Artsy Fartsy: Colour & Inspiration Tuesday

Making a Start on my July project for Island Batik

This one’s a tough one. We’ve been asked to “use any fabric art/non-traditional quilting/sewing/thread painting technique using 3 Aurifil thread weights” for our July Island Batik Ambassador project. Any size, any technique, as long as the result is Artsy Fartsy. And I am just not feeling it like I usually do. Which is odd, because I have created plenty of non-traditional artsy fartsy quilt pieces in the past. And I am a big, big, big thread connoisseur. I love them all – rayons and metallics and 12wt Lana, and even bobbin work with embroidery floss. And I get the same thrill from a rack of thread colours as I do from a new box of paints or crayons….

But not today.

Maybe it is because my collection of Aurifil is a bit limited in colour and thread variety. Maybe it’s because it’s cold and grey outside and I have endured days of incessant noise in stereo from 8am every day because one neighbour is remodelling the back half of their house and the other is completely demolishing. Gack! Or it could simply be that I have just finished preparing four quilts for our annual State Guild show and now have a big dose of anticlimax after dropping them off this morning. Whatever the reason, the Chameleon is off colour and I feel like a Grinch at Christmas because the whole Island Batik Ambassador family is doing this thing and insisting it is going to be fun and I can’t get enthused….

Hmmmm….. Christmas. In July. Now, there’s a thought.

By the way, have you ever tried to fussy cut a batik?

Thank goodness for fellow bloggers and quilters and their freely shared inspiration. Susan of Super Mom, No Cape has an idea I can borrow in my hour of need. Joy of Days Filled with Joy reminded me of it just a day or two ago. I’ve actually been meaning to tackle this idea for nearly a year, so this project can be a two-for. Artsy Fartsy Christmas in July.

The Artsy

This is the starting point of the Artsy Fartsy project, and supposedly my inspiration….. my small collection of Aurifil threads given to me as an Island Batik Ambassador in 2018 and 2019.

I love all these threads, but there were no ideas lurking here today. It’s a bit like looking at your favourite hammer and nails and hoping to be inspired to make a cabinet, don’t you think?! It could happen, but it’s not where you’d normally start.

The majority of my Aurifil threads are 50 wt cottons (orange spools) or 40 wt cottons (green spools). Really nice threads for piecing and traditional machine quilting respectively. The remainder are cotton embroidery floss (the top pair of wooden spools), 28 wt cotton (grey spools), 80 wt cotton (single lower wooden spool), 12 wt Lana (single red spool) and 12 wt cotton (three red grouped spools). As you can see, a couple of colours are totally over represented in my small sample size.

Luckily the thought of Christmas in July combined with the dark green threads and the (birthday) candles put me in mind of a project I meant to cram into my schedule way back this time last year. Joy of Days Filled with Joy, Susan of Super Mom No Cape, Pam of Threading My Way and I teamed up to bring you a series called Sew Early 4 Christmas. Susan’s tutorial was for this adorable Christmas cushion.

See that cute embroidery in the centre of the wreath? I could totally thread paint that…… maybe even add in a bit of crayon to Artsy it up a bit. Sweet!

The Fartsy

So, I have a project. Now to find some suitable fabrics among the Island Batik goodies….

I have one 5″ WOF strip that looks Christmasy. I paired it with some scraps of a neutral fabric called Shaved Ice Snowman from the Icicle collection.

For bonus points, these fabrics work well with my limited Aurifil threads.

With a little re-working of the numbers, I was able to make a version of Susan’s wreath with these fabric pieces. At the last, I decided against using the snowballs in the centre of the wreath, as I think the candles might get lost in the dots. So I used a white batik-weight cotton from Island Batik instead.

If you look carefully, you will also see the embroidery already maked out in pencil. And a seam I somehow pressed in the wrong direction. Probably won’t show on white batting though.

But what I hope you actually noticed is that I went to a Lot Of Care with the cutting and placement of the green batik in the wreath. If fussy cutting a batik, when you only have one 5″ strip of it, is not Fartsy, then I don’t know what is! 😀

Yup, it is totally over-stretching, bordering on pretentious. But it also actually looks quite good, I think. Which improved my mood a lot, because I am easily pleased. 😀

Stay tuned for the finish on my Artsy Fartsy Island Batik project soon.

Inspiration from last week’s link party

I know a lot of you are inspired by Jen of de Jong Dream House, as am I. Jen is moving house but she still found time to knock up a QR code quilt for one of her son’s teachers. And to add some binary and morse codes to the borders and binding in the process.

The Chameleon loves the idea of a QR code quilt and may well get his own one day. He also wanted to do something show-offy today that was QR related, but we ran out of time and energy. Another day perhaps. Visit Jen’s post though, it’s totally worth the read.

And then sail off into the sunset with Melva of Melva Loves Scraps. Melva had a lovely camping trip to The Great Sand Dunes and even found quilting inspiration there. For an “artsy piece”, no less. How about that for quilt-incidence? Perhaps I need to go camping too.

Where do you find your inspiration and where does it lead you?

Tell us, what are you working on, or have recently finished in your sewing room? We want to know so we can visit and be inspired. Link up a blog post, an IG post or simply a photo from your computer.  See if you can get the Chameleon to turn quilted with happiness. We’d love to see your quilting colours!

• Link up your latest or recent quilt/sewing excitement. All quilt construction stages welcome – finished quilts, quilt blocks – even fabric pulls! Or inspiration sources!
• You have 50 characters in the link description…. tell us who you are and what your fantastic project is.
• URL links are not necessary to link up…. non-bloggers 100% welcome! If you don’t have a URL, you can link up with just a photo.
• Take a moment to visit some friends who came to the party – leave a little love and make their day. And a link back to Clever Chameleon is always appreciated.
• Do it now……. before you forget!

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The Chameleon turns rainbow with pleasure when he hears from you. I am more reserved, so I will respond in gratitude by email instead. Now that it’s your turn…. Scroll right to the end, leave me a comment and tell me, what do you think? Thanks for connecting!

Would you like to keep in touch with Clever Chameleon and the fun quilty ideas I design as well as find all over the internet? You can follow directly for email updates, or through Bloglovin’, Pinterest, IG or FB. All your follow options can be found here. Don’t forget to link up all your current quilting projects on Tuesdays at our Colour & Inspiration Linky parties!