Everyday Quilt Inspiration: Pandanus Fruit

31 days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in Real Life

Aghhh. Slow internet! No internet! Slow internet! Great Intern….. Nope, dropped out again! That is the reality here the last 36 hours. Writing what I can offline… and then madly uploading if I see signal. So, I apologise for all the typos, comments ending up in the wrong place and other weird stuff …… I think I have only embarrassed myself once so far :(. It’ll be a while before I take good internet at a sane time of day for granted again!

Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 4

tsunami escape sign — Tsunami escape route sign

The overwhelmed, under-spec and oh-so-vulnerable communications network here is the reason why our family is currently in Vanuatu. Hubby, Paul, is developing a cheap, easy to deploy, phone-based technology that will allow villages to maintain their own intra-village text-message services independently of cellular networks. We even hope to connect two neighbouring villages. We are aiming for a system that can provide rudimentary communications when the cellular network is down and where it doesn’t reach. Which is too often and in too many places. Vanuatu tops the natural disaster at risk list for the entire world – being vulnerable to earthquake, hurricane, volcano, and tsunami, with low capacity to prepare and rebuild.

Inspired by the Pandanus Fruit

Yesterday and today we travelled out of Port Vila again to the two small villages where we are doing a pilot study of Paul’s telecommunications system. One of the very noticeable plants along the roadside out of Port Vila are the Pandanus trees, with their big green fruits the size of rockmelons (cantaloupe). Currently the fruits are unripe – they will turn a robust orange when they are edible. I have been told locally that they are good for pregnant women, although I didn’t find out why.

Anyway, it is solely the visual texture of these fruits that has aroused my interest today. I haven’t actually been able to touch one – they are too high up.

How was I inspired by the Pandanus Fruit?

Because the Pandanus Fruit has interesting shapes and textures, I was inspired to try an abstract representation that I could piece and appliqué. Here is my Pandanus Fruit-inspired art quilt design:

Abstract pandanus quilt design by Clever Chameleon — Abstract pandanus quilt design

I used the colours I can see in my photo. I think the large background space would be good for some FMQ practice. Maybe try out some Vanuatu themed motifs.

Hope to see you again tomorrow!

P.S. If you missed the beginning of my 31 Days of Everyday Quilt Inspiration, you can find it here.

P.P.S. While I have internet, here is a picture of the telecommunications boxes we are installing and testing.

mesh extender on hut, Vanuatu — See the white box with the three antennas on the pole? That is the technology we are testing, installed on the roof of a house in Vanuatu.

October 3, 2017January 19, 2024

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Wattle You Make?

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:

hexagon fabric in yellow and greyed-green — A fun, coincidental fact….. the wattle species in the photo of today’s colour board is widely used as food for bees in making honey…. and this fabric definitely reminds me of bee hives!

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!)

See you again tomorrow. 🙂

October 2, 2017January 19, 2024

Everyday Quilt Inspiration: Nervous Plant

Nervous Flower color scheme from Clever Chameleon

31 days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in Real Life

So.

I hope yesterday’s post didn’t sound too delirious. It was truly written on the fly – trying not to start from behind with the Write 31 Days challenge. Luckily I had already been contemplating writing about the bedroom décor here in Vanuatu and how it relates to my Splash of Color quilt along plans! So there was already an idea seed waiting to sprout when I found out about the challenge. Today, I have had a bit more thinking time to prepare this post, although no more writing time.

Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 2

Today we travelled out of Port Vila to a small village where we are going to be doing a pilot study of emergency telecommunications equipment my husband is inventing. We met the Chief and Elders of the village and explained in a public meeting how we would like to install the equipment in their vicinity and train them to use it in return for feedback on how to improve it to meet their needs. It has been a productive and interesting day.

Travelling to and from the village today has given me some quiet time to simply observe the colours and textures around me. Combinations that I wouldn’t normally see at home – that belong to other people’s everyday. Brightly coloured houses. Thatched roofs. Woven reed walls. Tropical lagoon colours. And bright tropical flowers. Lots of ideas to process here over the next few days. 🙂

Discovering the Vanuatu Nervous Plant!

One of the most fun things we saw today was an insignificant-looking plant that I would have never noticed on my own. Even though I am actively looking for blog inspiration. While we stopped for a short break on the roadside on the way home to Port Vila, a colleague who has travelled the Pacific Nations for many years showed us the Nervous Plant. This plant immediately closes its leaves at the slightest touch of a finger. If you poke it again it will shrink back even further from you, towards the ground. It is truly remarkable how mobile this plant is. I should try to get some video of it another day…. today I only have photos to share.

Nervous plant, Vanuatu — Nervous Plant, Vanuatu. Before being touched.

How was I inspired by the Nervous Plant?

It strikes me that I can free-motion quilt the Nervous Plant. It would make a pretty background fill design. There are a number of elements to make up the design – the feathery leaves (open and closed), the pom-pom flowers and the flower buds. I have sketched my initial idea for you with pencil on paper…..

These are relatively simple shapes that a confident beginner could put together on a continuous line. You can quilt this design as densely or loosely as you liked, depending on how soft you want your quilt to be. More experienced quilters can also modify this idea to pack the leaves together tightly to generate a dense uniform background fill design.

I hope you have enjoyed learning about the Nervous Plant as much I enjoyed discovering it today. And that you might find a use for its pretty colours or it’s cute little leaves in a project one day. See you again tomorrow!

P.S. You can find the start of my 31 Days of Everyday Quilt Inspiration blog post series here. And you can find the Write 31 Days website here, for hundreds more 31-day series on all sorts of topics. Enjoy!

October 1, 2017January 19, 2024

Write 31 Days: Everyday Quilt Inspiration

Vanuatu Décor color scheme by Clever Chameleon

Welcome to 31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday

The Write 31 Days Blog Challenge, Day 1

Surprise! It’s only Sunday and I’m baaaack…..

I was reading the Days Filled with Joy blog earlier today, and Joy said she was not going to do her usual Finishing Stitches linky for October, because she was joining in the Write 31 Days Challenge. And I went: “What’s the Write 31 Days Challenge?”, and clicked on that link…..

So, it turns out, it is a one-month challenge to blog daily. Now, I have no intention of becoming a long term once-a-day blogger. Or I’d get no sewing done at all. And I’m pretty sure you also don’t need that much of me in your inbox either! (Please forgive me for a month! 🙂 ) But it so just happens that I am away from my sewing machine for half of October, and I have an idea that would be fun to try for a little while. Also, I do tend to write long posts and it would be good to practice “less is more” occasionally.

So, I have made an impromptu and perhaps rash decision to join the Write 31 Days challenge. I am currently in Vanuatu for work, and the internet here varies from fine to appalling and back again without warning, so I am not even sure if this is possible. But I will try. I may have to write offline some days and post in batches as the internet allows. The main complication is that it starts Today! And as I draft this I am not signed up and I have no internet……

My Write 31 Day Topic: Everyday Quilt Inspiration

Anyway, my Write 31 Days series will be about finding quilt design/colour inspiration around us in the everyday. Today it is colours.. But it might be shapes, themes, motifs on other days…. wherever the imagination goes. This should actually be quite fun. And I think it is a good flip-side to Colour Inspiration Tuesday. I use professional photos for Colour Inspiration Tuesday because I can make pretty pins and headers out of them. And I do love them. But I can’t/don’t take photos like those. However, there is no reason why the photography skills I do have can’t be enough to convey the quilt/colour ideas that I often see around me. And there is no reason why you can’t use your happy snaps and incidental casual observations for inspiration either…. So let’s explore finding quilt/craft inspiration in real life for a month! I hope you’ll join me.

Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 1

Red, Teal and Brown: décor inspiration

Vanuatu Décor color scheme from Clever Chameleon Because today’s post is being created at rather short notice (and I will be hoping for internet later to upload this), I am going to start my 31 everyday quilt design series in familiar territory. With a colour board. Today’s inspiration colours are red, teal-blue, coffee, dark chocolate and off-white. Teal and red are complimentary colours (opposite positions on the colour wheel), so look good together with or without the addition of neutrals.

Everyday quilt inspiration in rented accomodation — Tip 1: find everyday colour inspiration in rented accomodation furnishings

Today’s photo is a snap of the décor in our bedroom in the rented concrete block house we are living in in Port Vila. It is a modest house, comfortable and designed to be lived in rather than holidayed in. One of the things I appreciate most about our accommodation is that the play areas are designed so that children behaving reasonably can safely roam and play without constant supervision. No pools or waterfront or other inherently deadly areas.

Décor is a very good place to look for everyday quilt inspiration, especially colour. There are often professional influences in décor choices, even if it only within the fabric prints. In paying attention here, you are using someone else’s knowledge and experience to help guide your own design process. That’s called working smarter!

Why was I inspired by this décor?

I was struck by these particular décor colours because only days before we got here, I posted about using red and teal with black and white for my next quilt design that will be part of the Splash of Color quilt-along. That post was called Hot Chocolate and you can find it here. Today’s colour board is going straight to my ideas folder for when I get around to designing my Vanuatu quilt for the Splash of Color quilt-along!

So there you have it….. my first everyday quilt inspiration post for the Write 31 Days challenge! Hope to see you again tomorrow!

Have you got décor around you that inspires a quilt you would love? Let us know in the comments!

P.S. Links to the posts in my 31 everyday quilt inspiration ideas series will appear here as they are published.

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate color scheme by Clever Chameleon

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.

Quilt with Hot Chocolate color scheme — The dark brown, red, red-orange, off white, and greyed teal can all be found in the fabric choices of Jaffas and Cream.

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

Frosty Berries color scheme from Clever Chameleon — Frosty Berries colour palette

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.

Red-Eye Flight color scheme from Clever Chameleon — Red-Eye Flight colour scheme

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!

Black and white fabrics from Vanuatu — Black and white/grey scale fabrics from Vanuatu

– 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.

black, red and white photo of a puffin — This ultra cute puffin was also begging to be a colour board!

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.

Fabrics from Vanuatu — My three fabrics to work with

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 :(.

Cat on Bugs in my Garden Quilt — Who me? Guilty as charged, Mr.

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.

Turtle fabric from Vanuatu — I intend to design a turtle appliqué in this genera

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

Red Clever Chameleon logo 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.