Hello everyone! My name is Alison Ashbourne and I am an aspiring surface designer who lives and breathes colour and design. My husband Brad, and my two young adult children are lucky enough to live on a beautiful green acre of bushland in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales with our chickens, goats and two golden retriever puppies, Kevin and Rowan. We live a simple life growing our own vegetables and fruit, cooking from scratch, spending time together and enjoying what I believe to be the good life. I am so excited to announce that I’ve finally taken the plunge and started my first blog!

My hope is that this space will allow me to share my journey with you as I take my first steps towards building a successful and fulfilling career in surface design. I have always loved art and design but only now at 50 have time and space in my life to pursue this love and indulge my passion by drawing and designing everyday. It just feels right.

So how did I discover surface design? My love of fabric! It’s as simple as that! I’ve loved sewing from a very young age. About five years ago I started selling patchwork fabric online and it was while I was reading about the fabrics I was stocking and their designers that it dawned on me that someone was creating the patterns that were printed on the fabrics. And so I started researching what was involved in fabric design. I dabbled in some online courses but I couldn’t seem to find somewhere that would educate me about the process from beginning to end. It took me quite a while but I found surface design educator Bonnie Christine. In 2022 I took the plunge and enrolled in her Immersion course which I absolutely loved. I spent the next 12 months learning the basics of creating patterns, and more importantly, reawakening my creative self. What I learned from that first year is that creativity is my happy place. Every night I dream about designing and colours and wake up every morning wanting to make something beautiful. I’m living my dream!

I’m so glad you’re here. Thank you for joining me on this journey. I just know that starting out by doing at least one thing a day towards my goal of becoming a licensed surface designer I am heading in the right direction. This blog will be a place to keep a record of the ups and downs in my pursuit of realising my dream. I’m so happy you’re here!