Were you the target of any April Fools’ Day pranks this year? I hope you weren’t caught out as a Silly Galah!
The weekend before the Easter break, Paul and I had the rare pleasure of two nights away without the kids….. actually it might be the first time we’ve had two consecutive nights away without the kids……hmmmmm. Anyway, we escaped out of the city and spent two days in the Adelaide Hills, admiring the beginnings of autumn, relishing the warm weather and drinking in the quiet. It felt amazing.
On the second afternoon, Paul decided to have a post-schnitzel snooze and I lurked about the farm where we were staying. Mostly I was trying to get some horse photos for our daughter. But the only animals that seemed to want their pictures taken was this flock of galahs.
Colour Inspiration Tuesday – it’s time for our usual weekly slot of colour and design conversation 🙂
Today we are conjuring up quilt ideas with the assistance of the “Wattle You Make?” colour scheme and a corresponding fabric.
Last minute edit: This post was pre-written long before I knew about the Write 31 Days challenge we have just started. So it uses Unsplash photos, not my own happy snaps. BUT… as you will see, this post is actually about being inspired by a fabulous everyday item – a fresh piece of fabric. So with a little tweaking I am letting it pass as Day 3 of my Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday series. If you have no idea what I am talking about, you may want to read the first post in the new 31 day series.
Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Wattle You Make?
The “Wattle You Make?” colour palette is brilliant yellow, grey and greyed blue-green. The colours of Australian wattle in flower. These are everyday colours in Australia at the moment, as early spring is when the wattles are out in full force.
But the real reason I have chosen these colours today is because I have a piece of this fabric:
A fun, coincidental fact….. the wattle species in the photo of today’s colour board is widely used as food for bees in making honey…. and this fabric definitely reminds me of bee hives!
This fabric is “Bathhouse Tiles Aqua” by Emma & Mila. The hexagons are about 1 1/4″ from corner to opposite corner.
Like all good quilters, I saw this fabric while I was shopping for something else. At the time I was actually shopping for the fabrics to finish my daughter’s Jewel Tone Diamonds tumbling blocks quilt. I had to have a piece of this to play with because I was instantly inspired. (I was actually very self-controlled and only got half a metre!)
Sometimes it is fun to choose a fabric as a starting point and wonder what you could make with it. Let your imagination take you places you may have never otherwise thought to go. Especially if the fabric is not your usual style (which definitely applies for me here). What would you make if you suddenly found yourself in possession of this particular fabric? Who would it be for? When I first saw this fabric I was taken with the hexagon lattice print. And I immediately thought it would be fun to accentuate some of the hexagons with trapunto. Shadow trapunto to be precise.
How was I inspired? What did I make?
Do you remember how I said that at our Handi Quilter club we had trapunto homework? And that Heather had upped the ante, adding shadow trapunto to the techniques we should try? Well, I did my trapunto homework – that was the “Dream Big” mini quilt. Now I have also done my shadow trapunto homework. It is a cushion. Always experimenting, I used felt instead of wadding for the trapunto. The trapunto design was directly inspired by the fabric print. I am hoping to have a more detailed discussion/tutorial post written up about it later in the week.
Sometimes a fabric just begs to be made into a particular design…
While you wait for my shadow trapunto cushion post, let’s explore more yellow and greyed green combinations…
Once I started thinking about this colour combination, I realised it is not uncommon in nature. In fact, yellow and greyed green combinations are everywhere…..
I could have continued down this path for ages, with daffodils, daisies, a yellow frog and all sorts. But I’ll stop here. I have that tutorial to write for you by the end of the week! But isn’t the sunflower pretty?! I could very happily do a sunflower quilt in these colours……
Today’s Photo Credit
Do you like the photos I used today? Today’s stock photos are from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. No credit is demanded, but I hope you will agree is very deserved. So, I will tell you the stock photos were provided by: Leticia Delboy (wattle), Alisa Anton (tulips) and Asgeir Pall Juliusson (sunflower). Click on the badges below to explore these photographer’s other photos. Leticia Delboy Asgeir Pall Juliusson Alisa Anton
Your turn to tell….
Do you let the fabrics sometimes dictate your quilts? Have you ever done a sunflower quilt? Know of a sunflower quilt pattern you’d recommend? Or have you ever done a yellow and green quilt?
I’ll tell you a quick story about a green and yellow quilt…… My first quilt jealousy was over a green and yellow quilt! When I was in year 10 of high school (decades ago) one of my friends did a Home Ec topic that I didn’t sign up for because it was about caring for babies…… eeeeeuuuuuch. But she had the last laugh because she made a quilt as part of her curriculum. It was another 16 years until I actually made my first quilt. After having had 2 babies (who weren’t eeeeeuuuuuch after all). If you are thinking of trying quilting, I suggest you get moving faster than I did!
Come on, tell me what you’d make with the hexagon print fabric. Or just say Hi. I love comments and finding out who’s visiting.
P.S. Don’t forget….. the upcoming Art with Fabric Blog Hop (next week) and also the new Splash of Color quilt along (starts today October 3!)
