Things are really hopping in the Spoonflower shop these days! The printing and shipping crews are working almost non-stop to get orders out the door before our shipping deadlines. Then it's home to work on hand-made gifts with the whirr of sewing machines and the click of knitting needles re...

I have a dear friend who about this time every year begins gloating that not only does she have all her Christmas shopping done, she's made major headway wrapping everything, too. She is one crazy organized individual but perhaps with Halloween behind us, it really is time to start wrapping ...

Here in NC, things are starting to look and feel downright cozy lately. The leaves are turning colors, temperatures are dropping to extra-blanket-at-night levels, and curling up on the sofa with a quilt to hand-stitch is becoming my preferred activity after the kids have gone to bed. With t...

The Spoonflower blog has been graced lately by virtual visits from some extremely talented guest posters. Among them, and up this week, is Dana Willard of the Made blog and author of Fabrics A to Z (called The Fabric Selector if you're UK-based). Dana has kindly offered to share her experie...

I had the odd experience a few days ago of trying to eat my breakfast while casting my votes in this week's zombie plushie contest. I don't think of myself as very squeamish, but that particular multi-tasking combo put me off my toast. Consider yourself warned then that zombie dolls may not b...

The kids are back in school this week and while I haven't been counting down the hours 'til the kids go back to school, I have to admit that I have a lot more time to think all of a sudden. And when I have time to think, I often think about projects I'd like to make for myself that maybe I p...

With my kids about to return to school, this week has been a little nutty. We're attempting to cross a few remaining fun items off our summer to-do list but also going to dentist appointments, shopping for school supplies, pulling bigger clothes down from the attic for growing girls, and jus...

This week, we're really pleased to be bringing you a virtual chat with Spoonflower designer, Virginia Odien, also known as Vo_aka_VirginiaO. Viginia's been with Spoonflower since almost the very beginning, has nearly 200 designs available in her Spoonflower shop on which to feast your eyes, an...

We're absolutely thrilled to have collaborated this week with fellow North Carolina resident, pattern designer, blogger, and author Meg McElwee to bring you a great giveaway. For those of you who aren't familiar with this talented sewist, Meg has written two very popular sewing books, Sew Libe...

This week's giveaway is for another beautiful sewing title from Chronicle Books. Tessa Everlegh's Sewing Made Simple is one of those books we'd really like to hold onto ourselves at the Spoonflower office. It's geared towards the sewing beginner and, while some of us are past needing a sewin...

I'm calling this quilt "first" because it's the first quilt I've made that uses only solids for the top. I wanted a sea-glass sort of look to it, so I chose 17 different green and blue connecting threads solids to make it. First is 60X75" and is backed with a connecting threads flannel. I...

As an unapologetic lover of pretty dresses, I was really intrigued to have a copy of Famous Frocks land on my desk recently, courtesy of the kind folks at Chronicle Books. In this book, authors Sara Alm and Hannah McDevitt have curated a collection of 20 dresses ranging from the 1930's (Bette...

I've often joked to my more sporty friends that summer is my indoor season here in sunny and humid North Carolina. It's hard for me to get motivated to even open the front door when temperatures are in the upper 90's and 100's as they have been lately. The garden gets super weedy for a couple ...

Happy Fourth of July to all our American peeps! This week's giveaway is being brought to you from the beautiful Smoky Mountains in Tennesse where Stephen and I are visiting family this week. Despite record-breaking hot temperatures (and no air-conditioning!) we've been keeping cool in an ic...

Our competition to create fabrics inspired by extinct animals ends with the triumphant return of Cean Irminger, one of our all-time champs who -- according to the contest archive -- has been absent from the winner's platform for over a year. Congratulations to Cean, whose pigeon design managed...

Ruby on the Jimbo-Jumbo dog bed We've lived in our house for five years now and we're still not done decorating it and fixing it up. Do you ever really get "done" fixing up your house? Maybe not. Or at least maybe not if you enjoy making things for your home and for the people who live there...

Voting in the final round of the Fabric8 contest, a competition from Spoonflower and Robert Kaufman Fabrics to discover a handful of the world's best amateur textile designers, is pretty much wrapped up. We'll announce the winner on Thursday. If you'd like a closer look at the seven coordinates...

My daughters and I recently drew up a poster of things to do this summer and hung it on the fridge. I tried to only add things that I knew all of us would enjoy: "Pick peaches," for example, and "Invite friends on a picnic." I made an effort not to write anything down that was just for me t...

Spoonflower I Spy Assortment: Alloy Set, from Crafterhours I normally think of spring as my dress sewing season, not my quilting season. The weather is staying warm now, my garden is in full bloom, and the idea of pretty printed cottons against my skin is mighty appealing. Uncharacteristical...

Denyse Schmidt provided one of my earliest introductions to the modern quilting movement. I love that she derives inspiration from vintage quilts and designs since these are dear to me already, but she cleans them up for the current quilter so that things look both familiar and fresh. I've gi...

Coincidental to our upcoming fabric-of-the week contest theme of hat patterns, we were recently sent a copy of Hat Shop, a new book all about hats to sew compiled by Susanne Woods. To me, this is project sewing serendipity because the onset of spring always sends me on a hat hunt. After a lon...

Heather Ross plus a little girl-friendly craft project? Yes, please! This week's giveaway is for a copy of Crafty Chloe, a new children's book with a clever and crafty young heroine written by Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by popular fabric designer Heather Ross. We'll also throw in two y...

The top ten fabrics from this week's contest are headed for an exhibit at the Textile Center in Minneapolis, where jurors will select their favorite for a grand prize. The people's choice in our voting was Canadian designer Cynthia Frenette's "Take the Detour Route," but all of the top ten off...

The top ten fabrics from this week's contest are headed for an exhibit at the Textile Center in Minneapolis, where jurors will select their favorite for a grand prize. The people's choice in our voting was Canadian designer Cynthia Frenette's "Take the Detour Route," but all of the top ten off...

Thank you all for the overwhelming response to last week's giveaway of three fat quarter bundles of Laurie Wisbrun's Jack & Jenny fabrics printed by Robert Kaufman, and three copies of Laurie's new book, Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing and Design. It's pretty clear that Laurie has a lot ...