A stack o’ Christmas Ideas: Colour & Inspiration Tuesday

Done, done and done! Lots of small finishes in this Round-Up of a Tuesday

I have been knocking off lots of little half-done sewing projects lately. A clearing of the queue, both physically and mentally.

Most of these finishes haven’t made it to the blog, although if you follow me on Instagram you may have seen some flash past you in your feed. So now it’s time to clear the decks. I get a stack of things of my chest, outta my head and into my journal-blog record. You get a post full of small projects that you can use as quick Christmas makes and gift ideas. Months before the situation becomes critical! Merry Christmas, you’re welcome. 😀

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If you need a headstart on Christmas ideas, today’s post is for you!

I’m hoping that you’ll agree with me, that a bit of homemade Christmas is just the thing. And gifts that encourage creativity should always have a place under the tree too. That’s not to say that my loved ones don’t get a shiny commercial thingy from their Christmas wish list, because they do. But if variety is the spice of life, then creative and handmade gifts are the cinnamon that makes the ubiquitous mass-produced toy fest more palatable. That’s my opinion, anyway.

Looking through all my small projects of late, it struck me that collectively they make a nice set of handmade and creative gifts, so here they all are together for your last hurrah of Christmas in July inspiration. Many of these ideas are free, some will require a small purchase to obtain a pattern. All of them are thoroughly tested by me and the Chameleon. And all of them are fun! 🙂 Let’s look.

Remember the Christmas Pillow I was making?

Do you remember, back at the beginning of July I started a Christmas wreath pillow as my Artsy Fartsy project for Island Batik? I fussy cut a small strip of batik to get a really special effect on this block designed by Susan Flemming. But then I loved it too much to cover it up with lots of thread work to meet the parameters of the Artsy Fartsy challenge. So it got laid aside.

Well, I have finished this project now, and it is really sweet. I thread painted the little centre embroidery with Madeira rayon threads. I quilted the wreath with the same holly leaves and berries motif as Susan’s original cushion. And I used a rainbow metallic Madeira thread to echo quilt around the wreath. Then I turned the block into a small pillow according to the pattern instructions. Which you can do too, because the wreath pattern and pillow tutorial are available for free at Super Mom, No Cape, as part of our Sew Early 4 Christmas series from last year.

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This project is a great decoration for my home, but it would also make a fantastic hostess gift, don’t you think? Who’s inviting me over for Christmas?! 😀

More Christmas Ideas

Do you remember the Christmas for Two project that I posted a few weeks back?

And do you remember the children’s fairy craft book I featured in June?

Well, the cat’s out of the bag…….

…..I discovered that you can combine these two projects to make an appealing Friends in a Bag gift set for someone who hasn’t grown into tea drinking yet! The bag, which is made with a free tutorial by Pam of Threading My Way, fits two Forest Friends inside as if it was designed that way.

After participating in the Forest Fairy Crafts Through the Seasons blog hop, Lenke very kindly sent me a physical copy of her and Asia’s book by way of a thank you. Having this sweet book in hand, I couldn’t resist making one more thing from it…. a foxy pal for the cat.

To make this gift set you will need the free nail-polish bag tutorial from Threading My Way and a copy of Forest Fairy Crafts through the Seasons.

Of course the book itself also makes a terrific gift to spark young creativity. As does the original book in the series, Forest Fairy Crafts: Enchanting Fairies and Felt Friends.

Creativity under the Christmas Tree, woot woot!

Yet more Christmas Ideas

Do you remember a loooong time ago in internet years (January), when I published my first pattern in Make Modern Magazine? Pushing it, I know. But more recently, I showed this quilt, which had the unexpected but happy result of me meeting Lara Motta, one of the faces behind Make Modern Magazine, in person.

And that in turn led to me answering a survey question in more detail than I otherwise might have, which led to me being the very happy recipient of three issues of Make Modern. I seriously don’t have time for any more projects…. so when I saw Sarah Scott’s Happy Little Vegemite pillow pattern in Issue 29 I did the mature, responsible thing and did a DrEAMi (drop everything and make it, as defined by Sandra of mmm! quilts).

Caleb is now the very happy recipient of a new personalised Vegemite cushion cover. The biggest problem with this quick and easy project is that he wouldn’t wait until Christmas to get his hands on it. So, we are back to square one for his gift. If you also have Vegemite lovers in your circle of influence, this was a very fun project to make. It’d make a great gift for overseas Aussies too.

Of course, a subscription to Make Modern Magazine itself is a wonderful enabling gift for quilters and sewist. Especially for travellers and for people who have downsized, as it has no physical presence. A dear friend once gave me a Make Modern gift subscription while I was road-tripping with the family in a campervan, and it was a most thoughtful and appropriate gift.

Make Modern can be bought or gifted as single issues, as 6 month or 12 month subscriptions. Or you can get/give instant access to every issue up to the present with their new VIP All Access subscription. 200+ quilts, 80+ miniquits and 40+ other sewing projects to choose from to make for Christmas!

BTW, if you are looking for the fun, award winning Triangle Friends pattern, it is in Issue 26. Just saying. 😀

And that’s it, I’m out of Christmas gift ideas and finished projects for this week. But hopefully I’ve got you thinking and inspired. And there are plenty more ideas out there in the ether. Just take a look…….

Who else is quilty of celebrating Christmas in July?

Well, lots of talented quilters should be in the dock, but the three caught redhanded last week sharing Christmas cheer with the Chameleon and inciting him to be festive were Mary, Susan and Tracie.

Mary of Quilts by Marney, linked up her new pattern for paper pieced Christmas Cats. Christmas Kitty (the big grin on the left) looks like he got a stocking full of kippers and a smudge of Christmas pudding on his enormous slice of cream!

And possibly catnip in his bonbon as well. Anyways, the Chameleon will have what he’s having, thanks!

Susan of Quilt Fabrication is Mary’s co-accused, having also linked up her latest pattern for Christmas table decor. I love blue and white for an alternative to red and green for Christmas, and these mats are gorgeous.

And what do you think of the quilting on this? I think I need to add it to my “very fun, must-try” list.

And last but not least, Tracie of Riceford Streams is the most quilty of all! Tracie was our first link up last week, and the one that got the Chameleon into the most mischief. A whole village of Christmas cottages made especially for the Chameleon to explore and squat in. What’s a Chameleon to do but invite all his relatives and friends over for a huge, loud, colourful Christmas bash?! I hope Tracie likes company…… lots of crazy company. 😀

Thanks to everyone who linked up last week. It’s always fun visiting all your posts.

Your turn! Come to the Party!

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! And if you’d like to road test my newest patterns, I am always on the hunt for keen pattern testers.