My newest Art Gallery Fabrics collection, Tumbleweed is now stocked in shops and the beautiful Tumbleweed Look Book is available online for your viewing inspiration! This post will be a chance for me to show off the projects I made with the collection but you’ll still want to see the entire Look Book catalog of inspiring projects, HERE.

Quilts

You know how much I love quilts, right? So, of course I had to make a quilt in my newest Prairie Sundrop pattern for the Tumbleweed Look Book and my friend and pattern tester Mary Gove also made a quilt using my Phoenix quilt pattern.

I timed our family vacation to Arizona so I could photograph my Tumbleweed projects in the environment for which the collection was designed around. It was hot to be lugging quilts and projects around but oh, so worth it! Most of the quilt photos were taken in Sedona which had more shade and a little cooler (90’s rather than 110 in the Phoenix area where we also visited). Above is my Prairie Sundrop quilt pattern.

I made the throw size for suitcase packing space and holding for photos. As you can see, it’s still a big quilt for a throw. I used Hobbs Batting Polydown for the batting and it not only kept the quilt wrinkle-free for traveling in a suitcase and a tote bag on the hikes but is light-weight for my patient hubby to hold up for photos under the hot sun. Besides, I love the puff that the poly batting gives a quilt!

I machine quilted this myself with very simple in-the-ditch stitching and where there were blank rectangles on the edges, I mimicked the Stem blocks in those spaces. Polydown batting may be stitched up to 4’’ apart and doesn’t shrink when washed so no crinkle effect of the cotton batting for those that like a smooth and puffy look like I do.

Get the Prairie Sundrop quilt pattern from my SHOP and shop this quilt kit at Lady Belle Fabrics.

This gorgeous Phoenix quilt was made by Mary Gove @thecurlyquilter on Instagram and was quilted by Jennifer Lorch of Jenny Ms Quilts. The big, bold blocks show off the Tumbleweed prints beautifully!

Mary lives in Wyoming and this quilt looks right at home in the wild and in the home. I’m loving these rich colors with Mary’s decor for a fresh and modern Southwest aesthetic.

For the backing, Mary used the Desert Life print from the Tumbleweed collection and Fleuron Sanctuary from my Kismet collection. FYI: Tumbleweed pairs beautifully with my Kismet collection if you’re looking to expand your Sharon Holland fabric stash. It also plays well with Heirloom.

Kits are available for the Tumbleweed Phoenix quilt from Lady Belle Fabrics! Find the pattern for this quilt in my Shop.

Bags and Accessories

Even though I love quilts, I do like to branch out a bit in my sewing and have had my eye on this Brooklyn Tote Pack pattern by Svetlana Sotak of Sotak Handmade. Svetlana has so many amazing patterns that I know I’ll be making more of her patterns in the future.

I knew I wanted to use the Desert Rose main floral from the collection in Garnet for the bag body—it’s such an amazing color for fall! The accent print is called Woolen Blanket in Prickly Pear coloring and the interior is Arrowhead Quartz. The leather handles were scrap leather pieces from my Mom’s crafting stash.

Since I knew we’d be traveling to photograph projects I planned my projects to serve double-duty. This Brooklyn Tote Pack served as my carryon and backpack during the trip and was so comfortable to use and carry even in extreme heat on hikes and through airports. Truly my new favorite backpack!

It’s the perfect size for all the stuff you’d tote and has exterior and interior zip pockets and adjustable straps. There’s also large pockets on the front that blend in with the exterior of the back for a clean, smooth look.

The bucket hat I’m wearing is made from the flannel fabric in the Tumbleweed collection. This is a free pattern from Art Gallery Fabrics called the Sunny Brim Bucket Hat. This hat was easy to make, perfect to pack, and terrific for keeping the sun off my face!

Another great packable project was this free Boxy Pouch pattern by Sotak Handmade. I used the Burgeon Flora print from Tumbleweed for the exterior of the pouch and the trim detail on the front is fussy cut from the collection’s 2.5 Binding print. I used Desert Life for the interior and my little pouch coordinates with my backpack.

Home Decor

I didn’t haul everything I made to the desert and photographed my home decor makes here at home.

These 24” square Narah pillows are a free pattern from Art Gallery Fabrics. Pillows are a great way to try your hand at patchwork and to change up your decor for the seasons.

I love how these big pillows look on our full guest bed and how quickly I can change up the look in that room with pillows and a wool throw.

These toss pillows are also great on the couch or as floor cushions.

Sometimes, sewing projects for the Look Book are the little push I need to also get sewing done for myself or my home. I’ve been wanting to make sofa pads for a while now to protect our new sofa from our young grandchildren and grand dogs.

I used the Paisley Power Desert flannel print from Tumbleweed and the tutorial by The Simple Homeplace. I used only the foam egg crate mattress topper as my padding and didn’t add the additional poly stuff as in the video tutorial. I’m very pleased with how they turned out and will be so happy to have them on the couch come the holidays!

Just for Fun

We traveled with my daughter and her family so I wanted to make something the kids could play with and take home to remember our Arizona trip—so why not make some snakes!

This free scrappy Sew a Snake pattern is by Home Ec. Sewing. I made a few tweaks to the pattern bu first reducing the pattern to 85% to make smaller snakes. Another change up I made to the pattern was after piecing the snake back/tail and tummy/tail sections, I joined those and quilted it on a scrap of cotton batting before finishing the assembly. This added that nice diamond quilting lines, added some padding for the light pellet stuffed body.

The last change was to the filling. I loosely filled them with some stuffing in the tail and head and plastic bean pellets for the body so they were more fluid and bendable. I really wish I’d thought to throw a couple jingle bells in the tail while stuffing but the kids loved them never-the-less. It’s a great gift for any nature-loving kid and nice for using up small scraps.

Look for AGF Tumbleweed at your favorite quilt shop or online! Be sure to take a look at the entire Tumbleweed Look Book for loads of sewing inspiration like quilts, home accessories, garments, and more.

Happy sewing,