One of My Favorite Things about Living in Texas: The Bluebonnets

Apr 18

Bluebonnets are one of my most favorite things about living in Texas. A lot can be said about Texas, but one thing Texas gets right is wildflowers. They adorn the roadsides with pops of color for miles. The beautiful blue flowers bloom in the oddest of places, like a crack in the driveway where a bluebonnet seed blew.

Blue is a rare color for flowers. My horticulture professor husband, Jared, says one theory is that there is not a true blue hue in nature. I love bluebonnets and hydrangeas since they have such pretty hues. I love them so much, and eagerly anticipate springtime in Texas so that we can go drive and find bluebonnets.

They are tough little flowers and I get so excited when I see the green little leaves pop up, since that means they will bloom soon. We currently have bluebonnets in our garden, but they will be dwindling away soon.

Jared and I took our 8-month old to take family photos in Ennis, Texas where they start to emerge in large clumps. The further west you go in Texas, the better, but we found a great little spot for getting some new photos for our living room.

Bluebonnet Color Story

When I take photos of flowers, I love to pull colors in Adobe Illustrator to make a new color palette and color story. Check out my blog post, How to Create a Custom Color Palette in Adobe Illustrator Using a Photo, for a tutorial on how to create your own color palettes from your photos.

The bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush look so good together. The blues and corals from this photo are a great color combination for a color story. Once I pull colors I like, I work with the hue and saturation in Adobe Illustrator using the Blend tool, which allows you to mix colors digitally and come up with a range of options.

Bluebonnet Patterns

Bluebonnets are perfect little flowers for patterns. This was one of my harder designs to create since the flowers are so dense and I wanted the pattern to evoke how they grow in the wild. I drew bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, and prickly pear cacti for this pattern.

I always like to show patterns with different color backgrounds, typically a true white and a hue that makes the motifs pop. The pattern with the cobalt blue background helps the bluebonnets stand out, and white is always a good choice.

Bluebonnets and Prickly Pear Cacti Fabric Available on Spoonflower

My Bluebonnets and Prickly Pear Cacti Pattern is available in my Spoonflower shop for all of your home sewing projects! Spoonflower is a print-on-demand fabric and wallpaper shop based out of Durham, North Carolina, not far from where I grew up! Independent artists can upload designs and have their patterns printed on fabric, wallpaper, and home goods.

I envision this pattern as being great for seasonal throw pillows or for little girls’ clothing!

*Bluebonnets and Prickly Pear Cacti - Cobalt Blue Background* Fabric Scale

*Bluebonnets and Prickly Pear Cacti* Fabric

Spoonflower also has wallpaper for purchase with the same designs. Wallpaper can be used traditionally on walls, but also for other home projects, like lining a book shelf. I used wallpaper to cover a smooth door that sits on sawhorses as a makeshift DIY desk in my office. It's great because it is huge and holds my art supplies, laptop, and Wacom tablet for drawing.

*Bluebonnets and Prickly Pear Cacti - Cobalt Blue Background* Wallpaper

Spoonflower offers home decor items for purchase as well if you love a pattern and do not sew. I want to learn to sew, but I am not sure I have the patience or time to take on a new hobby at the moment!