I am beyond thrilled to have a love letter (in tote bag and embroidery form!) in Leanne Prain‘s new book, “Strange Material.” It’s a stunner of a book, exploring storytelling through textiles.

More on the book: The book includes chapters on various aspects of textile storytelling, from “Textiles of Protest, Politics, and Power” to “The Fabric of Remembrance”; it spotlights well-known projects, such as the profoundly moving Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, as well as unique undertakings such as Climbing PoeTree’s S.T.I.T.C.H.E.D, Mark Newport’s Knitted Superheroes, Tracy Widdess’s Knitted Monsters, as well as poetry blankets and stitched travel diaries. Offbeat, poetic, and subversive, Strange Material will inspire readers to re-imagine the possibilities of creating through needle and fabric.

It’s an honour to be in such incredible company, and it’s been so much fun carrying my Dear Toronto bag around the city with me — spreading the love one subway trip at a time!!

(Also, AS IF I wrote a pattern! (Thanks to Leanne for making sure it all made sense!) I’ve never even followed one before I wrote this one…!)