Cherry Blossom & Mulla Mulla: Colour & Inspiration Tuesday

Flowers this week. Lots of flowers. No more creepy crawlies…

The Chameleon objects, naturally. But I am more sympathetic to the bug-not-lovers out there…… I’ve just realised that the size of the local insects dictates the size of the local spiders. I’m a bit off bugs this week.

So, luckily for me there is a new interesting array of flowers out to show you instead. We’ve been having yoyo weather…. it was up to the mid thirties (degrees C) the other day and now we are heading into the mid-teens, tops. And we’ve had a little rain. The plants seem to like the funny weather though, another wave of blooms has appeared.

A big wave of blooms has appeared on the Lunarcy New Year Zodiac quilt too. I believe I am ready to sew the appliqués down now…… The quilt is decidedly living up to its name, there are approximately 600 cherry blossoms on this thing….. Pure lunacy really!

The Flowers of Arkaroola

I am not sure what a lot of the plants around here are called, so I’ll just give you a parade (and comment if I can). A lot are not very flashy. Australian natives are more of the “Seek and You Shall Find” types of individuals. But I have been out weeding my local creek bed, so I have actually been getting down and personal with the plants. And so I’ve been noticing things along the way.

Here’s a slide show of some of the less conspicuous gems. The Paddy Melons and the Ruby Dock are weeds, I am presuming most of the rest are native.

This next one I have shown you before. Mulla Mullas, a favourite. They are flowering closer to home now, in my creek – I don’t have to climb 100m up a mountain to get a photo anymore. So I will show them again.

The Sturt Desert Peas in my house yard are still surviving too, although they have been stressed by the lack of follow-up rain after they germinated. Watering them, even with rain water, seemed to help little. A light drizzle yesterday though and they perked right up. Look at how clever they are at trapping moisture on the hairy undersides of their leaves.

And do you remember the blue-flowered Cattle Bush plants I showed you the other week?

Oooops, sorry! Shoo butterfly….

Do you remember the blue-flowered Cattle Bush plants I showed you the other week?

Well, I found a single plant in my creek with pink flowers instead of the blue! A colour variant. The Chameleon went wild with excitement!!!! Whaaaaah!!!!!

Easily amused.

On a more domestic front…..

I found a tomato plant! Growing wild 😀 I tamed it.

It was hiding in plain sight near a path we use regularly. I’ve adopted it; trampled-proofed it and watered it a little on hot days. I noticed it’s got its first flower bud today. The frosts here get vicious in July, but hopefully I can coax something off it before then, there’s a lot of desert day sunshine in the meantime.

My daughter and I planted some veggies in an old disused water trough, (or perhaps it is a sink) over Easter. So far, they are growing great guns. Again, the trick will be to beat the frosts.

And the ultimate in domestic gardening…. a flower quilt

A possibly ridiculous proliferation of blossoms has occurred on my Lunarcy quilt. Invasive blooms perhaps? There are really about 600 of them, and yes, I know they all need sewing down. I don’t mind. My daughter (a 12 yo Rat) thinks that this is another quilt for her… and she loves them. So it will be a labour of love to add them – needless to say, it’s a long term project.

More importantly, as I was distributing the blossoms over the flimsy, I finally felt my right brain kicking back in. “Well, hello beautiful, where you been?”

I’d forgotten that amazing feeling I get into when the left brain is told to go mind it’s own business and the right brain takes over. In hindsight, it’s been months since I entered that happy place very deeply. I guess moving house and Covid-19 and schooling at home etc are all left brain activities.

Disclaimer: Island Batik supplied these fabrics to me free of charge to create the prototype Lunarcy BOM available here soon at Clever Chameleon for the remainder of 2020.

Some more food for the right brain…..

I am not sure whether the Chameleon even has a left brain…. I read lately:

“Right–brain dominant people are characterised as artistic, innovative and often random….”

Yes….. “random”. Remind you of anyone? Someone having a party perhaps?

Well, here’s where the Chameleon’s is hanging out today…… you’re invited!

A breath of sea air… that’s about the only thing I miss outside while living in the desert. In fact, I could swear I could smell the ocean on the breeze today! In this instance, I don’t even think I am crazy…….there is a likely culprit. There are great salt lakes in this part of the country, and although normally dry, they do get water in them seasonally. There has been some patchy rain around the last few days…. a bit of salt mixed in with a bit of moisture…. instant “sea breeze”. That’s my theory anyway. And to complete the illusion I’ll just sit and stare at this beauty for a while…. 🙂

This is courtesy of Kathleen at Kathleen McMusing. Kathleen has been running a quilt along for Elizabeth Hartman’s Awesome Ocean quilt pattern. The Chameleon is also in love with the Manatee holding Wendy’s vibrant version of the quilt! He’s the star of Kathleen’s quilt along parade, and the Chameleon’s new hero. BTW, Wendy blogs at Pieceful Thoughts, hop over to read more about her version of the quilt and the manatees.

You didn’t think the Chameleon would give in to a bugless future without a fight, did you? Surely not! He is unashamed to say his favourite guest this week was Frederique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué. Frédérique has been running a blog series: an A-Z challenge for April, on the subject of quilting. She recently featured a quilt artist named Gabrielle Paquin, who has a distinctive use of striped fabrics. And a shared passion with the Chameleon….. bugs! And a few other stunners. But mostly bugs. Head on over for a look, you won’t be disappointed (even if you are not keen on bugs…..).

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Back to the flora Chameleon, concentrate! Turid at Den syende himmel showed off her scrappy pineapple block progress. Pineapples are a subject we can agree on.

Aren’t Turid’s blocks terrific?! This is going to be a real eye catcher when it’s done. Actually, it’s already a stunner. And that’s a lot of rescued scraps!

If you want to keep the Chameleon’s mind off his obsession with insects, you are going to have to help me…..

Tell us – what are you working on, or have recently finished in your sewing room? We want to know so we can visit and be inspired. Link up a blog post, an IG post or simply a photo from your computer.  See if you can get the Chameleon to turn quilted with happiness. We’d love to see your quilting colours!

• Link up your latest or recent quilt/sewing excitement. All quilt construction stages welcome – finished quilts, quilt blocks – even fabric pulls! Or inspiration sources!
• You have 50 characters in the link description…. tell us who you are and what your fantastic project is.
• URL links are not necessary to link up…. non-bloggers 100% welcome! If you don’t have a URL, you can link up with just a photo.
• Take a moment to visit some friends who came to the party – leave a little love and make their day. And a link back to Clever Chameleon is always appreciated.
• Do it now……. before you forget!

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The Chameleon turns rainbow with pleasure when he hears from you. I am more reserved, so I will respond in gratitude by email instead. Now that it’s your turn…. Scroll right to the end, leave me a comment and tell me, what do you think? Thanks for connecting!

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, IG or FB. All your follow options can be found here. Don’t forget to link up all your current quilting projects on Tuesdays at our Colour & Inspiration Linky parties!