a little tricky to find, but Darlings 2 will be available soon. I will definitely be picking up a precut of the collection and hanging onto it for a future perfect project.
If you would like to make your own Beatrice Quilt, you can pick up a copy in the shop!