I was working on my first fabric line today when I discovered a way to put my designs on things! Yes... like shirts, bags, tumblers, notepads, etc... I was so excited to set this up that I now have a handful of these custom made items available in my shop! The first fabric design has made it onto iPhone cases!
The fabric line is made up of bumblebees, honeycomb, and flowers and I plan to release it through Spoonflower in 2-3 months. When I was visiting Scotland this summer, there were bumblebees everywhere there were flowers and I was hooked. They flew so lazily through the gardens completely ignoring me as I inched closer and closer. The long flight to and from Scotland gave me plenty of time to read Dave Goulson's fascinating book "A Sting in the Tale" which is all about his research on bumblebees (and was completely enjoyable to read). I learned so much that I kinda became obsessed with bumblebees. Did you know that bumblebees know how to find their way back to the hive by visual markers? When they venture out for the first time, they circle around their hive developing their own map. Bumblebees thrive on the pollen and nectar of wildflowers and are especially important in tomato farming. They are amazing pollinators as they use their wings to "buzz" the pollen out of flowers but they operate at a slower pace than their cousins the honeybees. They don't even store enough honey and pollen for worker bees to survive the winter like honeybees do. Bumblebees are more mild mannered than honeybees and wasps and only sting if really aggravated but they can sting more than once!
The bees were just so cute that I had to put them on a few more things...
Like this fanny pack and this scrunchie.
And now I've got my quilt pattern Broken Moons on a tumbler. On the notebook, I used my soon to be released holiday quilt pattern Exploding Peppermints. The Exploding Peppermints quilt pattern has a green and red colorway and I couldn't pick which one to use so the notebook has both! Red for the front and green for the back.
I've got some lovely pattern testers making Exploding Peppermints and the fabric I've ordered is on it's way to make the green version. In the meantime, I've been making a pop art version (think Andy Warhol). The "exploding peppermint" centers in this version are all exactly the same. The only thing that is changing is the background. I just love the optical illusion it creates.
Happy Quilting! Checkout all the fun new items for sell with my designs on them!
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