The Always Learning Green Bear from May has been exploring his family tree and he has discovered a cousin! Please welcome the aspirational July Yellow-Green Bear to the Beary Colourful family.
If you spend much time with young children on a regular basis, you will know that they love to think that they are “Big”. And also that they are “Bigger”. Bigger than their siblings….bigger than their peers….. bigger then that mark on the wall that shows how tall they used to be.
Growth charts never really go out of fashion, do they? The motifs on them might change but the very simple act of repeatedly measuring yourself on the wall never grows old. And getting taller is linked to some pretty exciting milestones. Especially if you are aiming to beat a height restriction for that ride at the theme park. 120cm was the obsessed-over mark by my kids, thanks to the waterslide at the local pool. Thankfully, for my sanity, my youngest child is very tall for his age!
So, since I strongly associate the colour yellow-green with fresh growth, the seventh bear in the Beary Colourful Quilt BOM series celebrates all things growing. With a garden on his tummy, a growth chart by his side and an aspirational posture, this bear expects bigger and better things. Or a splat in the eye. Hahahaha, poor bear; I think he’s safe enough with no birds on this quilt. Keep on striving, little bear!
March already!?! Seriously?! Well, the good news is, it is time for the Beary Colourful Yellow Bear!
I am loving seeing all the bears appearing from in the Monthly Color Challenge link ups at Patterns by Jen. There are going to be some very happy teddy bear-loving quilt recipients out there in time! 🙂
The third bear in the Beary Colourful Quilt is the Yellow Bear of Being Active Outdoors. This bear is cheerful and energetic and is just itching to get out and have some fun. Grab this pattern and your yellow fabric scraps. Let’s add a really lively bear to your Beary Colourful collection.
February! Time to meet the Blue Bear of High Hopes!
I know some of you have been waiting (patiently?!) since quite early January for the next bear in the Beary Colourful BOM. I must say, I was mightily impressed at how quickly red bears started appearing after the first pattern was released, and I want to thank everyone who shared a red bear with me last month. I think we will need to have a teddy bear’s picnic at some point!
So, without further ado, here is our Blue Bear of High Hopes. I have done him twice in two slightly different sets of fabric, because I like to double-check the pattern for you. At the end of the year I will have enough blocks for two bear quilts. I’m not seeing a downside to this, are you?! 🙂
But First, a Regatta Quilt Update – Quilt Top Finished
Are you sewing along on the no pressure, no deadline Regatta quilt-along at Home Sewn by Us? I am happy to say that I now have a quilt top towards this project, and have mostly enjoyed the laid-back challenge of adapting the jelly roll I had to the Regatta Quilt Pattern. I must emphasise the “mostly”, because just after my last post about this quilt, this project had a rough couple of days. It seemed every time I picked it up, I managed to sew something into the wrong place! It. should. have. been. so. simple. And yet I muffed it up. Not once, but several times!
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!
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…..
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.
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……!
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!
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!
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 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 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 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 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.
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!
If you spend much time with young children on a regular basis, you will know that they love to think that they are “Big”. And also that they are “Bigger”. Bigger than their siblings….bigger than their peers….. bigger then that mark on the wall that shows how tall they used to be. 
I am loving seeing all the bears appearing from in the Monthly Color Challenge link ups at Patterns by Jen. There are going to be some very happy teddy bear-loving quilt recipients out there in time! 🙂
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 
