Dancing a Jig to a little Ditty: Colour & Inspiration Tuesday

Ditty fabrics from Island Batik colour scheme at Clever Chameleon

Introducing Ditty

Ditty is the name of one of Island Batik’s latest fabric releases. The colours are as cute as their name… Kind of a pastelly sunset. Actually, I don’t easily recognise them as pastels but I guess that is what they really are, since they are nowhere near colour-saturated. Is there such things as bright pastels? If there wasn’t, there is now.

I received 10″ precut squares of Ditty and two pieces of yardage from the collection in my Island Batik Ambassador allowance. I hope you have been following along and already know what I am making from some of it…. but let’s have a look in more detail. And I will show you what is in the parcel Accuquilt sent me too as part of the Island Batik Ambassador program. Of course it arrived the instant I stopped waiting for it…. that is the way it always works, right?! Right.

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Marvellous Minis with Island Batik

Year of the Pig appliqué by Dione Gardner-Stephen at Clever Chameleon

Happy New Year of the Pig 2019

February is Mini Quilt Month in the Island Batik Ambassador calendar: “Create a mini quilt 24″ x 24″ or smaller, any technique” is the challenge we’ve been given. Minis are a great way to try a new technique, or explore resource/time intensive projects on a doable scale. Or to commemorate an occasion or holiday. Like the Lunar New Year. For my first 2019 Ambassador challenge I decided to make something to mark Chinese New Year. Happy New Year of the Pig!

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New Lunar Year, New Ambassador Year, New Fabrics, New Colours!

Fabric colours for 2019 at Clever Chameleon Quilting blog

Happy Chinese New Year 2019

Today, Tuesday February 5th, is Chinese New Year and also my 1st Island Batik Ambassiverary. 2019 is Year of the Pig and in the next few weeks we will have several cute piggy appliqués on the blog to celebrate. But first, we get to herald in the New Lunar Year with Colour & Inspiration Tuesday. The Chameleon thinks this is a very good sign for 2019!

pig sculpture
The bronze pig sculptures in our Adelaide CBD. This little piggy is my favourite.

And today is not just any Colour & Inspiration Tuesday either. It is none other than the first opportunity in my blogging calendar for me to share with you about the 2019 Island Batik Ambassador year. If you read on, you will see that we going to have a lot of batik fun here this year! And there is also one major change in the program from last year, that I hope you will like.

As on previous occasions, there is also one set of pre-release fabrics in my new samples from Island Batik that is concealed for now. But I promise you, you are going to love my surprise fabrics come August. And I can let slip a little something about them today……. Shhhhh, don’t tell though, it’s our secret.

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Getaway Blog Hop with Island Batik

Cat on a Wall quilt by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon

Paisley Park meets Cat on a Wall

Welcome to my stop on the Island Batik Getaway Blog Hop. This is my last project as a 2018 Island Batik Ambassador, and accordingly, a biggie.

Back in July I received a “Surprise” package. Inside were glorious Paisley Park fabrics that had to be kept secret for the longest time! But today I can show and tell all. My instructions were to use as many of the different fabrics as I could to create a quilt of at least lap size. And if I wished, to incorporate themes of travel and destinations.

Paisley Park fabrics by Island Batik.
Paisley Park fabrics by Island Batik

So much beautiful fabric, so many quilt options. But I’d had an idea that had been waiting it’s turn for a very long time, and around September it finally it dawned on me that the colour and contrast spectrums of the Paisley Park fabrics would be perfect for it. My Cat on a Wall design from eons ago.

Cat on a Wall quilt by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon

Read on…. I’ll introduce you to my Cat on a Wall quilt – Paisley Park Getaway style. Of course, surreptitiously getting you hooked on these new fabrics in the process. 🙂 And then I’ll tell you how you could win a 5″ strip pack of 20 of the fabrics used in my quilt. I’d love you to be able to have a play with these fabrics, they are even better in real life.

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Triangle Friends: Something to Squawk About!

Triangle Friends bird appliqué by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon

Today marks a Huge milestone for me

I am very excited to announce my very first quilt published in an independent magazine! It is called Triangle Friends and is now available in Issue 26 of Make Modern. I’ve been sitting on this news for simply aaaaaaages, and it’s such a great feeling to finally be able to tell you all about it. 🙂

Triangle Friends is a fun little quilt. Very quick and easy to make, with very little piecing and only straight edged appliqué. The latter means you can prepare most of the appliqué pieces by rotary cutter. And with the exception of slowing down for the corners, you can also stitch them down at a good speed!

If you’ll humour me, I’ll tell you all about it. And then, to celebrate my first publication, I thought I should do a little giveaway contest…. for a postcard sized mini quilt and copy of the magazine issue with my pattern in.

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