Everyday Quilt Inspiration: Batik Prints

31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in Real Life

Well, here we are two thirds of the way through October and the Write 31 Days challenge. And I have to admit to being a little blogged out this morning. Writing everyday beyond October will not be for me. I long to get back to spending a larger proportion of my time sewing. This attitude probably isn’t being helped by the fact that I am itching to turn some of the ideas that have popped up in this series into real quilts! Where to start!!!?

Anyway, because I am feeling a little done with generating ideas, I paused today and reflected on what other topics are relevant to my challenge. And I think it might be time to turn to some examples of quilts I own and look at the ideas that inspired them. Something less theoretical and more tangible. I can do this now that we are home again and back into routine. Yay!!

Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 21

It doesn’t hurt to get jaded sometimes….. jade is a very pretty colour after all! 🙂 And one of the prettiest quilts I have been given is also the only quilt I own made specifically for me, by someone other than me. It is dark jade and rainbow. Here is my birthday gift from a while back from a beautiful friend, Susan.

Lotus batik quilt — My lotus batik quilt from Susan

Susan is one of the friends I have made through quilting, and is an amazing wizard with colour. If I ever need colour advise, Susan will always have an idea tucked away that will help me out.

How one batik inspired a whole quilt

Let me tell you how this quilt came to be…. Susan bought a small piece of the rainbow lotus batik as an impulse purchase simply because she loved it. That seems like a great reason to me!

Lotus batik fabrik

But she didn’t want it to end up in stash, so she took the dominant lotus shape from the batik pattern and turned it into an appliqué shape.

Lotus appliqué shape — Raw-edge lotus appliqué

She secured the appliqués with a small zigzag in clear thread. The stitching is nearly invisible. Some shuffling of the squares, including some sneaky discussions with me about the layout, ensued. And the blocks were stitched together lickety-split.

And she ended up with the quilt that now has pride of place in my dining room. 🙂 This precious quilt of love would be in my sewing room, but there is very little wall space in there with 2 walls that are mostly windows and the third wall actually being mostly double doors.

So that is the story of the inspiration behind the lotus batik quilt. Simple, but enormously effective. Thank you, dear Susan!!

Have you used a fabric as the starting point for a quilt like this? If so, I’d love to know.

You could also extend this idea to generate quilting designs. Big, edge-to-edge lotuses would be lots of fun.

And speaking of fun – if you have missed any of my 31 Days of Everyday Quilt Inspiration series you can find the up-to-date list of links at the bottom of the first post.

Hope to see you again tomorrow!

October 19, 2017January 19, 2024

Everyday Quilt Inspiration: Picnic Quilt Revisit

31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in Real Life

Last week I wrote about a long held ambition to make one or more picnic quilts modelled on children’s games. And there was one game that I mentioned that then stuck in my mind. Not because I particularly wanted to make it. But because I wasn’t sure how I would make it. The challenge of the how kept wandering through my head. 🙂

Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 19

The game, and the picnic quilt idea in question, is hopscotch. The design is simple. Hopscotch layouts are made up of easily pieced, large blocks, with one semi circle that could be appliquéd on. Appliqué the numbers on, and its done! Except…..

Except that hopscotch is long and skinny. Like a bed quilt. And you really do not need to be handing out free passes for hopscotch on the bed, right? 🙂

So, how to make it square like a good picnic quilt? Do I just fill in the rest of the quilt with cute pictures or prints? Seems like a lot of extra work for no real gain except size and shape.

How was I inspired to further the hopscotch picnic quilt idea?

Eventually I came up with a design that I think I like. Two hopscotch fields side by side. Twice as much fun, and half as much waiting! Yay!

And now that it’s square, I could put a noughts and crosses (Tic Tac Toe) board on the other side. The brilliant thing about pairing these two games is that neither needs playing official pieces. Stones/pinecones will do for hopscotch markers, and sticks, stones or leaves or any number of things can be substituted for Xs and Os, as long as you have two distinct sets.

One last happy thought I had about the Tic Tac Toe board is that it has territorial boundaries for children to sit within. Great for kids who have a tendency to squabble about others encroaching on their space while they are eating lunch….. not that that would ever happen on a fun family outing…..

All that said, I still think I want to try making a backgammon board picnic quilt first! Then I’ll have to teach my kids how to play. 🙂

Backgammon board quilt design — There are lots of subtle ways you can personalise a backgammon board. into a picnic quilt.

Do you have a favourite board game that would make a brilliant picnic quilt? Share your idea with us – we’d love to know.

P.S. If you’d like to find the Everyday Quilt Inspiration series from the beginning, it all starts here.

October 18, 2017January 19, 2024

Everyday Quilt Inspiration: Emoji

31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in Real Life

What could be more everyday inspiration these days than Emoji?!? They are everywhere. On your phone, on social media, in advertising, on fridge magnets, stickers, tattoos, cushions…. 🙂 here…… You name it, someone has probably stuck a smiley face on it. Do you know where Emoji started? You might be as surprised at their long history as at their very recent rocket to fame.

Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 18

My daughter bought the emoji cushion pictured above while we were living in Germany. All the other kids had a cushion on their chair at school, but initially she didn’t want to conform. At home in Australia she didn’t have a cushion on her chair at school. So at the time, even something so simple seemed to be a threat to her identity and a source of homesickness. But in the Christmas Markets we found familiar and happy faces…… She chose the expression she wanted. I am not sure I would have been comfortable at sitting on this particular face, but she was happy. I should probably just be thankful she didn’t choose the poop emoticon…. LOL

How am I inspired by Emoji?

You could have a lot of quilt fun with emoji-like pictures, and get in some appliqué practice at the same time. Draw up your own series of yellow faces, turn them into appliqué squares and put them together quilt-as-you-go. Here’s an example of a design I would enjoy making. I have coloured it using classic yellow emoji and my great aunt’s garden as inspiration.

Smiley face quilt design — Smiley-face quilt inspiration

There are all sorts of icons now recognised within the emoji family – including animal, food, flags, activity, travel and object emoji. Here’s one guide to a vast array of Emoji for inspiration. Just remember, existing pictures are subject to copyright, so don’t cut and paste willy-nilly. But thanks to the simple nature of emoji, and the public nature of the general idea, you can easily draw your own variations.

I hope this inspiration has put a smile on your dial. A smiley-face quilt would be very easy to create, and would make a fun addition to a young person’s bedroom. If I wasn’t already in the process of making my daughter a quilt, this would stand a chance of getting made!

P.S. Did you know that there is such a thing as World Emoji Day?!? Yes. Really. 🙂 17th of July.

P.S. Have missed being a part of many linkys while we were away – it was just too hard without reliable internet. So glad to be linking up again with:
Main Crush Monday, Sew Can Do, The Inquiring Quilter (I’m featured this week – check it out!!), The Quilting Room with Mel, Freemotion by the River, My Quilt Infatuation, Crazy Mom Quilts.

P.P.S. Find the start of my 31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday here.

See you tomorrow! 🙂

October 15, 2017January 19, 2024

Everyday Quilt Inspiration: Poppies

31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in Real Life

Today I did something a little bit different. I attended the unveiling of a new pair of plaques honouring all the war veterans who came/come from the Karoonda district. Karoonda is a small country town in South Australia where my only surviving great aunt lives. And where my maternal grandfather and grandmother first met and courted many decades ago.

Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 15

After travelling so much for the last two weeks, I was very grateful to share a ride to Karoonda (about an hour and half away) with my aunt, uncle and a cousin. As well as attending the memorial and unveiling ceremony, I was thrilled to visit my great aunt. Aunty Dorothy is the original rabid quilter in my family. As you can imagine, we always have a lot to talk about. I wish she lived closer!

When my great aunt is not quilting, she is gardening. And today her garden was a mass of spring flowers. Roses, irises and poppies. Lots and lots of beautiful poppies.

How was I inspired by the poppies?

After being away from home for 2 weeks, I have been a little surprised by Spring. It definitely arrived while we were away! And yesterday, Aunty’s garden was in full-bloom.

Poppies in Aunt Dorothy's garden — Poppies and more poppies!

Spring Poppies color scheme from Clever Chameleon — A colour board from Aunt Dorothy’s garden

So it seemed more than appropriate to do a Spring mood board from Aunty Dorothy’s garden.

But more relevant to the theme of today’s visit to Karoonda, it turns out that Aunty Dorothy also has a patch of Flanders Poppies that she grew from seeds gifted to her. Flanders Poppies are the distinctive red and black flowers from France that are now used widely in Anzac and Remembrance Day ceremonies in Australia. There weren’t many open Flanders Poppies to see in her garden, because she had donated them all to today’s ceremony.

Here is part of one of the new plaques. My Grandpa’s name is on there (F.A. Longmire, WWII). As is my Great Uncle Geoff’s (WWII) and a great-great uncle’s (WWI). A fourth very distant relative is also named, but the connection with him is many many generations back. I do know where he fits in the family forest thanks to someone else’s hard work, but I won’t bore you with the details.

More than just colour inspiration

Between the two new plaques is the main gate to the town’s oval. I was also quilt-inspired by these gates, with their plastic poppy tributes and rosemary attached.

Poppies on gate — Poppy and Rosemary tributes at the unveiling

This geometric design would make a great quilt border, especially adorned with poppy appliqués. It’s not often that I get inspired to make a quilt border without having a clue what the centre of the quilt should be. But that is the case this time!

What would you place in the middle of a quilt with a really strong, geometric border design like this? Do you have memorial traditions that would translate to a meaningful quilt?

Comments make my day and I and would love to know your ideas. Thanks for dropping by today. Hope to see you again tomorrow!

P.S. If you would like to know more about why Flanders Poppies mean so much to Australian Veterans, you can read a short story here. Rosemary is also a significant symbol for Anzac Day.

P.P.S. If you have not been following along with my 31 Days of Everyday Quilt Inspiration series, and would like to, you should start here.

October 14, 2017January 19, 2024

Everyday Quilt Inspiration: Book and Movie Characters

31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in Real Life

There is nowhere like home! It’s nice to be back in Australia with my sewing machines and fast internet. And my furry quilting helper! The second half of my Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday series is likely to be be much more everyday than the first half. And in my house, there is nothing more everyday than a children’s book. I read to both my kids before bed most evenings, and have done since they were babies. Like my mother did for me. That is a lot of bedtime stories!

Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 14

A significant proportion of the world’s quilts seem to be made for children. Babies on their way, babies just born, sons, daughters, grandchildren, nieces, nephews….. etc etc. And I find that kids love a good size quilt…. for sleeping, emotional comfort, cuddling on the couch, picnics, making cubby houses… wherever their imagination takes them.

characters from children's stories

So today I want to briefly discuss a common source of inspiration I often see used on kids’ quilts. That is, popular characters from children’s books and movies. There are upsides and downsides to using your child’s favourite story characters as quilt inspiration, as we shall see.

Why do people like characters on quilts?

There are at least three good reasons why people consider kids’ story characters for quilt inspiration:

The first is that the illustrations in many children’s stories are relatively simple, so they make great shapes for appliqué and paper-pieced designs.
Secondly, if your child loves a particular book character (or TV/movie character), they are going to love the quilt. So you get to simplify your process, and impress the little person in your life in one go!
And thirdly, there are often licensed prints or panels that you can pair with your creations to make the quilt bigger or to use as the perfect backing.

Why shouldn’t I make character quilts?

Despite these attractions, I recommend caution if you are considering making character-based quilts. There is one massive reason to be very careful. And that is, unlicensed fandom quilts featuring copyrightable characters are a form of copyright infringement.

That said, fan art is usually tolerated as benign unless you are prolific and/or profiting from your creations. Fan art is even encouraged by some copyright holders to increase the public interest in their original works. But not everyone feels this way. So, if you must make a quilt featuring a character or story, get permission if possible. Only make character quilts as one-off love gifts for children in your immediate circle. Keep the process private….. it is unwise to share your patterns with the intention of strangers making it too, or to sell your adorable creation on Etsy. Please note, none of this constitutes legal advice, just common sense. Any fan art you create is at your own risk. You can also read an interesting article about the tensions between fan art and copyright here.

How can I be inspired then?

A more ethical way to use children’s stories to inspire a quilt is to use general ideas to create your own works. There is no hazard in making a caterpillar quilt with nibbled food-stuffs. As long as it isn’t The Hungry Caterpillar. Likewise, you can safely make a pattern for a quilt with a puppy doing something fun on it – as long as that puppy is not Kipper or Spot… or a myriad of other distinctive fun-loving puppies.

But I acknowledge this isn’t really possible for all characters. My son would love a Pokémon quilt – only actual Pokémon need apply. And I have long thought that the Mr. Men would make great appliqués. “Mr Generic Persons” isn’t really going to cut it. But if I do ever make either of these quilts, you won’t find them here. That’ll be between me and my small friends!