Hello!  I’m Jackie MacDonald of Sweetfire Road.  I’m a designer living in coastal Maine with roots in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia.  My husband, Neil, and I have a wonderful little boy named Sammy.  

I enjoy making my home a comforting haven for both me and my family.  I combined my background in product development and home ec to create my brand, Sweetfire Road, so that I could make my own artwork for home and share it with others, too!

When designing, I take cues from things that evoke warm memories for me. Seasonal treats such as jewel-toned pumpkins in the fall and freshly colored Easter eggs in the spring make me so ridiculously happy.  And little mementos from family adventures like feathers and pressed flowers are treasures and a constant source of inspiration.  My intent as a designer is to nurture your home with patterned art that exudes natural beauty, a touch of wonder, and the comfort that comes from that feeling of being "home."

I am so grateful to be creating artwork with Moda that inspires lovely garments, quilts, decor and cherished keepsakes.  It fills my heart with such joy to be a part of the Moda family. 

Jackie MacDonald is all about making home a pleasant place to be. Her love of interior design was cemented while working as a merchandiser and buyer for catalog companies that featured cozy home décor and children’s toys. But her interest in sprucing up homes started years before, when she’d decorate shoebox houses for her mom and her grandmother. 

“My grandmother worked in domestics in a store called Nichols in Winchester, Virgina, and her job included working behind the fabric counter,” says Jackie, who fondly remembers the book of cloth swatches her grandmother brought home from work. “I would ‘take orders.’ I loved the touch and feel of textiles and I loved color, too, and also played with paint chips.” 

That interest in color and fabric comes to fruition in Break of Day, her first line of fabrics for Moda. Its poultry and floral imagery is a nod to her great-grandparents’ farm, which Jackie loved to visit. “There was something about being there and being surrounded by trusty, well-worn things that resonated with me,” she says. “I’m very sentimental and when I’m designing I start with a feeling I want to evoke. I try to sit with an emotion or memory—it might be a scent or flora or fauna—and share that.” 

She’s also inspired by the self-sufficiency of farm families, who grew their own food, built sheds and barns, and sewed clothing, curtains, and quilts. In college, Jackie majored in Family and Consumer Sciences (also known as home economics), which enhanced her self-reliance. “Home economics has been key throughout my whole life and career,” she says. “I think it’s magic to have the knowledge to create your own and to be independent.” 

Jackie, who spent much of her life in Virginia, now lives in Maine with her 

husband and 7-year-old son Sammy. It was in Maine that she changed the direction of her life, leaving sourcing and product development work to pursue her own ambitions. An immersion course with Bonnie Christine helped her marry the skills she’d learned managing artists and artwork with her aspiration to create products that make people feel warm and welcome at home. The result is her design business, which she named Sweetfire Road. “Sweet is for being kind always; Fire is about passion, determination, and resilience; and Road is about the road that leads us home, and the deep, happy sigh I experience when I’m home again,” she says.