Colour Inspiration Tuesday: The next Colour in the 2018 Monthly Color Challenge is Orange.
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. And with April nearly here, our thoughts are now turning to orange.
Orange is the colour of many things that I value very highly. Orange is associated with enthusiasm and fascination. Also, determination and encouragement, creativity, success, health and freedom. If that is not enough, orange symbolises balance and enjoyment too. That is one impressive list. By rights, orange should be my favourite colour! (But it’s not……)
Yesterday, I told you about our adventures on Tanna Island, and served you up some colour inspiration straight from the depths of Mt. Yasur. I hope you got a sense of how spectacular the volcano tour was. It would be a shame not to honour that experience with a full attempt at quilt inspiration.
Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 8
Today being Sunday has given me more time to work on this post than most days. So I have happily been working on translating my volcano quilt idea mentioned yesterday into a visual representation to show you today.
First, I gathered the inspiration photos I needed. Apart from the ridiculously large colour board from yesterday, I also needed some visual references for the sea surrounding Tanna Island and the jungle that grows right up to the base of the volcano.
Here are the photos that I chose:
The jungle on Tanna Island.The rock formations and grey sides of the Mt Yasur volcano.The coast of Tanna Island, with volcanic sand beach.
How was I inspired by Tanna Island?
I wanted to capture all of the colours of Tanna Island in a design that could be pieced into a quilt. I thought the design should be evocative of both the volcano and the other areas of Tanna Island.
My Tanna Island quilt idea
So, I set up a grid of half-square triangles and coloured them in to represent the ocean, the sands, the jungle, the sides of Mt Yasur, the ash/steam and sulphur plumes, and the after-dark fireworks show. To tie it all together and add interest, I set myself the goal of having a secondary design. I used colour value contrast to create the illusion of diamonds and zigzags throughout the design.
Quilting Tanna Island?
I am not sure that I will ever get to making this Tanna Island quilt. One Vanuatu quilt on the go is probably quite enough! And while it is a simple matter to design a quilt with so many colours, it is quite another to translate it into real fabrics. This design would be a BIG project. But all that said, not all inspiration needs to be acted upon to be useful or good. Every time you stretch yourself to think outside your usual quilting habits you grow your skills and reinforce resources to draw on in the future. Ideas have a habit of percolating until they are needed one day. I’ll be letting “Tanna Island” percolate for a time. 🙂
What about you? Do you keep a journal or record of quilt ideas you might like to explore one day? In some ways, that is what this 31 days of everyday quilt inspiration slot is becoming for me. An ideas journal, with you to keep me focused on getting the ideas recorded. Thanks for being here!
P.S. The latest Art with Fabric Blog Hop starts tomorrow! FInally! My post is on Friday, but you can find the rest of the week’s itinerary in the meantime at Tweety Loves Quilting. It should be a really interesting collection. See you there! 🙂
Yesterday we stopped for a picnic lunch at a little spot where the beach is accessible, between the two Vanuatu villages we are working in.
Picnic lunch spot in Vanuatu
Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 5
Once we had settled and stopped moving around, we discovered that the pebbly beach was swarming with tiny hermit crabs. The smallest were wearing shells of less than half an inch long. The biggest one we found was less than an inch and a half in length. They were fast and shy, disappearing instantly if anyone moved suddenly or cast a shadow over them. Of course, hermit crabs are a novelty to my family. But they are everyday critters for the Ni-Vanuatu villagers here.
How was I inspired by the Hermit Crabs?
Well, while the kids ruined their shoes by getting “unintentionally” wet in the ocean, I amused myself by trying to get photos of the tiny, speedy hermit crabs. When I looked at the photos later, I thought several might make good starting points for appliqué designs.
So here is my first mock-up of a design for a hermit crab appliqué from the photo above.
For the most part I traced the approximate shapes of the crab from the photo.
What about you? Do you use your photos to help you draw appliqués? If you are not a confident drawer, taking pictures of your subjects and tracing them is a good way to generate original designs that mean something special to you. Start with a photo of a loved one, a flower from your garden, a piece of fruit, an interesting leaf, a pet, your favourite ornaments…… the everyday objects around you that you could appliqué are almost endless.
Welcome to 31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday
The Write 31 Days Blog Challenge, Day 1
Surprise! It’s only Sunday and I’m baaaack…..
I was reading the Days Filled with Joy blog earlier today, and Joy said she was not going to do her usual Finishing Stitches linky for October, because she was joining in the Write 31 Days Challenge. And I went: “What’s the Write 31 Days Challenge?”, and clicked on that link…..
So, it turns out, it is a one-month challenge to blog daily. Now, I have no intention of becoming a long term once-a-day blogger. Or I’d get no sewing done at all. And I’m pretty sure you also don’t need that much of me in your inbox either! (Please forgive me for a month! 🙂 ) But it so just happens that I am away from my sewing machine for half of October, and I have an idea that would be fun to try for a little while. Also, I do tend to write long posts and it would be good to practice “less is more” occasionally.
So, I have made an impromptu and perhaps rash decision to join the Write 31 Days challenge. I am currently in Vanuatu for work, and the internet here varies from fine to appalling and back again without warning, so I am not even sure if this is possible. But I will try. I may have to write offline some days and post in batches as the internet allows. The main complication is that it starts Today! And as I draft this I am not signed up and I have no internet……
My Write 31 Day Topic: Everyday Quilt Inspiration
Anyway, my Write 31 Days series will be about finding quilt design/colour inspiration around us in the everyday. Today it is colours.. But it might be shapes, themes, motifs on other days…. wherever the imagination goes. This should actually be quite fun. And I think it is a good flip-side to Colour Inspiration Tuesday. I use professional photos for Colour Inspiration Tuesday because I can make pretty pins and headers out of them. And I do love them. But I can’t/don’t take photos like those. However, there is no reason why the photography skills I do have can’t be enough to convey the quilt/colour ideas that I often see around me. And there is no reason why you can’t use your happy snaps and incidental casual observations for inspiration either…. So let’s explore finding quilt/craft inspiration in real life for a month! I hope you’ll join me.
Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 1
Red, Teal and Brown: décor inspiration
Because today’s post is being created at rather short notice (and I will be hoping for internet later to upload this), I am going to start my 31 everyday quilt design series in familiar territory. With a colour board. Today’s inspiration colours are red, teal-blue, coffee, dark chocolate and off-white. Teal and red are complimentary colours (opposite positions on the colour wheel), so look good together with or without the addition of neutrals.
Tip 1: find everyday colour inspiration in rented accomodation furnishings
Today’s photo is a snap of the décor in our bedroom in the rented concrete block house we are living in in Port Vila. It is a modest house, comfortable and designed to be lived in rather than holidayed in. One of the things I appreciate most about our accommodation is that the play areas are designed so that children behaving reasonably can safely roam and play without constant supervision. No pools or waterfront or other inherently deadly areas.
Décor is a very good place to look for everyday quilt inspiration, especially colour. There are often professional influences in décor choices, even if it only within the fabric prints. In paying attention here, you are using someone else’s knowledge and experience to help guide your own design process. That’s called working smarter!
Why was I inspired by this décor?
I was struck by these particular décor colours because only days before we got here, I posted about using red and teal with black and white for my next quilt design that will be part of the Splash of Color quilt-along. That post was called Hot Chocolate and you can find it here. Today’s colour board is going straight to my ideas folder for when I get around to designing my Vanuatu quilt for the Splash of Color quilt-along!
So there you have it….. my first everyday quilt inspiration post for the Write 31 Days challenge! Hope to see you again tomorrow!
Have you got décor around you that inspires a quilt you would love? Let us know in the comments!
P.S. Links to the posts in my 31 everyday quilt inspiration ideas series will appear here as they are published.
Colour Inspiration Tuesday: delicious colour combinations to try on your quilts.
Hello! Happy Colour Inspiration Tuesday! Did you have a chance to try out the Strawberry Vines quilting motifs inspired by last week’s colour board? I haven’t found anymore time to play further with Strawberry Vines as yet. But do you know what goes well with strawberries? Chocolate. Hot Chocolate to be precise. Mmmmm.
Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Hot Chocolate
The “Hot Chocolate” colour palette is dark red, red-orange, greyed-teal, off white, and warm shades of grey through to almost black. These colours are a really close match for the Jaffas and Cream charity quilt I blogged recently. You can find out a lot more about that quilt here.
The dark brown, red, red-orange, off white, and greyed teal can all be found in the fabric choices of Jaffas and Cream.
What will I do with this colour scheme? You know there is likely something, right? Well, to tell you that story, first I need to tell you this story …..
The colour scheme that nearly never was
Frosty Berries colour palette
I started the Hot Chocolate colour scheme for last week’s colour inspiration slot. But then I realised that it wasn’t very different from the Frosty Berries colour scheme we had two months ago. And that it also bore a fair resemblance to the warmer colour scheme Red-Eye Flight that we explored three months ago.
Red-Eye Flight colour scheme
So, I set Hot Chocolate aside and started over with the Strawberries Vines post instead. I had no intention of resurrecting Hot Chocolate this week either, but then something happened. A good something.
I was drifting around the quilting part of the internet, as I do (a lot). And I discovered that Myra at Busy Hands Quilting is starting a fresh quilt along called Splash of Color. And I have taken the bait. Possibly the line and sinker too. The aim of the quilt along in question is to produce a black and white quilt with colour highlights.
Splash of Color Quilt Along
Now, I have to confess, I don’t do quilt alongs. I don’t do crowds. I don’t do other people’s patterns without a really, really good reason. Let’s be real here – I don’t even do my Handi Quilter homework til the due date! I get distracted. I end up with UFOs and inferiority complexes and all the other baggage that social media can trap you with. But I think this quilt along will suit me, and I’m actually pretty excited.
Why? Because:
– it covers a quilt theme that I have wanted to try ever since I borrowed a certain book several years ago from my local library. That book was “Quilting in Black and White” by House of White Birches. (I have actually borrowed it several times). Many of the quilts in this book are black and white with colour highlights, and the effect continues to appeal to me.
– I have a Pinterest board dedicated to black and white quilts (with or without colour highlights) because I have always believed that some day I will get around to making such a quilt. It has over 300 pins on it. That is not a casual relationship!
– I have two black and white fabrics I specifically want to use. My husband bought them for me as a gift from one of his work trips. They are probably not what I would have chosen. But one should never discourage gifts of fabric! 🙂 And now they are exactly what I need. Yeah!
Black and white/grey scale fabrics from Vanuatu
– And, probably the clincher…. there is no pattern for this quilt along, the only boundaries are the colours and the timing. So I can create, and emotionally invest, and wander around this quilt theme all I like. Awesome!
So, back to my Colour Inspiration Tuesday/quilt along idea…..
I always thought my future one-day black and white with a splash of colour quilt would be black, white and brilliant blue. Or black, white and rainbow. But it is going to be black, white and red.
Because I realise that I must really like this combo. “Hot Chocolate” is the third colour scheme in this general genera, out of less than 30 colour palettes. And I had another photo lined up in my ideas folder that would have resulted in a fourth (don’t worry, I am NOT doing a fourth). So clearly I am attracted to this graphic colour combination.
This ultra cute puffin was also begging to be a colour board!
There is also a measure of expediency in my choice. I have a great big piece of red fabric, also purchased by my husband, that is the same print as one of the aforementioned black fabrics. It will be perfect for the backing. Easy.
Here are my fabrics. I will probably have to add to them. (Oh, that’s so unfortunate…. hahahaha). My rainbow batik stash is sooooo wrong for this.
My three fabrics to work with
I am hoping I will be able to find some other fabrics to match when we go to Vanuatu soon, which is where these first three came from. I also am hoping that the finished product will be a lovely souvenir of our family trip. And an encouragement to hubby to keep bringing that fabric home. (Hello dearest – just checking whether you actually read this.) And a couch protector… my black and white quilting friend with a red collar is playing havoc with the furniture :(.
Who me? Guilty as charged, Mr.
I am going to do a black and white background, and for my splash of colour, I am going to appliqué a red turtle on top. There might also be a hint of teal. The turtle will be inspired by the turtles on the fabric. I hope it will be eye-catching, just like the photos for my mood boards.
I intend to design a turtle appliqué in this genera
Want to join the Splash of Color quilt along but terrified by the open-ended nature of the requirements?
Try my Pinterest Board above for over 300 ideas of black and white quilts with colour, or B&W quilts that could easily have colour added to them. Or get your hands on a copy of either Quilting in Black and White by House of White Birches or the quilt along’s theme book: Splash of Color: A Rainbow of Brilliant Black-and-White Quilts by Jackie Kunkel.
Today’s Photo Credit
Finishing up with the formalities….. Today’s stock photos are from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. These photos are gifted freely and without demand for recognition, but I like to thank people who live so generously. So, if you would like to also use the hot chocolate photo, it is provided by Jennifer Pallian via Unsplash. The puffin photo is by Ray Hennessy. Click on the badges below to explore Jennifer’s or Ray’s other photos. Jennifer Pallian Ray Hennessy
I hope you will join in the quilt along. And keep an eye on this blog to keep me accountable….. even leave an encouraging message or two. Comments make my day and I do try to respond asap. If you are joining in the quilt along, let me know and I’ll visit your creations too.
Happy Quilting!
P.S. Don’t forget about the Fabric with Art blog hop. It is coming up really soon!
Today being Sunday has given me more time to work on this post than most days. So I have happily been working on translating my volcano quilt idea mentioned yesterday into a visual representation to show you today.
What about you? Do you keep a journal or record of quilt ideas you might like to explore one day? In some ways, that is what this 31 days of everyday quilt inspiration slot is becoming for me. An ideas journal, with you to keep me focused on getting the ideas recorded. Thanks for being here! 
Well, while the kids ruined their shoes by getting “unintentionally” wet in the ocean, I amused myself by trying to get photos of the tiny, speedy hermit crabs. When I looked at the photos later, I thought several might make good starting points for appliqué designs.
Because today’s post is being created at rather short notice (and I will be hoping for internet later to upload this), I am going to start my 31 everyday quilt design series in familiar territory. With a colour board. Today’s inspiration colours are red, teal-blue, coffee, dark chocolate and off-white. Teal and red are complimentary colours (opposite positions on the colour wheel), so look good together with or without the addition of neutrals.
I hope you will join in the quilt along. And keep an eye on this blog to keep me accountable….. even leave an encouraging message or two. Comments make my day and I do try to respond asap. If you are joining in the quilt along, let me know and I’ll visit your creations too.