About 60 miles from Spokane, in eastern Washington’s high desert country, Mariner’s Compass quilts surround Robin Long. On her family’s cattle ranch near Ritzville, she and her husband, David Long, live and work out of a barndominium they built over the last few years. In June of 2024, they hung up more than 70 of Robin’s colorful Mariner’s Compass quilts for locals to see at their first annual open house.
“The open house was a full circle moment for me,” she said. “Where my compass, life, and these quilts have taken me has been a big adventure.”
Robin started her business in 2015 with a ruler and strip piecing technique to simplify the Mariner’s Compass quiltmaking process. Nowadays, quilters can shop for a myriad of modern mandala-inspired quilt patterns, books, kits, and classes in her online shop. “Where will your compass take you?” her business tagline asks. Robin said, “I like to turn the question around to my customers and ask them what creativity they might bring to the world.”
The daughter of a cowboy and an artistic mother, Robin has shared the creative process of sewing with her mother, Karen, and quilting with her grandmother, Zella. “Mom started sewing for me at an early age,” she said. “We would plan my fall wardrobes for school, and she was the one who taught me how to sew. We still sew together to this day and constantly share our creative ideas.”
Robin was sandwiched between two brothers, and all three worked hard with cattle and machinery. “I didn’t realize until I left the ranch that everyone didn’t grow up this way,” she said. “We learned from an early age how to think on our feet, be resourceful, and to solve whatever problem the ranch threw at us.”
Though the family lived 12 miles from town—and Robin only had 39 kids in her class—her mom made sure they traveled. “Not very far,” Robin said, “but we’d get off this ranch, and we’d go to the bigger cities and see the sights and art.”
In 1985 Robin graduated from college and married David. They moved to Hawaii, where the Navy stationed David as a submarine officer, and that’s where the idea to make a Mariner’s Compass quilt originated.
“Back in that time, if you wanted to make a Mariner’s Compass quilt, you bought Judy Mathieson’s book. It taught you how to draft a compass, cut out all the templates, and put them all together,” Robin said. “I didn’t want to do that because also what was happening at that time was rotary cutting. There were a lot of new rulers on the market in the late ’80s and early ’90s.” She knew there had to be a way to make compass blocks with a ruler and came up with her first prototype in 1992. “It looked a little crazy,” Robin said, “but it got the job done.”
In those days, quilting was just a hobby for Robin. Soon, her daughter was born, and she and her mom spent the next 16 years running a successful gift store. Then the economy took a plunge. Though they were forced to close the store, Robin now had more time for quilting. “I came across that first compass ruler I made and soon became obsessed,” she said. “It took two full years to get it to market, and in 2015, I launched Robin Ruth Design.”
After moving around with the Navy and then settling in the Seattle area, Robin and David recently moved back to her family’s ranch. “My husband and I have also been fortunate to travel to many different countries around the world, and I’ve been to 48 of the 50 states,” Robin said. “My quilts are inspired by all the places I’ve been and sights I’ve seen along the way.”
Her partnerships with fabric companies, including Free Spirit Fabrics, feed Robin’s creative process too. In October 2024, she’ll begin shipping quilt kits for her No Shrinking Violet quilt pattern with fabrics from Tula Pink’s “Untamed” line, featuring flowers in pinks, purples, and greens.
In her 26-foot by 26-foot sewing studio, Robin makes quilts—everything from designing digital mockups to finishing the quilts with her longarm. Some of her grandmother’s paintings hang on the wall, along with all kinds of collected art from her travels.
She currently travels at least once a month to lead classes for guilds near and far, along with teaching online classes. “Now I get to ask my students and customers, where will their compass take them?” she said. Robin loves coming up with new ideas, and she especially loves connecting with the wonderful people in the quilting community.
“To still be selling the same product ten years later, and to grow year after year, is exciting,” she said. “You may see other things from me in the future. I have some things percolating, and, so far, my compass has kept me headed in the right direction.”
