Aghhh. Slow internet! No internet! Slow internet! Great Intern….. Nope, dropped out again! That is the reality here the last 36 hours. Writing what I can offline… and then madly uploading if I see signal. So, I apologise for all the typos, comments ending up in the wrong place and other weird stuff…… I think I have only embarrassed myself once so far :(. It’ll be a while before I take good internet at a sane time of day for granted again!
Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 4
Tsunami escape route sign
The overwhelmed, under-spec and oh-so-vulnerable communications network here is the reason why our family is currently in Vanuatu. Hubby, Paul, is developing a cheap, easy to deploy, phone-based technology that will allow villages to maintain their own intra-village text-message services independently of cellular networks. We even hope to connect two neighbouring villages. We are aiming for a system that can provide rudimentary communications when the cellular network is down and where it doesn’t reach. Which is too often and in too many places. Vanuatu tops the natural disaster at risk list for the entire world – being vulnerable to earthquake, hurricane, volcano, and tsunami, with low capacity to prepare and rebuild.
Inspired by the Pandanus Fruit
Unripe fruit on a Pandanus plant in Vanuatu
Yesterday and today we travelled out of Port Vila again to the two small villages where we are doing a pilot study of Paul’s telecommunications system. One of the very noticeable plants along the roadside out of Port Vila are the Pandanus trees, with their big green fruits the size of rockmelons (cantaloupe). Currently the fruits are unripe – they will turn a robust orange when they are edible. I have been told locally that they are good for pregnant women, although I didn’t find out why.
Anyway, it is solely the visual texture of these fruits that has aroused my interest today. I haven’t actually been able to touch one – they are too high up.
How was I inspired by the Pandanus Fruit?
Because the Pandanus Fruit has interesting shapes and textures, I was inspired to try an abstract representation that I could piece and appliqué. Here is my Pandanus Fruit-inspired art quilt design:
Abstract pandanus quilt design
I used the colours I can see in my photo. I think the large background space would be good for some FMQ practice. Maybe try out some Vanuatu themed motifs.
Hope to see you again tomorrow!
P.S. If you missed the beginning of my 31 Days of Everyday Quilt Inspiration, you can find it here.
P.P.S. While I have internet, here is a picture of the telecommunications boxes we are installing and testing.
See the white box with the three antennas on the pole? That is the technology we are testing, installed on the roof of a house in Vanuatu.
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!
Colour Inspiration Tuesday – happy, hoppy colours for all your craft projects!!
Welcome back to Colour Inspiration Tuesday! A Hoppy Tuesday!
Well! There was a fabulous response to last week’s colour boards. And many of you liked my dancing macaw as well. I shall have to pull my finger out and get that appliqué design under way. However, this week is Royal Show week in Adelaide, so there could be a few distractions. The Gardner-Stephen household is celebrating two craft wins this year. More on that when I have photos.
In the meantime, I have gone with the fun critter theme for a second week because I found a number of fantastic frog photos on Unsplash.com when I was browsing last.
Don’t you just love these little guys:
Photo by David Clode on UnsplashPhoto by Wayne Robinson on UnsplashPhoto by David Clode on Unsplash
Have a guess what my next appliqué creature will be after the macaw?! What? A racoon?! Don’t be daft……. hahahaha. 🙂
Colour Inspiration Tuesday – Hoppy Tuesday
Three frogs, three characters, three colour boards today.
Why Sit on a Lily Pad?!
Why Sit on a Lily Pad when you can parade around in the lily flower instead?!
Actually, this frog is probably wondering why he can’t just be left to sit in peace in his tank, being a (pet) tree frog and all. But it’s a cute photo, and the purple colour against the yellow is stunning. And surely there no nicer green than tree frog green, is there? It is so ALIVE.
The second of my favourite frogs looks more at home in his surroundings. Frog King of All He Surveys. I just love his expression and posture. Probably the colours in this shot are not what I would use for a cheeky frog appliqué, but the rest of the picture is perfect inspiration.
Last up, we have the photo that actually started today’s frog collection. I love the “Hoppy Tuesday” colours of this frog, and the background texture of the wood he is sitting on. I can just see in my mind’s eye a cheeky green frog appliqué on a cushion background made of improv piecing in red, brown, burnt orange and tan fabric scraps.
Not into frogs? (Really?!) Well, its just gone September, so how about some seasonal suggestions instead?
It’s officially spring here in Adelaide now. Not that you’d believe it this week with top temps of 14 and 15°C for the next few days. So in the hope that the sun is coming, I will remind you of another lily colour scheme we had a while ago: Lily Pad Glow.
Or if you are in the Northern Hemisphere, fall is on it’s way….. Try Autumn Splendour for a new take on fall colours.
Credit
I have already covered this to some extent today, but because I really appreciate the talented photographers who generously donate their art to the world without strings attached, I’m going to tell you again. Today’s photos are from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. Credit is not required, but it is totally deserved. So I would like you to know that the photographers featured today are David Clode and Wayne Robinson. Be sure to check out their collections of photos on Unsplash.
For colour inspiration for your quilts in your inbox weekly follow along by subscribing to this blog by email in the side bar. You can also follow my blog on Bloglovin’. Or follow Clever Chameleon Quilt Colour Inspiration on Pinterest and pin your favourite colour palettes to try later.
I hop 😉 you found some colour inspiration for your projects or the next chapter of your quilt story in among all these beautiful frogs and Hoppy Tuesday colour boards! Have you ever made a frog quilt? Or maybe you keep tree frogs as pets (lucky you). Let us know all about it in the comments below!
P.S. If you would like to use David’s or Wayne’s photos (or another Colour Inspiration Tuesday photo) for your own projects, you can easily find all the Unsplash photos from Colour Inspiration Tuesday in one place for free in my Colour Inspiration Collection.
P.P.S. Linking up this week with Sew Fresh Quilts. Visit for lots of great quilt inspiration in one place.
From the Sewing Room – The Stylised Flower motif and how I free-motion quilt with baking/tracing paper
Last time we talked quilting, I had just finished stabilising two charity quilts and deciding how I was going to quilt them. This week I have finished quilting the first of these, and I learned a number of lessons along the way that I thought you might be interested in. There is also a free downloadable template of the flower motif nearer the end of this post if you want to give it a go yourself.
Last week I designed a stylised flower motif to cover the pieced blocks of a red, brown and cream quilt that my daughter has dubbed “Jaffas and Cream”. Do you know what Jaffas are? They are an Australian and New Zealand chocolate treat. Delicious. But I digress….. 🙂
Stylised flower quilting motif over a Jaffas and Cream quilt block
At first I decided I was going to quilt this motif freehand, like the daisy I did on a similar quilt. I planned to mark the diagonal lines with chalk, and once I had the orange peels stitched in place, quilt the petals and corner details around the main lines. But it was not to be. I had “one of those days”, quilting-wise.
I marked up the first block with chalk and set to work. But I couldn’t get the tension between the top and bottom threads just right. Once I had what I thought was an acceptable balance, I couldn’t get the nice sweeping curves I wanted for the orange peel backbones. I started again on a second block, this time with extensive chalk markings to guide the sweeping lines. But still to no avail. I gave up and unpicked.
The dirty culprit….
Coming back at it later, I realised that the pre-wound bobbin was not spooling off nicely. I’m not even sure how to describe this issue in words…. The thread coming off was suffering friction from the adjacent thread still on the bobbin slightly trapping it. But not consistently. That was why I couldn’t get a nice stitch flow and happy tension. This is not the first time I have had trouble with these commercially wound bobbins, but it was the worst. I like the actual bobbin thread, but I will only be buying cones to wind my own bobbins from now on. This was Lesson 1.
Anyway, I re-wound the bobbin thread from the pre-wound bobbin onto a fresh bobbin. Having fixed the main problem, I also changed the needle for good measure. I was ready to go again. But my free-motion confidence and chilled disposition was now shot for the day!
The baking paper approach to the stylised flower motif
In the past when I have wanted to quilt a design that is too hard to do without marking, I have often traced it onto baking paper and quilted over the tracing. Then I pull the paper away. So, feeling a bit frazzled, I decided to ditch the freehand stitching and use a tracing. I have never tried this before on my Sweet 16, but I didn’t expect things to be particularly different to on my domestic machine. Wrong!
Stylised Flower motif after trace-stitching, before pulling off the paper.
It turns out that trace-stitching with the Sweet 16 is a different art to on my domestic machine. I think this is because on the domestic machine you are sitting more over the needle, and it’s slower. Both of these things means it is easier to retrace your stitches exactly when you need to back track. My first attempt at tracing the stylised flower motif was messy. It also resulted in too many small fragments of paper to pick out, trapped in the not quite aligned back-stitching. Agggh. I didn’t like it, it didn’t have the clean look that I set out to achieve, and it was going to take too long to clean the paper off 25 blocks. This was Lesson 2.
This was my first attempt at tracing the stylised flower motif. I actually intended to leave this as it was, but the remaining flowers worked out so much better, that I did rip it out and replace it once the other 24 blocks were done.
I ended up rethinking my stitching path several times to get a much neater and faster result. Lesson 3, and the one I am most satisfied with! If you would like to know how to best stitch out this design using baking paper, here is the method I settled on.
Tutorial: The Stylised Flower Quilting Motif
Supplies and Printing
The first thing you will need to do is print out the motif from the downloadable file below. Then you can trace it or print it onto tracing paper/baking paper/parchment paper. I use “Greaseproof paper” for my projects, found in the kitchen section of the supermarket. It is a type of baking paper. The cheapest versions are best; thinner and less slippery than quality baking paper brands. Save the expensive baking paper for your actual baking! And don’t get confused with waxed kitchen paper. Waxed paper is not good for this project.
Click here to download the pdf of the stylised flower motif.
Please note that the pdf is formatted to the A4 standard for Australia. You may need to adjust your printer settings if your default paper size is “letter”. The size of the provided motif is 5.75 inches square. This is because my blocks started at 6 inches square, but shrunk a little when I stabilised them. The final design is slightly smaller than my blocks, to ensure the whole motif fits inside.
I print my designs directly onto greaseproof paper by taping the greaseproof paper to a piece of office paper as a “carrier”. The greaseproof paper won’t go though the printer alone because it is too flimsy and it gets jammed. I use white paper-backed masking tape to attach the greaseproof paper to the office paper. This has never harmed my laser printer, but I take no responsibility for anything you put through your own printer. If you are unsure about putting unorthodox things through your printer, trace the design by hand.
Baking paper taped over printed office paper, ready for printing (left) and after printing (right).
Quilting the Stylised Flower
Pin the design to your quilts with quilting safety pins.
Pinned and ready to go.
First the leaves….
To quilt the stylised flower motif, enter into the design from one corner and travel to the diagonally distant corner through the centre point. Then quilt the first half of the corner “leaflet” and stop.
Follow the red line to quilt his design
I then tear the paper out of the way so that I can complete the leaflet and travel back to the centre of the design without double-stitching over any paper. Use the back of a seam ripper or a pin to neatly score the paper so it only tears away from where you want it gone.
Scoring the baking paper for controlled removal. You will also notice in this picture that I adjust the design on the fly to fit each block so that it reaches the edges.I now use the stitching lines already done as a reference for where to stitch next.
Finish the leaf and return to the first corner of the design through the centre. Finally, finish the little leaflet in that corner.
Now, travel along the edge of the block (stitch-in-the-ditch) to one of the two remaining leaves.
Travel along the ditch
Repeat the above steps to quilt the remaining leaves. Except, once you return to the centre after completing the third leaf, enter the first petal and stop with the needle down.
After finishing the third leaf, enter the first petal. Make sure you pause at the top of this first petal for more paper removal.
Then the petals….
Tear all the paper out of the middle so that you can see where you are stitching and to avoid back-stitching over paper. Be careful to leave the tops of the petals visible so that you can still see where to stitch.
Remove the paper from the flower centre, sparing the tops of the petals.Paper removed. Now quilt the petals using the petal tops and the leaf edges as visual guides.
Complete the petals using the petal tops and leaf edges as visual guides. Quilt into the centre for each petal but stop just short of actually touching the centre point to avoid a build up of thread there. Where petals cross over the leaf edges, don’t quilt into the centre again. Just bounce off the leaf stitching line to the next petal top. Finally, finish the last leaflet as you exit the block.
Finished stylised flower quilting motifAfter the paper is removed, finish quilting the petals.
What if you want to quilt this design, but not in a block?
If you are not quilting this design into a block and can’t travel invisibly between corners, you can also quilt it as shown below. I did actually do two blocks with this method before I changed to the described method above. I changed only because I found it easier to quilt the “S” shape straight through the centre than to neatly arc through in a half circle to the third leaf. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know. I just did!
Another perfectly good way to quilt the stylised flower.
The rest of the quilting on this quilt
I completed the quilt with a vine of leaves in the sashing, and piano keys in the border with orange peels in the border corners.
Quilting in the sashing and borderOrange peels in the corner
That is it for me for this charity quilt. Now it is ready to go to the next quilter in the production process for binding.
Finished “Jaffas and Cream” quilt.
I hope you enjoy playing with this motif and making it your own. Let me know if you quilt it so I can feature your work for everyone else to see!
Do use a brand of pre-wound bobbin thread for your Sweet 16 that you would recommend. I’d love to know! Please comment below!
For more tutorials and colour inspiration for quilts, follow me on Pinterest, Bloglovin’ or by email (sign up in the side bar).
Colour Inspiration Tuesday: a growing resource of colourcombinations to try on your quilts.
Hello! Happy Colour Inspiration Tuesday! Did you enjoy the fabric mosaic ideas last week? I think we should do that more often! But today we return to a more normal Tuesday formula….. and we have a magnificent red and green colour palette up for discussion. Let’s chat about the colours in “Pink Chalice”, a colour palette inspired by beautiful crisp pink Calla Lilies.
Red and blue-green look so vivid together because they are complementary colours. This means that they are opposite each other in position on the colour wheel. The brain likes complementary colours, and most people react favourably to these colour combinations. However, red and green also have a strong cultural significance in communities that celebrate a Western style Christmas. So, it can sometimes be tricky to use these colours without accidentally giving your project a christmasy feel. This problem is likely not consistently an issue across all cultures, but it certainly is in mine.
Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Pink Chalice
More colours for Pink Lily Chalice.
The “Pink Chalice” colour palette is old rose, dusky pink, powder pink, tan, forest green, deep forest green and green to the point of black. Let’s call it midnight green! I really like these colours together with white for a fresh feeling quilt. If I needed more colours other than the standard 7 of Colour Inspiration Tuesday, I would add another green, another red-pink and another neutral.
I have collected a few pictures of red and green quilts that I think could be used anytime, not just Christmas. Not that I have anything against Christmas, I just think red and green should be seen other times too! Visit my Pinterest board Red and Green Quilts for more ideas. Follow me on Pinterest….. I have a Christmas board too.
What would you do with these colours? I’d love to hear your thoughts on your perfect green and red quilt combination. Even if it is Christmasy! Drop us a comment below and share your creativity with everyone.
Don’t need green and red today, Christmas or otherwise?
Have you been following along with Colour Inspiration Tuesday for all the colour combinations and quilt ideas you’ll only find here?
You can also get moving on your fall projects with the Autumn Splendour colour palette. Halloween and Thanksgiving are only just around the corner now, at least in regards to crafting something that will be finished in time to use!
Today’s Photo Credit
Today’s stock photo is from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. These photo’s are gifted freely and without demand, but I like to thank people who live so generously. So, if you would like to also use this lovely photo, it was provided by Ethan Robertson via Unsplash. Click on the badge below to explore Ethan’s other photos. Ethan Robertson
P.S. For your convenience, I have placed all the Unsplash photos from Colour Inspiration Tuesdays in one place. Find them easily for free in my Colour Inspiration Collection.
Hope to see you again tomorrow!
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.
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