Studio Notes Issue 11 | October 22, 2026
There is something truly magical about holding something you designed in your hands. This past week, I finally got to hold the fabric samples for my newly finished Mountain Living collection now available on Spoonflower.
Fabric samples for the Mountain Living Collection.
Designing for fabric is very different than painting my watercolor landscapes and I love it in a completely different way. There is something very meditative about just making marks that will become the building blocks for patterns, whether painting the petals for flowers or detailed illustrations of animals. It is also a different kind of challenge and with each pattern and collection I build, the more my style and taste continues to emerge.
This collection was the culmination of the 12 week+ Surface Pattern Design Immersion course offered by Bonnie Christine. It started as an idea in early February, which turned into a mood board, which morphed into a stack of artwork, which by the end of May became a finished 11-pattern collection in two colorways with the placeholder title of Colorado Mountains by the end of May.
Moodboard for this collection.
Quick jot of potential pattern ideas.
Painted mushroom marks for a pattern.
Test prints of patterns.
While I was pumped (to say the least) about finishing the course for the second time and about finalizing a solid collection, I was ready to take a break from the project I had been working on non-stop for two months.
The more patterns I create, the more I have noticed that my work gets significantly better when I take an intentional break once I feel like the collection is mostly finished. And running summer programs at the museum and then taking a long summer vacation was the perfect respite. Once I finally got back in the studio at the end of the summer, I was finally eager to actually revisit this collection with fresh eyes.
At the end of Immersion, I was very happy with this collection and did not anticipate any major revisions, but there was still a lot of work to get done to get the collection revised and the files prepped so that the patterns could be available as fabric and wallpaper on Spoonflower.
Refining the Core Collection for My Portfolio
My final project for Immersion included eleven patterns in two distinct colorways. During my revision, I narrowed down my list of patterns to nine. These nine patterns felt like the strongest that I would want to add to my portfolio on my website. With my core collection finalized, I went through each pattern individually to make sure the patterns were technically correct; I finalized scale; I made final color adjustments; and lastly added images and mockups to my website.
Creating Files for Spoonflower
While I am still in a stage of building my surface design portfolio, I want to test my designs in the market by selling them on Spoonflower, a print on demand company where you can order digitally printed fabric, wallpaper, or ready-made home decor items. For each of my finalized patterns, I created the files to add them to my Spoonflower shop. Beyond the ability to order actual fabric samples of my patterns, it is really fun to see Spoonflower's mockups of how your patterns could be used in different ways, like cloth napkins, tea towels, or even bed sheets.
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Expanding the Collection for Spoonflower
While one of the challenges of building a portfolio is creating a very curated collection of your design work, one of the fun things about Spoonflower is that you do not have to follow any of those restrictions. As a result:
I added some patterns that were not included in the original collection that I still really liked.
I added additional colorways that were not included in the original collection.
For some patterns, I also created a much larger version that could work better for wallpaper or home decor items.
The full collection is now available on Spoonflower, whether you are looking for fabric for your next sewing or quilting project, or something finished like cloth napkins or a cozy minky throw blanket (not going to lie, I might have to buy a blanket in the big flower print just for myself!).
Holiday Drop Details
Ornaments from previous years.
An official holiday drop is in the works. It will be small and highly curated, but I am excited to finally offer a limited edition set of my watercolor ornaments. Creating ornaments has become one of my favorite parts of the holidays, but I have only ever painted a few and just for myself and maybe a friend or two. This year the 2026 Moody Mini ornament collection will feature 10-15 original watercolor paintings in small glass ornament frames. All holiday products will be available on my Etsy shop, which will also be getting an update over the next month. I'm hoping for a few other holiday surprises, but time will tell. Until then, make sure to save-the-date!
Launch Date:
Sunday, November 15, 2026 at 1:00pm MST
Subscribers to Studio Notes will get reminders, so make sure you are signed up!
Behind-the-Scenes of the 2026 Moody Minis Collection
This Week's Recs...
What I'm watching: Our current obsession is The Lioness. It is part of the Taylor Sheridan universe (Yellowstone and Landman) and we binged season one in a weekend and are now halfway through season 2. It is an action spy thriller staring Zoe Saldaña. Season three just dropped, but we'll have to wait until it hits the library before seeing it.
What I'm reading: I just finished The Future by Naomi Alderman and it was fascinating and also terrifying. Set in what feels like the not so distant future, it follows the story of a small group of survivalists that decide to go up against the top billionaire owned companies to save humanity. If you have concerns about AI, robots, climate change, politics, or survivalists... you might want to skip it.
Radom Rec: Chickpea Salad. When we came back from our summer vacation, one of the airplane meals featured a chickpea salad, which I have never had before. Since then, we have tried to replicate it. We haven't quite matched the flavors, but as somebody who feels like every day during the week is schedule down to the minute, it is nice to add another healthy recipe to our meal prep collection. Here is one of the recipes that we liked.
You Might Also Like
Why I’m Retaking Surface Pattern Design Immersion in 2026 This is the first post in my Immersion 2026 series where I documented my progress through class and the development of what became the Mountain Living Collection.
Exploring Gansai Tambi: The Graphite Colors This is the color palette at the heart of my upcoming Moody Mini Ornament release.
Handmade Gifts: My 2025 Watercolor Ornaments A trip down memory lane and my 2025 ornament collection.