Ah! So excited to keep sharing my Driftless projects with you! If you’re just reading, my newest fabric collection with Robert Kaufman Fabrics, Driftless, is now available in shops! How exciting! It’s so amazing to see folks using it already, too! I’ll be featuring those projects in my Instagram stories if you care to see!

So as soon as this print hit my hands, I knew it had to be a 241 Tote. I don’t know what it is, but I love it when I get a fabric and I know exactly what to make with it. Sometimes that’s the hardest part, and even harder to keep waiting for that ‘perfect’ project to come to mind. It was really fun revisiting the 241 Tote again. I haven’t made one in over a year, so it felt really nice to sew something familiar.

The main print was based on water lilies that were in the Mississippi River. And the secondary print is based loosely off the pattern you’d see on a Common Loon. I just love this mix along with the chambray.

It’s fun to look back on these pictures we took over the summer.

Pattern: 241 Tote
Fabric: Driftless (by me!) for Robert Kaufman Fabrics, Interweave Chambray

Whew! 2019 seemed to fly by faster than ever. It seems the older my kids get, the faster each year goes. My husband and I are trying to fully relish this busy time of our lives, we know it doesn’t last. We’ll have a High Schooler next year. However cliché it seems, looking back at pictures is always such a good reminder for me. Sometimes it’s a way of remembering what happened and that it all didn’t fall through my hands like grains of sand.

On the personal side of things we said goodbye to my best friend, Pepper, our Beagle, in June and after her leaving such a huge hole in our hearts, I felt the only way to recover from that was to give more love to a new puppy who needed a home. We adopted a puppy, Frida, from a local Humane Society. She’s a Blue Heeler/Border Collie and is just what we needed.  It hasn’t been the easiest adjustment, but she’s been so good for our family. My new main exercise activity is lots of walks and hiking and I’m loving every minute (even the cold minutes!). My girls participated in lots of soccer, volleyball , and school activities and we went on a fun family beach trip to Chincoteague, VA during the summer. My husband, Dan, has been busy cycling (from fat tire biking to gravel and road biking). It’s been fun to see him enjoying every moment.

Our new pup, Frida.

After finishing my studio space in late 2018, this year I felt was actually a need to re-settle into my work. I didn’t want to try to push myself beyond what my business was already doing, so it felt good to accept that I could go at my own pace no matter of any outside expectations.

Speaking of the business side of things, I released a few new patterns, the Crescent Tote, Redwood Tote, and Hillside Tote. Your enthusiasm for the patterns was contagious! My next fabric collection with Robert Kaufman Fabrics, Driftless, is actually shipping NOW! I also contributed to Making Magazine’s No. 8  (Wood Carrier project). It will be released as a PDF in my shop in a few months. I also have some upcoming work that will be in the next issue in Spring! I switched my shop platform over from Woocommerce to Shopify in August. It was a long-term project that I worked on for quite a bit of the first part of 2019 and finally got the kick in the pants to finish the switch in late summer. It’s been a great thing for my shop and also comes with a few quirks and hiccups along the way. Things are going pretty smoothly now and I hope to always allow time to take a look at the big picture parts of my business. I also had a fun interview on the Love to Sew Podcast with Helen & Caroline, such an honor!

My goal is to continue to provide a reliable source where you can find components and supplies that work with my patterns. I’m also hoping to continue to expand my offerings a bit while maintaining the kind of business I want to have (small!). If there’s anything you’d like to see in my shop in the future let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear! At this point it’s only really ME holding myself back, so a little push never hurts.

I’m looking forward to the new year! I feel that as I get older and my business evolves over time, I no longer need to compare what I’m doing to what others are doing. I can go at my own pace and run a business that aligns with my values and still have fun!

I am continually grateful for my friends and the support from this amazing sewing (and knitting!) community. After 10 years in business I cannot believe all the goals I’ve achieved while also being the kind of mom and wife and friend I want to be. Thank you for your support, comments and encouragement over all these years. There’s so much fun to come in 2020 that I cannot wait to share with you!

If you’re new here, take a trip down memory lane and check out my previous year-end posts from 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Wow, that’s a lot of years! I say that almost every year, but it’s true!

This is my first project I’m sharing that I made using my new fabric collection, Driftless! You can read more about Driftless and it’s inspiration in this post.

I’m very happy to have made this Geese in Flight Quilt (pattern by my friend Jeni Baker). I honestly hadn’t made a quilt using only flying geese before, but I’ve always wanted to! It came at the perfect time for when I needed to sew samples using Driftless. I wanted to make a larger quilt with a dark background and I think this design really shines! I used Kona Gotham Grey for the background and a bunch of Driftless. It’s a twin size and man, I hadn’t made a quilt that big in a while! It took me so much longer than I thought, but in the end it was totally worth it. I think once it gets back from its travels, it’ll wind up on one of my daughter’s beds.

I spent many hours arranging the rows and columns and piecing them together. It was definitely a great way to get a lot of practice in! In the end I still managed to mix up a few rows, but I actually don’t mind at all. Things like that don’t bother me in the least, and I’m happy for that!

The backing is Carolina Gingham in Fog. I just love a soft quilt back, and I think the gingham is one really great one to use! I’ll have to report back once it gets a few washings in.

I had sent off the quilt to Kaitlyn of Knot + Thread (I met her and her husband at quilt market last time I was there, they’re both so nice!) and she turned it around so quickly for me, thank you Kaitlyn! I think the scallops highlight the geese! It was so great to see it when it arrived back. As soon as I opened the box, I set out to get the binding done right away! I bound it in the same Kona Gotham Grey. I think anything else would have been too busy and am really happy with how it turned out.

Pattern: Geese in Flight by Jeni Baker (twin size)
Fabrics: Driftless (by me!) for Robert Kaufman Fabrics, Kona Gotham Grey for the background and binding, Carolina Gingham in Fog for the back
Quilting by Knot + Thread

My husband, aka quilt holder 🙂