I’ve not a lot to show you today, but I’m teasing you anyway. Since I finished off the turkey, much of my quilting time has been dedicated to secret designing and sewing. This is because the ambassadors who did not do the Island Batik blog hop in August are scheduled on a hop in November. That includes me, and I am slated for early in the lineup. So it is head down, tail up, madly sewing for the Chameleon for the fore-sea-able future. Give or take a couple of balloon animal appliqué pattern posts that I will publish as light relief.
But today, while I finalise October’s Love with a Twist offerings, and try to prevent my sewing machines from sensing an impending deadline, enjoy this taster for my stop on the “A Piece of” blog hop. Let’s sea what I’ve started!
Wishing all my Canadian friends a wonderful holiday for the coming weekend
Australians as a whole don’t do Thanksgiving, although many traditional churches do have a low-key harvest thanksgiving service in our late summer or early autumn. But I like thankfulness, and since it’s likely impossible to indulge in too much thankfulness, the Chameleon and I are getting on the Canadian bandwagon today. Happy Thanksgiving for the weekend and Monday, Canadian friends and everyone!
It wasn’t until last year that I became aware that Canada has its own Thanksgiving Day, separate from the American occasion. And then I forgot again. Until I was reminded recently by Ann on Instagram, after I showed previews of my current Island Batik project. And of course, I was also reminded again right here by several friends on Tuesday. So while, I wasn’t initially planning on having this project done in time for Canada’s holiday, I have since become enthused. After all, my Canadian readers might make up only 10% of my views, but easily several times that percentage of my commenters. You Canadians are such a friendly and encouraging bunch, punching way above your comment weight, and for that I am genuinely thankful.
And so it happens, that I have pulled out all the stops to have a Friday, Canadian Thanksgiving, Island Batik Ambassador October challenge finish. If you are not Canadian, like me and 90% of my readers, then today you get to take an extra, small thankful pause for free. And, if you’ve been eagerly awaiting for the turkey’s reverse side since Tuesday, then be extra thankful. Today’s your lucky day! Your wait has been cut very short and you are about to cop an eyeful.
My challenge as an Island Batik Ambassador in October is to: create a holiday runner or table topper, any size; must include appliqué. But don’t you think that’s a bit too easy for the Chameleon? He’s a challenge veteran by now!
So, let’s make it a proper challenge then. Purely self-imposed. Hmmm…… How about also: use the Accuquilt Cleopatra’s Fan die supplied in the July ambassador supplies box; make it juvenile; and choose a culturally irrelevant holiday. That should Top it right Off!
Hahaha. Sure! Luckily, I have just the thing in mind…. 😀 Remember when I said that I had lots of ideas for September’s Accuquilt challenge, but most of them didn’t meet at least one of the challenge requirements? Well, I wasn’t joking! Several of my designs fit all the requirements, except that they were too small. Luckily for me, a little tweaking and *taa dah*, one of them is now perfect for a small Thanksgiving quilt. Now also known as a table topper! So, I’m making a September’s-reject, decidedly juvenile, Cleopatra’s Fan turkey for October’s Island Batik challenge. One un-adult Thanksgiving table topper, involving appliqué, coming right your way. Brought to you by a confused Chameleon (who doesn’t do Thanksgiving because he’s Australian, but would like to), by a brave Island Batik (who asked for a holiday quilt, but may yet regret it) and poor Accuquilt (who is the innocent victim this time around).
Just remember…. Cleopatra’s Fan is a nice, staid, formal block and you don’t have to abuse it like the Chameleon does! Buuuuuuut, it is fun…… 😀
…. there were two hardworking and dedicated quilt bloggers, one at Seams to be Sew and the other at Clever Chameleon. Their names were Marian and Dione.
One day, Marian decided to go into the internet forest in search of quilt designers to help create a huge blog hop. A blog hop where there would be a free quilt block pattern at every stop, and lots of prizes too. The theme was to be Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes: Once Upon A Story.
Dione, who spends a great deal of time tending to posts in the internet forest, thought she’d like to be part of this gig. Like all good forests though, this one was full of big bad wolves who tried to deceive and eat her: distraction, too many choices, changes of mind, poor organisation…. But also like all good fairy tales, the heroes won in the end. After much deliberation, Puss in Boots was the pick from her list of favourite fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The block was made, the pattern written and the post is up. The Chameleon slayed all the big bad wolves and Dione lived happily ever after…..
Welcome to my stop on the Once Upon a StoryRow Along!
“Never Smile at a Crocodile, Oh, you can’t get friendly with a Crocodile….. “
What a load of croc! Classy Crocodile will be your friend any day. He even promises not to nibble at your edges. He has no idea why you would not want to be BFFs with him, so the least you can do is give him a grin!
Do you know what else is a load of crock?! October! Well, not October per se, but the fact that it’s here already. Not goooooood! Where’d September go anyway? I’m thinking the last half of September is probably still around here somewhere…. under a pile of papers perhaps? I can even prove that I didn’t use up all of September, because I am still standing here holding a crocodile balloon pattern. And the crocodile balloon is our second September balloon for Love with a Twist, so the month is clearly not done! As a temporary measure, while I work out where the time leak is, I declare today to be the 31st of September and we’ll sneak in that Classy Croc.
Classy Crocodile is our second option for Block 10 of the Love with a Twist quilt along, competing with our elephants for your affections. If you leave him off the quilt though, be aware that there will be floods of crocodile tears! And you must never disappoint a Crocodile; that much is good advice! Keep reading today to download your balloon crocodile pdf pattern and find out how to put him together. And then join in our usual Colour & Inspiration Tuesday party. All the best parties have animal balloons! 😀
