Welcome to the third collection of Colour Inspiration Tuesday mood boards. Actually, these are not exclusively Colour Inspiration “Tuesday” boards…. they are mostly Colour Inspiration “Everyday” boards. Because October has been Write 31 Days month and I am exploring the theme finding quilt inspiration in the everyday. So, I have been sharing colour boards whenever inspiration strikes. But it would be silly to discriminate by birthday, so I hereby declare them to all be Colour Inspiration Tuesday colour schemes, and so therefore this is Colour Inspiration Tuesday Collection 3.
A quick summary of the ideas behind Colour Inspiration Tuesday Collection 3…..
In amongst the latest colour boards, we have explored 2 quilt designs, a hermit crab appliqué idea and two free-motion quilting designs. I even stitched out the strawberry vines FMQ design for you. Now that I am home again, I might try to whip up an example of Nervous Plant FMQ as well, but I have more pressing quilting matters at hand first.
Hot Chocolate led to a quilt design concept for a black, white and red quilt that I am going to make for the Splash of Color QAL. I will be sharing the next stage of this process very soon. The other quilt design in this set is from Pandanus Fruit, and was more of a theoretical exercise. I have no immediate plans to make this quilt, as fun as it would be!
My Hermit Crab appliqué idea looks like this. Wouldn’t he make a fun motif for someone who likes hermit crabs? I have a particular friend in mind for this one, so he stands a chance of actually getting done one day.
The Third Colour Inspiration Tuesday Collection
To access the colour palettes and complete posts of Colour Inspiration Tuesday Collection 3, click on the thumbnails below.
Follow along and be the first with the free inspiration!
At Clever Chameleon we explore at least one potential quilt colour scheme every week. For the rest of October it is likely to continue to be considerably more. But November will see the return of our usual posting schedule of 2-3 posts per week, including one Colour Inspiration Tuesday slot and a tutorial or quilt-process related post nearer the end of the week. Follow Clever Chameleon Quilting on Bloglovin’ to stay abreast of all the fun quilty things I do and find on the internet. Or subscribe in the sidebar to receive regular Clever Chameleon emails that will Colour Your Mood and Brighten Your World.
Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Colour resources for your next eye-catching quilt design
“Halo” and “Welkam” to my second Vanuatu edition of Colour Inspiration Tuesday! Actually it is a combined Colour Inspiration Tuesday and Everyday Quilt Inspiration post. Like last week’s regular slots, this post was largely pre-written in Australia due to uncertainty about how much time and internet I would have for blogging here in Vanuatu. But I have added some extra material to make this post also fit the 31 Days writing challenge I am doing. I hope it gels ok.
“Halo” and “Welkam” is pretty much the extent of my knowledge of the Bislama language. And “Tangkyu tumas” (Thank you very much). But thankfully English usually suffices here, the Vanuatu scenery is beautiful, and this week, the weather is superb. Just like today’s quilt inspiration colour board, Silhouettes at Sunset.
Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Silhouettes at Sunset
The “Silhouettes at Sunset” colour scheme is purple, orange, peach, grey, aqua, teal and super dark teal. Isn’t it amazing how the form of a dark silhouette brings out the colours in a sunset? This contrast is something that we should be aiming for in our quilt fabric choices too….. that is if you are after a bold, brilliant effect. (I am fully cognisant that sometimes subtle and low volume is the right choice for a quilt too…. I just personally usually prefer bright.) And isn’t it nice to be reminded that silhouettes don’t have to be black… any high contrast will be effective, in this case a dark shade of teal.
Silhouettes at Sunset evokes thoughts of warm tropical evenings and beach holidays. Perfect to celebrate a trip to Vanuatu, even if it is for work. Would you like to know more about the humanitarian telecommunications side of our family’s pursuits? When things get back to normal I would love to tell you more.
Anyway, back to the task at hand…. It strikes me that “Silhouettes at Sunset” is very much like the love child of “Sunset Wall” and “Another World Blue”. Two colour schemes from earlier editions of Colour Inspiration Tuesday.
So for my Colour Inspiration Tuesday quilt imaginings this week I have decided to see what happens when we colour the Cat on a Wall quilt design with the Silhouettes at Sunset colour scheme. Here is the original design in both parent colour ways.
And here are my new colourings. I also added in an eighth colour from the sunset photo – a rose pink. I only meant to do one re-colouring of Cat on a Wall, but I had to amuse myself on the plane to Vanuatu somehow!
Which do you prefer? One of the new ones or one of the originals? Or would you choose a completely different colour scheme for this quilt? Please tell in the comments below. 🙂
Credit
I really appreciate the talented photographers who generously donate their art to the world without strings attached. Today’s such photos are from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. Credit is not demanded but I give it anyway in thanks. Today’s featured photographer is Aldain Austria. Be sure to check out his collection of photos on Unsplash.
I hope you will tell me which your preferred colours are….
Before I go though, I had better add in some everyday quilt inspiration. This one is easy – there have been many “sunset and silhouettes” moments in my life that I have thought at the time would make great art. We are fortunate in Adelaide to get lots of great sunsets over the gulf.I distinctly remember one such moment when I was heavily pregnant with my second child. I was sitting on the beach, watching my husband and eldest daughter (2 years at the time) jump the wavelets, silhouetted against the setting sun. That is a moment that would definitely be quilt-worthy.
Anyway, here are some more recent silhouettes at sunset. These were taken the second night we arrived here in Port Vila.
And to finish off – your everyday colour inspiration board…..
See you for more Everyday Quilt Inspiration fun tomorrow. In the meantime, if you haven’t been following along, you can find the start of this series here.
P.S. On a completely different topic, I must tell you, the Art with Fabric blog hop is ON! It started yesterday (although that might still be today in your time zone…..) Anyway, my post on the hop is not until Friday 13, but there is a huge lineup ahead of me. Visit Tweety Loves Quilting to see the blog hop from the very beginning.
Here’s a sneak preview of my art piece…. it’s called “Remember to thank the Cleaner (Shrimp)”. It’s art with gratitude. 🙂
Colour Inspiration Tuesday – it’s time for our usual weekly slot of colour and design conversation 🙂
Today we are conjuring up quilt ideas with the assistance of the “Wattle You Make?” colour scheme and a corresponding fabric.
Last minute edit: This post was pre-written long before I knew about the Write 31 Days challenge we have just started. So it uses Unsplash photos, not my own happy snaps. BUT… as you will see, this post is actually about being inspired by a fabulous everyday item – a fresh piece of fabric. So with a little tweaking I am letting it pass as Day 3 of my Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday series. If you have no idea what I am talking about, you may want to read the first post in the new 31 day series.
Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Wattle You Make?
The “Wattle You Make?” colour palette is brilliant yellow, grey and greyed blue-green. The colours of Australian wattle in flower. These are everyday colours in Australia at the moment, as early spring is when the wattles are out in full force.
But the real reason I have chosen these colours today is because I have a piece of this fabric:
This fabric is “Bathhouse Tiles Aqua” by Emma & Mila. The hexagons are about 1 1/4″ from corner to opposite corner.
Like all good quilters, I saw this fabric while I was shopping for something else. At the time I was actually shopping for the fabrics to finish my daughter’s Jewel Tone Diamonds tumbling blocks quilt. I had to have a piece of this to play with because I was instantly inspired. (I was actually very self-controlled and only got half a metre!)
Sometimes it is fun to choose a fabric as a starting point and wonder what you could make with it. Let your imagination take you places you may have never otherwise thought to go. Especially if the fabric is not your usual style (which definitely applies for me here). What would you make if you suddenly found yourself in possession of this particular fabric? Who would it be for? When I first saw this fabric I was taken with the hexagon lattice print. And I immediately thought it would be fun to accentuate some of the hexagons with trapunto. Shadow trapunto to be precise.
How was I inspired? What did I make?
Do you remember how I said that at our Handi Quilter club we had trapunto homework? And that Heather had upped the ante, adding shadow trapunto to the techniques we should try? Well, I did my trapunto homework – that was the “Dream Big” mini quilt. Now I have also done my shadow trapunto homework. It is a cushion. Always experimenting, I used felt instead of wadding for the trapunto. The trapunto design was directly inspired by the fabric print. I am hoping to have a more detailed discussion/tutorial post written up about it later in the week.
While you wait for my shadow trapunto cushion post, let’s explore more yellow and greyed green combinations…
Once I started thinking about this colour combination, I realised it is not uncommon in nature. In fact, yellow and greyed green combinations are everywhere…..
I could have continued down this path for ages, with daffodils, daisies, a yellow frog and all sorts. But I’ll stop here. I have that tutorial to write for you by the end of the week! But isn’t the sunflower pretty?! I could very happily do a sunflower quilt in these colours……
Today’s Photo Credit
Do you like the photos I used today? Today’s stock photos are from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. No credit is demanded, but I hope you will agree is very deserved. So, I will tell you the stock photos were provided by: Leticia Delboy (wattle), Alisa Anton (tulips) and Asgeir Pall Juliusson (sunflower). Click on the badges below to explore these photographer’s other photos. Leticia Delboy Asgeir Pall Juliusson Alisa Anton
Your turn to tell….
Do you let the fabrics sometimes dictate your quilts? Have you ever done a sunflower quilt? Know of a sunflower quilt pattern you’d recommend? Or have you ever done a yellow and green quilt?
I’ll tell you a quick story about a green and yellow quilt…… My first quilt jealousy was over a green and yellow quilt! When I was in year 10 of high school (decades ago) one of my friends did a Home Ec topic that I didn’t sign up for because it was about caring for babies…… eeeeeuuuuuch. But she had the last laugh because she made a quilt as part of her curriculum. It was another 16 years until I actually made my first quilt. After having had 2 babies (who weren’t eeeeeuuuuuch after all). If you are thinking of trying quilting, I suggest you get moving faster than I did!
Come on, tell me what you’d make with the hexagon print fabric. Or just say Hi. I love comments and finding out who’s visiting.
P.S. Don’t forget….. the upcoming Art with Fabric Blog Hop (next week) and also the new Splash of Color quilt along (starts today October 3!)
Colour Inspiration Tuesday: delicious colour combinations to try on your quilts.
Hello! Happy Colour Inspiration Tuesday! Did you have a chance to try out the Strawberry Vines quilting motifs inspired by last week’s colour board? I haven’t found anymore time to play further with Strawberry Vines as yet. But do you know what goes well with strawberries? Chocolate. Hot Chocolate to be precise. Mmmmm.
Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Hot Chocolate
The “Hot Chocolate” colour palette is dark red, red-orange, greyed-teal, off white, and warm shades of grey through to almost black. These colours are a really close match for the Jaffas and Cream charity quilt I blogged recently. You can find out a lot more about that quilt here.
What will I do with this colour scheme? You know there is likely something, right? Well, to tell you that story, first I need to tell you this story …..
The colour scheme that nearly never was
I started the Hot Chocolate colour scheme for last week’s colour inspiration slot. But then I realised that it wasn’t very different from the Frosty Berries colour scheme we had two months ago. And that it also bore a fair resemblance to the warmer colour scheme Red-Eye Flight that we explored three months ago.
So, I set Hot Chocolate aside and started over with the Strawberries Vines post instead. I had no intention of resurrecting Hot Chocolate this week either, but then something happened. A good something.
I was drifting around the quilting part of the internet, as I do (a lot). And I discovered that Myra at Busy Hands Quilting is starting a fresh quilt along called Splash of Color. And I have taken the bait. Possibly the line and sinker too. The aim of the quilt along in question is to produce a black and white quilt with colour highlights.
Splash of Color Quilt Along
Now, I have to confess, I don’t do quilt alongs. I don’t do crowds. I don’t do other people’s patterns without a really, really good reason. Let’s be real here – I don’t even do my Handi Quilter homework til the due date! I get distracted. I end up with UFOs and inferiority complexes and all the other baggage that social media can trap you with. But I think this quilt along will suit me, and I’m actually pretty excited.
Why? Because:
– it covers a quilt theme that I have wanted to try ever since I borrowed a certain book several years ago from my local library. That book was “Quilting in Black and White” by House of White Birches. (I have actually borrowed it several times). Many of the quilts in this book are black and white with colour highlights, and the effect continues to appeal to me.
– I have a Pinterest board dedicated to black and white quilts (with or without colour highlights) because I have always believed that some day I will get around to making such a quilt. It has over 300 pins on it. That is not a casual relationship!
– I have two black and white fabrics I specifically want to use. My husband bought them for me as a gift from one of his work trips. They are probably not what I would have chosen. But one should never discourage gifts of fabric! 🙂 And now they are exactly what I need. Yeah!
– And, probably the clincher…. there is no pattern for this quilt along, the only boundaries are the colours and the timing. So I can create, and emotionally invest, and wander around this quilt theme all I like. Awesome!
So, back to my Colour Inspiration Tuesday/quilt along idea…..
I always thought my future one-day black and white with a splash of colour quilt would be black, white and brilliant blue. Or black, white and rainbow. But it is going to be black, white and red.
Because I realise that I must really like this combo. “Hot Chocolate” is the third colour scheme in this general genera, out of less than 30 colour palettes. And I had another photo lined up in my ideas folder that would have resulted in a fourth (don’t worry, I am NOT doing a fourth). So clearly I am attracted to this graphic colour combination.
There is also a measure of expediency in my choice. I have a great big piece of red fabric, also purchased by my husband, that is the same print as one of the aforementioned black fabrics. It will be perfect for the backing. Easy.
Here are my fabrics. I will probably have to add to them. (Oh, that’s so unfortunate…. hahahaha). My rainbow batik stash is sooooo wrong for this.
I am hoping I will be able to find some other fabrics to match when we go to Vanuatu soon, which is where these first three came from. I also am hoping that the finished product will be a lovely souvenir of our family trip. And an encouragement to hubby to keep bringing that fabric home. (Hello dearest – just checking whether you actually read this.) And a couch protector… my black and white quilting friend with a red collar is playing havoc with the furniture :(.
I am going to do a black and white background, and for my splash of colour, I am going to appliqué a red turtle on top. There might also be a hint of teal. The turtle will be inspired by the turtles on the fabric. I hope it will be eye-catching, just like the photos for my mood boards.
Want to join the Splash of Color quilt along but terrified by the open-ended nature of the requirements?
Try my Pinterest Board above for over 300 ideas of black and white quilts with colour, or B&W quilts that could easily have colour added to them. Or get your hands on a copy of either Quilting in Black and White by House of White Birches or the quilt along’s theme book: Splash of Color: A Rainbow of Brilliant Black-and-White Quilts by Jackie Kunkel.
Today’s Photo Credit
Finishing up with the formalities….. Today’s stock photos are from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. These photos are gifted freely and without demand for recognition, but I like to thank people who live so generously. So, if you would like to also use the hot chocolate photo, it is provided by Jennifer Pallian via Unsplash. The puffin photo is by Ray Hennessy. Click on the badges below to explore Jennifer’s or Ray’s other photos. Jennifer Pallian Ray Hennessy
I hope you will join in the quilt along. And keep an eye on this blog to keep me accountable….. even leave an encouraging message or two. Comments make my day and I do try to respond asap. If you are joining in the quilt along, let me know and I’ll visit your creations too.
Happy Quilting!
P.S. Don’t forget about the Fabric with Art blog hop. It is coming up really soon!
Colour Inspiration Tuesday – Weekly Inspiration and Colour Happiness for your Quilting Mental Fitness!
Hi! Welcome back to Tuesday! Doesn’t it roll around quickly!? Today we are going to exercise the little grey cells and treat them to some beautiful colours along the way.
Mental exercise is good for your mind. Luckily for us, mental exercise can be waaaaay more fun than the physical sort! Keeping your mind active can be as fun as learning a new sewing technique. Resizing a quilt pattern. Or exploring new colour combinations. Anything that takes you out of your mental comfort zone and requires you to do some actual thinking rather than just consuming information or watching TV.
This week I have been stretching my mind by learning new techniques (playing with trapunto), and thinking about what to explore next for Colour Inspiration Tuesday. I finally settled on some strawberry flowers. These flowers remind me of the time when I was a country teen and had a huge patch of strawberry plants that I grew from a few runners my maternal grandmother gave me. I used to water them, mulch them and even feed them with cow dung that I collected and pre-soaked in buckets of water! And the little fruits were ohhhhh soooo sweet. Accessing happy memories is good for your mental health too!
Colour Inspiration Tuesday – Strawberry Vines
In honour of happy memories and mental exercise, today we have the “Strawberry Vines” colour scheme and an accompanying free-motion quilting motif to try. “Strawberry Vines” is a green, yellow and pale grey-blue colour palette. The blue is so subtle it looks white unless there is real white up against it. Go on, have another look at the photo. The main colour captured on the strawberry flower is not really pure white is it?
Anyway, I decided against designing us another quilt idea this week. The truth is that there are many good ideas floating around in Colour Inspiration Tuesday already. And I would like to have an honest go at some of them. Without the weight of new ideas to cause drag or distraction. But I did want to still give you something…… I am ever so grateful to you my readers and especially to my growing list of regular followers for coming by.
So, this week’s idea for personalising your quilts is….
Looking at the strawberry flower picture and remembering my garden with the hundreds of plants and gently tending the runners until the new plants had roots and planting them too, made me think of quilting strawberries, strawberry leaves and flowers on a continuous line. Strawberry Vines. Wouldn’t this be a lovely finishing touch for a quilt in summer colours or pastel tones? Or on reds, pinks and greens on a girl’s quilt? Do you remember the Strawberry Shortcake character from the 1980’s? A quilt in her colours!
Strawberry Vines Quilting Motif
So I started doodling on paper and came up with my first go at such a design. Followed by a quick experiment on a fat quarter left over from Jewel Tone Diamonds and some waste cotton batting.
The three elements I used were leaf triplet, a small flower with the characteristic star in the centre between the petals, and of course, strawberries. As you can see, I tried the strawberries with and without seeds.
One of the things I like about my new impromptu design is that any gaps that get missed or are too hard to fill in with continuous quilting can be filled in with a curly “strawberry runner”. How good is that?!?
On my next try, I think I will round out the leaves a bit more. I know that strawberry leaves also have zigzagged edges, but that level of detail doesn’t interest me for quilting. The flowers were a bit tricky, I went through several methods to try to quilt them neatly. Here is the path that worked best for me. Start by travelling into the flower centre, and add the petals second:
Don’t worry if you need to place more than 5 petals around the centre to finish the flower. Strawberry flowers can have 5, 6 or 7 petals. It’s the flat shape of the petals with the triangle gaps between them that make them so distinctive.
The other important thing to remember is to round off the tops of your strawberries where they meet the leaves. And don’t make the berries too symmetrical…. otherwise they look like acorns with the wrong caps instead. Or maybe persimmons. At least to me.
Next time I play with this motif I want to add flower buds as well. I have a UFO in colours not unlike “Lily Pad Glow” that might look nice quilted with this motif. What would you use it on?
Don’t need strawberry vines quilting motifs this week?
Today’s photo of strawberry flowers is from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. Credit is not required, but I’m sure you’d love to know who is being so generous with their talent. Accordingly, this photo was provided by John-Mark Kuznietsov. Be sure to check out his collection of photos on Unsplash. John-Mark Kuznietsov
I hope you have fun trying out this strawberry vines quilting motif. See you next time for more quilting fun!
P.S. If you would like to use John-Mark’s photo or another Colour Inspiration Tuesday photo for your own projects, you can easily find all the Unsplash photos from Colour Inspiration Tuesday in one place for free in my Colour Inspiration Collection.
You are invited too. Come and see what lots of craft-loving people are sharing on the net this week!! Here’s one of my favourites from the parties so far: Project Sew a Jellyroll by Patchwork Sampler