Colour Inspiration Tuesday: The next Colour in the 2018 Monthly Color Challenge is Blue!

February is just around the corner, and that means it’s time to start getting our heads around next month’s colour. This year, at Clever Chameleon, the colour of the month is defined as our monthly focus colour in Jen Shaffer’s Monthly Color Challenge and blog hop. You still have a couple of days to link up your red creations at Jen’s – but only a couple, so please don’t forget! On February 1st, Red will be “soooo yesterday!”. 🙂

The Colour of the Month for February 2018 is Blue. So, today we are going to get a big dose of the Blues to get us in the mood – the good kind of Blues of course!

February is Blue. And blue is a very popular colour….. so let’s have a quick look at why……

Blue is calming, refreshing, relaxing, sustaining – like a quiet day on the beach. Blue can be healing – a soft caress of colour. Blue feels steadfast and safe.

Blue symbolises trustworthiness and maturity, and is a signal to be taken seriously. Blue is the brand you can trust. Blue appears in over half of all corporate logos. “You can rely on us” it says.

But blue doesn’t have to be sedate and serious. Blue is very versatile. Blue can be fun, just perhaps often in a more contemplative kind of way than some other colours.

And blue is certainly not always gentle. Blue has its own energy – it is full of life and vitality. Clean water and a clear sky both look blue. Blue is the colour of our shared home, our planet Earth. Blue is the colour of vastness – the endless sky, the unfathomable ocean, the horizon and the distant mountains. Height, depth, distance – they’re all blue!

Blue is the colour of freedom and feeling free. It is the colour of flying and of journeys. Going out and coming home. Blue is the backdrop of many a great adventure.

Blue is also sometimes for standing out! Just because you are dressed in blue does not mean you are not showing off! There are plenty of blues that holler “Look at ME!!”

Blue can be inorganic and hard. And cold. Oh so cold. And yet still beautiful. Even when it is almost grey, blue is still beautiful. Think of the sleekest steel, a towering glacier, a skyscraper of the most reflective glass. All majestic, all hard, all cold. All so Blue.

Blue looks great with so many other colours, and amazing with its complement of orange. But blue does not look so good on an orange! This is so disturbing I had to show you.

Blue and white is the most classic of colour schemes. Did you know some blue painted earthenware has been dated back as far as the 9th century? Even blue and white porcelain as we know it has been around for seven centuries!

Will you be humming along to the Blues in February?

In just a couple of days there will be several new blue blocks to try for the 2018 Monthly Color Challenge, and of course, my newest bear appliqué from the Beary Colourful BOM. Or you can dance to the beat of your own drum and make a blue project all your own to enter for February’s prize.

If you missed the start of the Monthly Color Challenge and the Beary Colourful quilt-along,, don’t worry – you can still get Jen’s January block pattern here and my Red Bear pattern here.

The sponsor of the Monthly Color Challenge for February is The Fat Quarter Shop. The prize draw at the end of February for people who link up a blue project will be for a $25 gift voucher. Nice!

Where to find more Blue Inspiration?

Colour Inspiration Tuesdays where we have looked at blue before are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can also explore the blue quilt ideas in these links:

• Monochrome improv log cabin quilt by Mama Love Quilts
• Blue scrappy quilt for a Blue Gala by Cheryl Larkison
• Blue, Black and White quilt by Wombat Quilts
• Blue Squares quilt finished just today by Sew Kansas
• two Blue scrap blocks at Musings of a Menopausal Melon -mmm! quilts
• Blue Jeans Quilt by Always Quilts

Ohhhhh! That reminds me – I have a jeans quilt on my bucket list. I even have a box of old jeans I’m saving. Must. resist…. I will not start a whole new quilt project right now, I will not start a whole new quilt project right now…… keep typing Dione, the urge will pass.

So, changing the topic for my own good – have you been fortunate enough to see a display by the Tentmakers of Cairo? A small group came to Adelaide last year.. They create magnificent needle-turn appliqués at the most astounding speeds. They are adept at making beautiful blue patterns too.

Remember: Trust Blue

I hope you are feeling inspired to quilt blue next! Not long to go now….. February’s colour challenge is going to be just as fantastic as Red was for January. You can trust the Chameleon on this. He is a serious, dependable, sensible blue colour today. hahaha

P.S. Did you know that tomorrow night is a Blue Moon (the second full moon in a month)? It’s also a full lunar eclipse here in Adelaide – which means the moon will actually turn red. But an old Aussie slang tradition is to call redheads “Blue” or “Bluey”, so it all fits! How good is that!?! 🙂

P.P.S. All of the blue photos featured today are the work of the generous photographers who use the Unsplash distribution platform. If you would like to use any of these photos (they are all free and without strings attached), or find the talented photographers who took them, head over to my Unsplash Blue Collection here.

P.P.P.S If you didn’t click on this link: two Blue scrap blocks at Musings of a Menopausal Melon -mmm! quilts, then you should. There is so much going on at Sandra’s blog just now, it’s hard to know where to start listing them! Postcards from Sweden quilt along, New quilt blogger’s hop, 30 days of quilt design challenge…… and more! Go visit Sandra’s blog and see for yourself!

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