Hello! I am excited to share a new project I’ve been working on for most of the year this year. It’s finally time to share a glimpse of my next fabric collection with Robert Kaufman Fabrics, Around the Bend!

About the Collection

Around the Bend is a collection of 23 prints overprinted on Essex, Essex Yarn Dyed, and Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun as the base cloth. All are printed in the USA which is awesome!!! I’m so thrilled with how the fabric turned out and excited to finally be able to share it with you.

Here’s the super important part – it’ll be shipping to stores in July of ’22! Yep, it IS a long ways off, but I hope it’ll be worth the wait! If you’re interested in these fabrics, please share this with your local quilt shop and ask if they’ve ordered. That way they can be sure to get some on order! I know that with most industries, lead times have become increasingly longer. And same goes for the fabric industry, too. I don’t see that changing any time soon. However, I hope this tiny glimpse of the collection will provide a little bit of inspiration and get you excited about sewing with it – when it does arrive in shops.

I’ll be writing more about my inspiration while designing the collection plus sharing some fun pictures, too. In the meantime, here’s a little hint. I’ll be posting about the individual projects when it gets a bit closer to the release date (so maybe sometime starting in May next year?!) as I know it can be so hard to be inspired to make something yet not have the fabric available. So please hang in there!

Thanks so much for your support and encouragement! This year and last year especially! I’m so excited for this collection! It is an amazing honor to see my fabric designs being used in your projects. Thank you so much for joining along in this journey. I love being able to share sewing with YOU!!!

Looking for past collections?

If you’d like, my past fabric collections might be available still at your local shop. Quarry Trail was just arriving to some shops in Australia even as recent as a month ago or so. It was available starting in January of this year at most shops in the United States. You might even be able to snag some Driftless if some is left! Or try searching Etsy or google “Quarry Trail Robert Kaufman” or Quarry Trail Anna Graham” or “Driftless Robert Kaufman” or Driftless Anna Graham”.

I hope your fall is going well. I said it on Instagram, but the seasons here feel really blended together this year. We’ve got a full schedule for our family, but I’m itching for things to slow down a bit again here in a month or so. I’ve been SLOWLY plugging away at a new pattern that I hope I can get ready for the beginning of December. Thanks as always for reading.

Phew! It’s been quite the fall season already! I know for many of you fall means back to school and hopefully have been able to return to some sort of normal activities. Honestly I miss having my kids home more, the time we got to spend together since Covid was so great. Now that activities are back on the schedule for my girls, we’ve been doing a lot of running around. It’s such a privilege to be able to watch them in sports and show choir – soaking it all in!

Framework Tote

This Framework canvas Wool + Wax Tote served as a bit of a palette cleanser for me. Do you like to sew a small, easy-ish project between bigger projects? I wrapped up sample sewing for my upcoming fabric collection and this tote was just what I needed.

I had this fabric combo pulled for years! Yes, years!!! I think originally I was going to make a Compass Bag with it. But it sat on my shelf and now it is living it’s best life as a Wool + Wax Tote.

The waxed canvas is a beautiful brown color from AL Frances Textiles. I love how it pairs with Ellen Luckett Baker‘s canvas. The lining is a super fun print from Carolyn Friedlander from her Carkai collection.

I did cut up a special leather hide for the straps (sorry it’s sold out! of my shop). It felt good to cut up this gorgeous hide. If you haven’t noticed, the leather industry has been hit pretty hard because of Covid. Lead times are very long on anything special order (which is most of the leather I carry). I am currently waiting on an order, hope that it will arrive in about three weeks or so.

Project Details

• Pattern: Wool + Wax Tote (also available as part of my booklet, Everyday Essentials)
• Fabrics: waxed canvas in brown by AL Frances Textiles (10 oz. weight is my preference), Framework canvas by Ellen Luckett Baker for Kokka Fabrics, lining is Carkai by Carolyn Friedlander for Robert Kaufman Fabrics

Here are a few Wool + Wax Totes I’ve made in past:

• Green Tote
• Stamped Tote
• Mustard Tote

Yep, I said it. This is my yellow Pepin Tote for fall. I’m not sure why exactly, but this yellow always makes me think fall.

I had made this sample during the Pepin Tote Sew-along last November. I never ended up getting final pictures of it, so it’s sat and waited on a hook until now.

Fabric Picks – Yellow Pepin Tote for Fall

This is made with Robert Kaufman’s Big Sur Canvas in Mustard. Of course if you’ve seen much of my work lately, usually if I’m making a bag, it involves at least some Big Sur. I love how versatile it is and the wide variety of colors to choose from.

It is lining with this Surface by Amy van Luijk for Figo Fabrics. It’s such a beautiful substrate (a cotton-linen blend) and works really well for this lining and of course it works great for an exterior fabric choice, too (see my Hillside Tote)!

This has the optional zippered closure which is really quite fun. I know that a lot of folks need a zippered closure and I think that’s why I love the Pepin Tote so much. You can make it with or without! I fall in latter category (preferring a simpler tote without a ton of pockets or zippers for most occasions). But when you sew it, YOU get to pick!

I’m hoping to get back in the swing of things here in the next few weeks. Lots of things happening in the background!!! School starting for my daughters will be a nice routine for everyone to get back into. We also have been building a new house this summer! We’re getting ready to move, but first we’ll be making a temporary move to live with some family for about a month while the new house gets finished up. It’s been a lot of work, and has taken a lot of my creative energy (in a good way!). I’ve been enjoying it so much, but am ready for watching all the finishing details come together and then of course to get back to more creative time for sewing patterns and fabric designing!

Shop Updates

Thanks for joining along with me here! I’ve been slowing adding a few more things to my shop. If you’re not a newsletter subscriber, you can subscribe here. I recently added some chicago screw sets (comes in a pack of four screw sets) and NEW colors of drawstring cord – both finishing touches for your Firefly Tote!