Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Red Rocket Blue

Red Rocket Blue colour scheme from Clever Chameleon

Colour Inspiration Tuesday – where we intentionally let real life creep into our quilts.

When we were talking about the colour red a few weeks ago, I discovered that I have not yet done a blue and red colour scheme for Colour Inspiration Tuesday. So, with Australia Day coming up on the 26th January, now seemed like a good time to fill in this gap in our quilt inspiration musings.

Australian Flag

As you have probably gathered by now, I am proud to be Australian and call this beautiful land my home. I especially love the Australian Outback, and we travel there at least annually. And I am constantly fascinated by our wildlife and our flora – so different to much of the rest of the world. So much quilt inspiration just in my little corner of the world!

kangaroo — “Who are you calling strange?!! Ok…. the platypus – he is a bit odd.” Photo by Ewa Gillen on Unsplash

Ewa Gillen

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Red Rocket Blue

I was very excited when I found the picture of the red rocket sculpture on Unsplash. You will find out next week why! Actually, I couldn’t believe how well this picture lines up our next bear for the Beary Colourful BOM. Remember, we are doing the Blue Bear of High Hopes in February. So it was a cinch to choose this pic to focus my thoughts around red and blue as a quilting colour scheme. What’s more, January has been a fun month of exploring red. But I am now itching to get to February to do it all again with blue. A red and blue colour scheme seems the perfect way to celebrate this transition.

Red and Blue – such simple colours, such rich diversity

As I was musing upon red and blue, and my thoughts were turning to Australia Day and our flag, I wondered how many other flags use the same colour scheme. Flags for the USA, New Zealand, Great Britain and France come to mind in an instant, but it turns out there are so many more….. Here’s just a few that I didn’t know or didn’t know well enough to recall without help.

BTW, If you are ever looking for flag graphics, I found a great site that has royalty free downloads of many…. including some pirate flags! 🙂 It’s called Flag Lane. Anyway….

How was I inspired by Red Rocket Blue?

Well, I know that red, white and blue quilts become very popular around July for US Americans. But where could we go with this colour scheme for the rest of the year…. or for us of other nationalities at any time? Because blue with red is a great colour scheme for a boy’s bedroom, regardless of your place of birth.

I have seen some amazing nautical-themed quilts in red, white and blue. And of course, the basic rocket shape of Red Rocket Blue would in itself make a great block. But what about flags as quilt blocks? According to Wikipedia, there are 38 countries that have flags considered to fall into this tricolour category – although some on their list have extra colour motifs. Even if you exclude these, there are a lot of options. And then there are red and white flags, and blue and white flags that would also fit right into a red, white and blue quilt.

So It wouldn’t be difficult to pick a few interesting flags and make a diverse quilt that reflects a collection of countries you are interested in.

My Blue, Red and White Flag Picks

For instance, if I was making a blue, red and white flag quilt, I would likely choose Australia, New Zealand, USA, Denmark, Thailand, Samoa, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Scotland and France purely on the basis of having been there or having some connection with that country that is important to me. Then I could add in a few that I think that have cool flags or I would like to visit….. Canada, Cook Islands, Iceland, Slovakia, Greenland, Nepal, Antarctica. The list could go on. As you can see, I have stretched the definition of “country” already, but you could add in states or territories or causes that mean something to you as well. I was tempted to add the Red Cross, since we work with some amazing Red Cross people through my hubby Paul’s research.

Here is my off-the-cuff design for a boy’s flag quilt that would have significant meaning for my family, with a few extra flags thrown in for visual interest.

Which countries would you put on a flag quilt to represent your family’s history or experiences? Of course, there is no need to restrict yourself to a single colour scheme for this exercise. I just chose to to stick with today’s colour discussion. As it happens, most of the countries that have special meaning to me are on the red, white and blue list. But that is purely coincidental. Germany and Vanuatu are two countries not on this quilt design that are also part of my family’s recent journey. If I was making a multi-coloured project, I would definitely add them in!

P.S. Picture Credits

The Red Rocket photo was supplied by John Baker on Unsplash.com.

John Baker

The flags were supplied by Flag Lane, Clipartmasters or Wikipedia under Creative Commons Zero licenses.

P.P.S Shared on Cooking up Quilts, Love Laugh Quilt,

January 16, 2018January 19, 2024

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: She’ll be Apples

She'll be Apples color scheme from Clever Chameleon

Welcome back to Colour Inspiration Tuesday! Today we are exploring a new FMQ mini tutorial “She’ll be Apples”.

Last week I was suddenly inspired to quilt my next charity quilt. I’ve had the pinned quilt in my possession since before Christmas, but I always knew it wasn’t going to get touched until January. Partly because December is a ridiculously busy time of year, and partly because it wasn’t “speaking to me”. In fact, it was confusing me slightly…. apples and roses on one side, autumn leaves, nuts and berries on the other. I quite like both sides, but struggled to choose one quilting theme to make sense of this quilt.

Here is the charity quilt before quilting….. I nominated it as my January One Monthly Goal.

After musing over this quilt for some time, on and off, and getting it out several times and putting it away again, inspiration finally struck. I was in a right-brain kind of mood and scrolling through photos on Unsplash over a coffee when I spotted the picture of apples I have used on today’s mood board. And it all somehow just fell into place. I *just knew* I had to quilt apples, but not just any apples. Apples with a little bit of cheeky thrown in!

The “She’ll be Apples” FMQ Motif

I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and started doodling. First I started with a continuous line apple motif.

Apple FMQ motif from Clever Chameleon

Then I thought, what if the apple has a bite taken out of it? Well, that’s easy.

Apple FMQ motif from Clever Chameleon

And it’s no more trouble to take several bites, is it?

Apple FMQ motif from Clever Chameleon

But what if the apple has a worm in it? A friendly worm, of course!

Apple and worm FMQ motif from Clever Chameleon

And of course, I couldn’t resist…… The worm and the bite combination! This one’s for my daughter, who is at that age where one of her favourite jokes is “What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple?” “Half a worm…..” Hahahaha Snort. Oh the joys of childhood! Anyway, I was mostly well behaved….. I only put this combo on the quilt once. And I did overrule my daughter’s request for the apple and half a worm motif…..

Apple FMQ motif from Clever Chameleon

She’ll be Apples Quilting in Real Life

Here are some pics of the quilting up close, and of the little charity quilt all done. Sorry, the quilting does not show well – which is exactly how I wanted the quilt to be, but it is excruciating to try to photograph.

Apple FMQ motif from Clever Chameleon — Apple FMQ motif

Apple with a bite FMQ motif from Clever Chameleon — The apple with a bite FMQ motif

Apple core motif from Clever Chameleon — Apple core motif

The apple with a friendly worm motif from Clever Chameleon — The apple with a friendly worm motif

Apple, worm and bite FMQ motif from Clever Chameleon — And the one instance of an apple with both a worm and a bite

It didn’t take very long to quilt this little lap quilt. Once I had got the hang of the basic apple shape, I found quilting these to be quite quick and easy. In fact, I had the whole thing finished before I realised that there is another apple variation that I could have added. The half apple. No matter, I will save this idea for another day.

Half apple FMQ quilting motif from Clever Chameleon

If you would like to give the apple motifs a go, I have made you a printable reference page, which you can download here: She’ll be Apples pdf

And here is the finished quilt. The quilting has made it crinkly and cuddly. 🙂

She'll be Apples quilt finished

So, that’s my January One Monthly Goal done and dusted! I promised you I’d had a lot of fun with it!

I hope you have enjoyed this little project and might put some apples on a quilt soon. My daughter is currently requesting apples on the Regatta Quilt I am making for her. Yes, complete with a half-worm apple. It’s not what I had in mind at all……. the big question is…. “How old will she be before such a thing becomes “cringe-worthy”?” The Regatta Quilt is supposed to take her forward into her teens. Then again, maybe I should just do it. Kids are not young for very long. are they? And there’ll be plenty more quilts. Thankfully there is still some thinking time on this until I get to the quilting stage of the Regatta Quilt. I’ll see what she thinks when I actually get that far.

P.S. Photo Credits

The photo which sparked the apple motifs was supplied for free by Marina Khrapova via Unsplash. You can find this photo, as well as many others I have used for Colour Inspiration Tuesdays here. They are all available for free for you to use in your own projects however you wish.

Marina Khrapova

P.P.S Linking up with Freemotion by the River, Free Motion Mavericks. Elm Street Quilts

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 or FB. All your follow options can be found here.

January 16, 2018January 19, 2024

Craft Room De-Stash Challenge – Valentine’s Heart

Valentine's Heart scrappy quilt block

From the Sewing Room – Valentine’s Heart Quilt Block and a De-Stash Challenge

Do you want ideas and motivation to use up some stash and/or scraps from your craft room? You are not alone! Come join us in the Craft Room De-Stash Challenge – a group of bloggers committed to turning some of the craft supply lovelies we have hoarded into finished items. Of course, my projects are likely to all be fabric related, but this is a diverse group of crafters. So there will be lots of ideas in this hop to deal with whatever crafty skeletons you have hiding in your closet!

De-stash logo

Every month a group of bloggers are challenged by C’mon Get Crafty to create a new craft or project from their own stash of goodies! Check out some awesome creations you might be able to make from your own stash! #CraftRoomDestashChallenge

Really Dione, another project?!

Well, yes….. and no……

At the beginning of the year I stated that one of my goals was to reclaim my sewing space. And I have come to realise that part of that goal is going to have to be using up or moving on some of my stash. Like lots of quilters, I have a significant fabric stash, and a similarly rampant collection of scraps. So, joining in with this monthly hop (when I can) is actually one of the tools I am using to make this happen.

I suppose there are faster ways to reduce my stash…… But I bought and collected my resources because I like them. So I’d really rather take things to their intended conclusion and use them. What better way than to make some projects with the mentality of ONLY using stash?

Valentine’s Heart Quilt Block

For my first De-Stash Challenge project, I have decided to make a scrappy-heart quilt block. With Saint Valentine’s Day still a month away, you have time to make this block and turn it into a small Valentine’s Day project…. a pillow perhaps, or a lap quilt. This block with a border added would be a good size for a throw pillow. Or a dozen of these with a little sashing would make a nice lap quilt for someone you hold dear. I intend to eventually make a quilt with at least 12 of these, and probably some scrappy pieced blocks in between, so that the project uses a noticeable amount of stash! Probably not by Valentine’s Day 2018 though…..

Perhaps you’ve got red scraps left over from your red bear or other January Colour Challenge project? Now’s your chance to deal with them.

What you will need to make a Valentine’s Heart block:

a variety of small red fabric scraps
fabric for the background, 11 inches square or greater (depending on your intended use of this block)
fusible adhesive, 10″ square
sewing machine and general sewing supplies such as scissors and thread
printed heart-shape template (you can download mine here) Please make sure your printer isn’t scaling the printout before you print.

butterfly batik fabric — Here’s the fabric I am using for my block background. I have just enough in my stash for 12 pieces of 11 inches square.

How to create your Scrappy Valentine’s Heart Block

Step 1

Iron your red fabric scraps. Choose two scraps with straight edges (or trim to straight edges) and sew them together with a 1/4″ seam. Press.

Trim the joined pieces so that you have at least one new straight edge. It doesn’t matter which edge. The less you think about the crazy improv piecing the better!

Step 2

Choose a third scrap of red fabric and sew to the trimmed edge of the previously joined fabrics.

red crazy patchwork — Three red scraps pieced together

Again, press and trim off excess to create a new straight edge. Continue this crazy patchwork piecing until you have a piece large enough to cover the appliqué template.

enough red crazy patchwork — Enough red crazy patchwork cover the Valentine’s Heart template.

Note: you can build the crazy patchwork in several smaller pieces and join these together to get the final larger piece if you wish.

Step 3

Trace the heart shape onto the paper side of the fusible adhesive. Cut out with a little to spare around the outside of the shape.

To keep your appliqué from being stiff, remove most of the fusible adhesive from the centre of the heart shape. Leave about 1 inch around the outside edge of the heart.

Step 4

Fuse the heart-shape adhesive ring to the back of your crazy patchwork as per manufacturer’s instructions. Trim your heart to the outline.

Heart appliqué with fusible adhesive around the edge of the shape but not in the middle to keep the project soft.

Remove the paper backing and fuse your Valentine’s Heart to the centre of your backing fabric square. The minimum size for the backing square is 11 inches square, but you are welcome to make your blocks larger with more negative space around the heart.

Fused Valentine's Heart — Scrappy Valentine’s Heart fused to background fabric

Step 5

Use your favourite appliqué stitch to secure the heart to the backing.

Finished Valentine's Heart block — Finished Valentine’s Heart Block

One scrappy Valentine’s Heart block done.

I have enough of the butterflies batik background fabric in my stash for 12 heart blocks. I may vary the appliqué heart pattern between some of my blocks. Then, as I mentioned above, the rest of the quilt top will be scrappy squares.

The backing will also come from stash, and I also intend to use my growing pile of batting offcuts. It will be a bit of a Franken-quilt, but it should be sweet, and very usable, and require no new purchases (with the possible exception of binding, which I can probably obtain within the $10 limit).

You are invited…. Join us in De-Stashing your Craft Room.

If you’d like to join in the Craft Room De-Stash Challenge, you can request to join our Facebook group here!

And have a look at what everyone else has made! Perhaps there is the perfect project here for you to use up some stash…..

[inlinkz_linkup id=760881 mode=1]

P.S. Linking up with Cooking up Quilts, The Quilting Room with Mel, Love Laugh Quilt, Sew Fresh Quilts, Quilt Fabrication, The Inquiring Quilter, My Quilt Infatuation, Confessions of a Fabric Addict., Crazy Mum Quilts, Oh Scrap!

January 11, 2018January 19, 2024

Regatta Quilt Update and Red Bears Galore!

Regatta Quilt prgress

It’s been a week of good progress on a few things, but…..

Do you ever find, the less urgent and less important a quilt project is, the more attractive it is to work on?! That has been my struggle for much of this week. The Regatta Quilt, which is supposed to be my project for weary evenings and small slots of otherwise wasted time, has been calling to me…. “Sew me…. Sew me….. Please sew meeeeeeee! You know you want toooooooooo!”

The Regatta Quilt is a sew along being hosted by Home Sewn by Us. The quilt is designed by Daniela O’Connell and you can get the free pattern here. The sew along originally appealed to me because there are no deadlines and no pressure. Something to fit in as time allowed. But of course, now that I’ve started, I am sucked in and could happily sit and sew until it is done!

Pedal Pushers by Moda

I am making my Regatta Quilt with a jellyroll that I was gifted years ago. I threw away the packaging long ago, but I have dug up the details. The fabrics are “Pedal Pushers” by Lauren & Jessi for Moda fabrics. I am making this quilt for my daughter, as she is fast outgrowing some of her early childhood quilts.

Regatta Quilt Design Finalised

My self-restraint started out well. I cut some white strips and put them aside. I even joined pairs of white strips together into longer strips some time later, and again put them aside. Then! One evening I decided to choose a layout for the coloured strips, and….. well you know how it goes! Hours later…… way past bedtime…..

Regatta Quilt layout — This is just layed out – it’s not sewn

The Regatta Quilt calls for 19 pairs of coloured fabric strips and a light background fabric. My layout challenge was that the Pedal Pushers jellyroll doesn’t have pairs of fabric strips. Only a handful of fabrics are repeated. The rest of the jellyroll is made up of unique strips. So, I paired similarly coloured fabrics together and placed the more subtle of each pair of prints on the right and the bolder prints on the left. The picture above has a few gaps where one strip will be cut and used in two places.

Last night I did treat myself to a little sewing. Of course, I *should* have been writing this blog post.

Regatta strata — The sewn strips for my Regatta Quilt so far

Good thing I have a furry helper stopping me from sewing any more of it today. I only laid it out on the bed to look at it, honest……!

cat on Regatta Quilt — Did I mention it is hot and humid today….. black cat hairs should show up nicely on this quilt…… Serves me right for getting it out!

Coming up soon on Clever Chameleon

This morning I worked on my charity quilt for my One Monthly Goal. I have been designing a new FMQ motif to share with you in a mini tutorial next week (update – you can find the motifs here). As you will see, I have had a lot of fun with it.

She'll be Apples quilt

The Beary Colourful BOM update

The rest of my sewing time this week has been dedicated to testing my pattern for the Blue Bear block for the Beary Colourful BOM in February. Super fun. There will be sneak peeks on facebook closer to the end of the month, so like Clever Chameleon on FB to meet the blue bear before Feb 1!

red bear from Beary Colourful BOM — My original red bear

In the meantime, I am deliriously happy to see a few red bears appearing on the internet and social media. Have you made your red bear yet? There is still time to do a bear, or another red project to enter into Jen’s Color Challenge linky party at the end of the month.

Bears on Instagram

The very first red bear shared with me was this cutie by Jeannette. Jeanette managed to share her bear with me via Instagram, despite us both being absolute rookies with this platform! I am currently still getting the hang of this social medium, so I don’t actively promote my account yet. But if you would like to share your red bears with me via Instagram you will find me at @cleverchameleon.

Jeannette's Red Bear for the Beary Colourful BOM — Jeannette’s Bear

Notice how Jeannette has used a fussy-cut cupcake fabric print to fill in the tummy? This is a brilliant idea and a great tip for beginners. It is also a good option for anyone on a tight time budget.

Bears on facebook

More bears….. Several people have also been kind enough to share their bears with me on facebook. I was very excited when Denise shared her bear-in-progress, because she is doing turned edge appliqué! I have to take my hat off to her, as I thought some of the small details might not transfer well to this technique. But she has included everything!

Denise's red bear for the Beary Colourful BOM — Denise’s bear

Jean has made her red bear in raw edge appliqué with pink paws and a beautiful mottled background fabric. Isn’t he a character? Jean has been so encouraging as well – thanks Jean!

Jean's red bear from the Beary Colourful BOM — Jean’s bear

Bears on the Internet

Finally, I want to share that Lynette from What a Hoot Quilts has made her red bear too. She wasn’t supposed to start a new project just now – but I’m so glad she did. I especially want to show you Lynette’s, because she is doing her bears Quilt-As-You-Go. This is another great idea that you could do too.

Lynette's red bear fromt he Beary Colourful BOM — Lynette’s bear

Isn’t everyone so clever? I hope I get to see lots more red bears at Jen’s link up in late January. But if you would like to share them with me in the meantime, I am all eyes. You can send me a pic on Instagram (@cleverchameleon), via facebook or email (scroll right to the bottom and you will find the envelope icon).

P.S. Have you been following the latest Island Batik Ambassador blog hop? This is the last project for the 2017 Ambassadors, and I am really enjoying this hop. So many great ideas from so many talented quilters. Today there is a wow! quilt on the the hop at Slice of Pi Quilts. Wander over and have a look.

P.P.S. Linking up with Freemotion by the River, The Inquiring Quilter, Quilt Fabrication, Sew Fresh Quilts, My Quilt Infatuation, Confessions of a Quilt Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts, Busy Hands Quilts.

Freemotion by the river

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 or FB. All your follow options can be found here. Thanks for your support!

January 9, 2018January 19, 2024

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Lovely Leucadendron

Lovely Leucadendron color scheme from Clever Chameleon

Welcome to Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Where we always find something interesting to inspire a quilt!

A couple of weeks ago, Paul and I took the kids to see the Christmas lights display at the local brewery. The display is a bit of a South Australian icon, and has been running for 58 years. The link I have supplied gives quite a good overview of the event, if you would like to see it. Like many other Adelaide locals, I do very much like our brewery lights display. But this year the take-home memory was actually a little plant growing in the council strip nearby.

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Lovely Leucadendron

Many years ago, my mother grew lots of Australian natives and other plants that thrive in similarly poor, dry soil. Among the non-natives that my mother grew were quite a number of leucadendrons. So I tend to notice leucadendrons on my wanderings. But I have never seen one like this before!

leucadendron

I was struck by the beauty of this small bush, perhaps only 40cm high. Oh, the colours…. like a dusky sunset! I have called this colour scheme “Lovely Leucadendron”. Maroon stems, green and aqua lower leaves, graduating through lavender and lilac, peach, orange to yellow-green at the top of each stem. Once those yellow leaves open up there will be an insignificant flower cone in the middle. But it is the leaves that this plant is usually grown for. You can see why!

A Lovely Leucadendron Quilt?

If I was challenged to make a quilt inspired by this plant, it would have to be a string quilt. One with long thin-ish pieces like the strappy leucadendron leaves. It would be a scrap-busting quilt. And of course, made in the colours of the “lovely leucadendron”. After all, it was the colours that stopped me in my tracks in the first place!

If you arrange the string blocks like this you get leucadendron stems. Or peacock feathers….. 🙂 That’s ok, I like both. You could graduate the colours through the same sequence as the real-life bush, or just scatter them randomly…..

Lovely leucadendron quilt idea — Lovely Leucadendron quilt idea

These colours would also be great on the Regatta Quilt (currently featuring in Home Sewn with Us’s no pressure sew along). I have started my Regatta Quilt. It’s not being made in these colours though. I had an orphaned jelly roll which has finally found its destiny. More about that in a day or two.

Not into dusky rainbows?! Perhaps you’ve been seeing red lately instead…..

Are you joining in the 2018 Monthly Colour Challenge? I have seen a few Red Bears popping up in social media this week. You have no idea how happy it makes me to know that people are actually making my red bear pattern,. I’ll round up a few I/ve seen in a post for you later in the week. They are all different and it is amazing the variation in techniques and tweaks that have surfaced so far. What a clever bunch of quilters you all are!