Spring 2026: A Letter From Bonnie

By: Bonnie Christine

Story Adapted From Pattern Magazine – Volume 4

In our Smoky Mountains, the hills wake slowly. Redbuds feather the edges, dogwoods lift their white lanterns, and the garden soil gives beneath the spade.

As the ground softens, so do I, ready to learn something new, to expand with the season. 

I clear out cupboards and make space for the new. It’s a good kind of restless. Taking inventory of my flower beds, I thumb through seed packets of dahlias, zinnias, forget-me-nots, cosmos, and celosia. What will I plant this year?

Next, I turn to my studio, sharpening my pencils as I did my pruners. What will I make this year? A patterned collection, a refreshed website, a product that’s ready to meet the world?

My hands begin making lists, a ritual that is part planning, part promise. And in my preparation, I find myself reaching for both the familiar and the untried: in the garden, I plan for one row of colorful zinnias and one row of experiments; my creative plans include a collection with beloved florals (my timeless favorites) and a bold idea ready to take shape.

Spring is our long-awaited invitation, and I am eager to embrace it. I press into expansion, the planting of seeds in my creative journey: a bolder palette, a technique I’ve wanted to master, a product I’ve been sketching in the margins. And I tend to the moments that will blossom into exposure: photographing my process, keeping the scribbles that tell a collection’s story, sharing progress notes with my creative community. 

The world is reawakening, and you and I get a front-row seat. What will grow? What will appear that wasn’t here last week? Inside these pages, you’ll find a gentle structure for this curiosity, an opportunity to consider expansion and exposure in your own creative practice. What should you say “yes” to, and what needs more sunlight?

My hope for us this quarter is that we try a new flower in the bed, explore a fresh medium for our motifs, discover an unexpected color story, or read a book that challenges our thinking. That we keep what is working, prune what isn’t, and let the rest surprise us.

Let’s make room for our work to be seen. Spring is calling!

With love from my garden,
Bonnie

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