Inspired by Houseplants New Pattern Designs and a Tea Towel Calendar for 2023
Edit: the houseplant tea towel from 2023 and all of my previous tea towels are now available with 2024 dates! Plus there’s a fun new design for 2024, too.
Hello, friends! It feels good to be back from my blogging break and writing to you today. September was FULL and seemed like a very long month. I’m glad I was realistic with myself and decided to take some time off from blogging.
As I think about it, allowing myself to take time off is part of a mindset of EASE (wondering what I’m talking about? See here, here and here). Perhaps I really am learning!
Do you take time off when you need it? Without guilt or apology?
I hope so.
Now on to today’s post!
Since I last wrote to you, fall is here for real now.
One of the things I like best about fall is the way my attention shifts to my houseplants when the weather gets too cold to be outside.
You can see it in my art, too.
If you read my newsletter, the design might be a bit of a surprise. I changed my mind about it at nearly the last minute.
Most years my tea towel (or wall hanging) calendars are created to coordinate with other fabric designs. While working on my 2023 design, frustrated with how it was going and knowing I’d need more art, I realized I wanted to create a whole collection around its motifs. I didn’t have time for that but I remembered I hadn’t yet debuted three new houseplant-themed patterns.
I created the first one when I was putting together my guided joy journal.
It was so fun to do and it looks beautiful in the book.
When I think about it, I’ve been wanting to make something like it for YEARS.
Back in 2015, before I knew how to create a repeating pattern, I designed something similar as endpapers for a sketchbook I made.
Once I learned how to create repeating patterns, I’m surprised it took me so long to come back to the idea.
After using the design in my guided journal, I turned it into a fun zipper pouch (it’s available here):
I couldn’t stop playing with houseplants and ended up making two more variations.
But for some reason I didn’t do anything with my new patterns after that. I kept meaning to make them available in my Spoonflower shop and write about them here on my blog, but somehow it never happened.
Perhaps it’s a good thing because as I struggled with a new calendar design, I remembered the houseplant patterns and they helped me to switch gears.
I’m so glad I did because I love how the calendar turned out and I think it’s fun to be introducing it while sharing these three new pattern designs, too.
The preview of the first pattern on wallpaper is especially beautiful, don’t you think?
The texture reminds me of watercolor paper.
My second pattern, depicting only foliage plants, is lovely as a table runner:
And the third design, which includes warm-colored flowers and foliage, makes fun napkins:
All are available now in my Spoonflower shop as fabric, wallpaper and a variety of housewares (the zipper pouch is from Society6).
As for my calendar design, it’s available now, too.
This is the 7th year I’ve created a fabric calendar and it’s become such a fun tradition for me.
I’ve also updated my previous designs with 2023 dates.
I often have questions from customers about how the calendars are sold. You can purchase them as fabric to hem into tea towels, as finished tea towels and also as wall hangings with wooden hangers (as with my other designs, click where it says “Also Available in Home Decor” to access all those options).
Last year I bought a wall hanging with my clematis design and was impressed by how beautiful the wooden hanger is.
I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that it’s already time to be thinking about 2023. Although this year has been a challenge for me, I don’t want to rush these last three months. Let’s slow things down, ok?