Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Strawberry Vines

Strawberry Vines color scheme by Clever Chameleon

Colour Inspiration Tuesday – Weekly Inspiration and Colour Happiness for your Quilting Mental Fitness!

Hi! Welcome back to Tuesday! Doesn’t it roll around quickly!? Today we are going to exercise the little grey cells and treat them to some beautiful colours along the way.

Mental exercise is good for your mind. Luckily for us, mental exercise can be waaaaay more fun than the physical sort! Keeping your mind active can be as fun as learning a new sewing technique. Resizing a quilt pattern. Or exploring new colour combinations. Anything that takes you out of your mental comfort zone and requires you to do some actual thinking rather than just consuming information or watching TV.

This week I have been stretching my mind by learning new techniques (playing with trapunto), and thinking about what to explore next for Colour Inspiration Tuesday. I finally settled on some strawberry flowers. These flowers remind me of the time when I was a country teen and had a huge patch of strawberry plants that I grew from a few runners my maternal grandmother gave me. I used to water them, mulch them and even feed them with cow dung that I collected and pre-soaked in buckets of water! And the little fruits were ohhhhh soooo sweet. Accessing happy memories is good for your mental health too!

Strawberry Vines colour scheme from Clever Chameleon

Colour Inspiration Tuesday – Strawberry Vines

In honour of happy memories and mental exercise, today we have the “Strawberry Vines” colour scheme and an accompanying free-motion quilting motif to try. “Strawberry Vines” is a green, yellow and pale grey-blue colour palette. The blue is so subtle it looks white unless there is real white up against it. Go on, have another look at the photo. The main colour captured on the strawberry flower is not really pure white is it?

Anyway, I decided against designing us another quilt idea this week. The truth is that there are many good ideas floating around in Colour Inspiration Tuesday already. And I would  like to have an honest go at some of them. Without the weight of new ideas to cause drag or distraction. But I did want to still give you something…… I am ever so grateful to you my readers and especially to my growing list of regular followers for coming by.

So, this week’s idea for personalising your quilts is….

How to Quilt the strawberry vines motif from Clever Chameleon blog

Looking at the strawberry flower picture and remembering my garden with the hundreds of plants and gently tending the runners until the new plants had roots and planting them too, made me think of quilting strawberries, strawberry leaves and flowers on a continuous line. Strawberry Vines. Wouldn’t this be a lovely finishing touch for a quilt in summer colours or pastel tones? Or on reds, pinks and greens on a girl’s quilt? Do you remember the Strawberry Shortcake character from the 1980’s? A quilt in her colours!

Strawberry Shortcake figurine
Strawberry Shortcake…. 35 years old(ish) and still scented! This little darling now belongs to my daughter.

Strawberry Vines Quilting Motif

So I started doodling on paper and came up with my first go at such a design. Followed by a quick experiment on a fat quarter left over from Jewel Tone Diamonds and some waste cotton batting.

Strawberry Vines quilting motif

The three elements I used were leaf triplet, a small flower with the characteristic star in the centre between the petals, and of course, strawberries. As you can see, I tried the strawberries with and without seeds.

Strawberry Vines Quilting motif by Clever Chameleon
Strawberry Vines quilting motif

One of the things I like about my new impromptu  design is that any gaps that get missed or are too hard to fill in with continuous quilting can be filled in with a curly “strawberry runner”. How good is that?!?

On my next try, I think I will round out the leaves a bit more. I know that strawberry leaves also have zigzagged edges, but that level of detail doesn’t interest me for quilting. The flowers were a bit tricky, I went through several methods to try to quilt them neatly. Here is the path that worked best for me. Start by travelling into the flower centre, and add the petals second:

strawberry flower quilting design
A strawberry flower quilting path. Note, I have added gaps where lines would normally touch or overlay each other, so that you can easily see the pathway.

Don’t worry if you need to place more than 5 petals around the centre to finish the flower. Strawberry flowers can have 5, 6 or 7 petals. It’s the flat shape of the petals with the triangle gaps between them that make them so distinctive.

How to shape strawberries

The other important thing to remember is to round off the tops of your strawberries where they meet the leaves. And don’t make the berries too symmetrical…. otherwise they look like acorns with the wrong caps instead. Or maybe persimmons. At least to me.

Next time I play with this motif  I want to add flower buds as well. I have a UFO in colours not unlike “Lily Pad Glow” that might look nice quilted with this motif. What would you use it on?

Don’t need strawberry vines quilting motifs this week?

Bored sleeping cat
“Strawberries! How dull. Wake me up when you are quilting something interesting… like flies! Flies are cool!”

Don’t worry kitty! We are looking at quilting bugs later on this week. Remember the child’s charity quilt with the cute bug fabrics that I stabilised a while back?  I have just about finished quilting it now, and I’ll show you how to quilt the various bug motifs I used (no flies though). Stay tuned via email or Bloglovin’ so you don’t forget to come back!

Credits

Today’s photo of strawberry flowers is from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. Credit is not required, but I’m sure you’d love to know who is being so generous with their talent. Accordingly, this photo was provided by John-Mark Kuznietsov. Be sure to check out his collection of photos on Unsplash. 
John-Mark Kuznietsov

green clever chameleon logo

I hope you have fun trying out this strawberry vines quilting motif. See you next time for more quilting fun!

P.S. If you would like to use John-Mark’s photo 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.

The Linky parties I have invited myself to this week:
Monday: Cooking up Quilts,Love, Laugh, QuiltSew Can Do
Tuesday: Quilting Room with Mel, Free Motion by the River
Wednesday: Quilt Fabrication, Sew Fresh Quilts

You are invited too. Come and see what lots of craft-loving people are sharing on the net this week!! Here’s one of my favourites from the parties so far:
Project Sew a Jellyroll by Patchwork Sampler

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Hoppy Tuesday!

Why sit on a Lily Pad? colour scheme from Clever Chameleon

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:

Frog
Photo by David Clode on Unsplash
Frog
Photo by Wayne Robinson on Unsplash
Frog
Photo 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. 

Hoppy Tuesday colour scheme from Clever Chameleon
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.

 

Hoppy Tuesday colour scheme from Clever Chameleon

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.

Hoppy Tuesday color scheme from Clever Chameleon

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. 

For a kid’s frog quilt inspiration you might like this blog post about twin girl and boy frog baby quilts at Lo, Ray and Me. 

Or you can follow along with Sandra Healy’s calendar quilt. August’s block featured a cute frog on a lily pad.

frog appliqué
Sandra Healey’s frog appliqué

Not into frogs? (Really?!) Well, its just gone September, so how about some seasonal suggestions instead?

Lily Pad Glow color scheme from Clever ChameleonIt’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.

Autumn Splendour colour scheme from Clever Chameleon

 

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.

david clode

Wayne Robinson

purple clever chameleon logoFor 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.

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Dancing Macaw

Dancing Macaw color scheme from Clever Chameleon

Colour Inspiration Tuesday – explore with me the endless possibilities of colour for our quilts!

Welcome back to Tuesday! We made it! This past weekend we had a family celebration with my father turning 70, so blogging has had a backseat for a few days. But here we are, on the right day, and more or less on time! Yay!

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Dancing Macaw

About the time I started the Clever Chameleon blog, I also started experimenting with free-motion appliqué. Free-motion appliqué was the homework of my very first Sweet Sixteen monthly meeting. During this time I drew up a number of critters I thought I would like to turn into appliqué designs. One of these fellows was this guy – a cheeky version of a dancing macaw. Macaws are magnificently beautiful, don’t you think?!

Dancing Macaw appliqué design
Dancing Macaw appliqué design in progress.

Needless to say though, learning to blog has been even more intensive than I expected, and I haven’t yet got back to developing many of the designs into patterns. (Some owls are an exception, more on that another day soon! And I did do a pelican quilt – do you remember him?). Anyway, when I found a photo of a blue and gold macaw on Unsplash.com, I knew I had to do a “Dancing Macaw” colour board.

Dancing Macaw color scheme from Clever Chameleon

The “Dancing Macaw” colour scheme is gold and blue. It is a beautiful example of blue and orange-yellow together. You’ll be hard pressed to go wrong with these colours on a quilt because they are complementary and therefore very eye-catching.

The only downside is that the macaw photo doesn’t really capture all the colours that I want to use for my macaw appliqué. So I went back to Unsplash.com and found another photo that makes pulling out the colours I want easier. So, without further ado, here is today’s second colour board: Summer Foliage.

Summer Foliage color scheme from Clever Chameleon

The Summer Foliage colour scheme is blue, gold and green. Between these two new colour boards, I believe I will have no trouble at all putting together a collection of fabrics to appliqué my dancing macaw. What would you use these colours for?! Let us know in the comments below.

Maybe blue and orange is not your favourite complementary colour scheme…. 

Pink Chalice colour scheme from Clever Chameleon

How does pink and green suit you instead? Last week we looked at how to use red and green colours without accidentally evoking Christmas. 

Or you could check out the fun series we had recently – looking at matching colour boards to fabrics to express a variety of summer themes. Start here and follow the links to all five “summer crush” colour boards.

Credit

Today’s photos in Dancing Macaw hues are from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. Credit is not required, but I’m sure you’d love to know who is being so generous with their talent. Accordingly, the macaw photo was provided by Andrew Pons and the foliage photograph was taken by Jakob Owens. Be sure to check out their collections of photos on Unsplash.

Andrew Pons
Jakob Owens

yellow Clever Chameleon logoFor more colour inspiration for your quilts, follow along by subscribing to this blog by email (on the sidebar).

Or follow Clever Chameleon Quilt Colour Inspiration on Pinterest and pin your favourite colour palettes to try later. 

P.S. If you would like to use Andrew’s or Jakob’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. Check out the other hubs of creative activity I am linking up with this week:
The Quilting Room with Mel
Freemotion by the River
Sew Fresh Quilts
Quilt Fabrication

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Hazy Days

Hazy Days color scheme from Clever ChameleonColour Inspiration Tuesday(ish): More free colour resources for inspiring your quilts

Welcome to the last post in our Summer Crush Colour Inspiration “Week of Tuesdays”! I hope you have enjoyed exploring how to turn colour mood boards into fabric collections from your favourite fabric store. I certainly have!

Hazy Days colour scheme from Clever Chameleon
Hazy Days colour scheme

Today, as promised, I am exploring not one but two summer photos that I like from Unsplash.com. The first colour board, called “Hazy Days”, captures perfectly the feel of a relentlessly hot day on the beach. What could be more summery than a lifeguard on duty? The second board I am calling “Blood Orange and Mint”. This board comes from a photo of iced water with citrus and mint. It makes me think of refreshing cool drinks and good company, watching a balmy summer evening darken into dusk. 

Blood Orange and Mint color scheme from Clever Chameleon

 

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Blood Orange and Mint & Hazy Days.

The reason why I have grouped these two photos and their colour palettes into one post is because they are quite related, and have given me very similar end mosaics. Both colour schemes consist of at least one blue, green, turquoise, red-orange and brown colour each. Not the same shades and ratios of each hue, but most definitely representatives from the same set of colour families. Who would have thought? Certainly not I. When I chose these two photos, I was definitely not expecting similar outcomes.

The Blood Orange and Mint Fabric Mosaic

Thanks to Stitched in Color, this week there has been a fun opportunity to use the fabrics available at Quilt Sandwich Fabrics’ Etsy shop to create a collection of nine fabrics that you think capture the theme “Summer Crush”. If you haven’t participated already, there is still time until the 21st August. 

Blood Orange and Mint color scheme from Clever Chameleon
Blood orange and Mint colour scheme

To express the colours that I have pulled out of the beverages photograph, I chose the following fabrics. Most of them I chose predominately on colour, but there are a few that I think match the Summer Crush theme in subject as well. Specifically, along the bottom row we have dandelions; a zigzag print that is reminiscent of ocean waves; and …. cameras. Cameras, holidays and summer really are inseparable thoughts, aren’t they?!

Blood Orange and Mint fabric mosaic
Blood Orange and Mint fabric mosaic

Hazy Days color scheme with fabric

The Hazy Days Fabric Mosaic

To capture the colours and feel of the Hazy Days colour palette, I chose tan stripes to represent the colours of the sand. Turned on its side, this fabric could also represent the ripples that form on the beach.

I chose a fabric of graphic squares with a fanned pattern to reflect the spokes of the shade umbrella in the photo. I also emphasised the life saver’s buoy with two fabrics featuring circles and a third with a vivid orange lattice. 

The red-orange and turquoise small-print fabrics were chosen to complete the colour way and provide contrast in scale and complexity. Of course, the blue and aqua wave fabric had to be included to represent the ocean. I even rejoiced at the grey of the background in the middle fabric, because it captures the toned-down palette of the original photo.  Overall, I think this collection has a good mix of scale and shape contrasts. Love the colours, love the visual texture!

Hazy Days colour scheme by Clever Chameleon
Hazy Days fabric mosaic

This is my second entry to the Summer Crush fabric mosaic contest.

sail boat fabricAnd the fabric I’d love to put on the back? Sailboats, whales, gulls, and waves in cream on a dark teal blue background by Charley Harper for Birch Fabrics. And its even organic cotton! Whoop!

Final thoughts

As you can see, although I started with two entirely different photos and even two quite divergent colour palettes, I have ended up with two mosaics that could be combined without clashing. One fabric even is in both mosaics! If you like either of these fabric combinations, head over to Quilt Sandwich Fabrics and check out the fabrics for yourself. 

Hazy Days colour scheme with fabrics

Summer Crush Mosaic Colour Inspiration Week

If you want to follow my musings around the Summer Crush mosaic contest for the rest of the week, here are the other three days of mosaics: 

On Tuesday we looked at the colours of Ice-cream Tones. Pinks and yellows, with a little brown and blue added for interest.

 

 

On Wednesday we explored the freshness of the colours seen in ripe pineapples and tropical beaches. Find out why I called this palette “Digging for Pineapples“!

 

On Thursday we channeled our inner child and played with this fun flamingo. Hot pinks and blue-greens were the order of the day in the bright and happy colours of Flamingoes in the Pool.

Credit

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 to use the photos, but I love to give credit where credit is due, and am always grateful to people who contribute to open source communities. So I would like you to know that the Hazy Days photo was provided by Ludde Lorentz via Unsplash, and the cocktails photos was provided by Monika Grabkowska. Be sure to check out their collections of freely gifted photos on Unsplash.com.
Ludde Lorentz
Monika Grabkowska

For colour inspiration for your quilts in your inbox weekly follow along by subscribing to this blog. Or follow Clever Chameleon Quilt Colour Inspiration on Pinterest and pin your favourite colour palettes to try later. 

P.S. If you would like to use any photo featured in Colour Inspiration Tuesday 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.

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Digging for Pineapples

Digging for Pineapples color scheme fabric choices

Colour Inspiration Tuesday(ish): It’s all about colouring our quilts, our way!

Welcome back to Colour Inspiration Tuesday! I know…. it’s Wednesday…. but this week we are having a Colour Inspiration “Tuesday” blitz. Because I have had too much fun designing colour schemes and matching them to fabrics, thanks to Stitched in Color and Quilt Sandwich Fabrics.

And besides, it’s still winter here, so a healthy dose of summer colours all week will not be a bad thing. So buckle up and enjoy the colour ride. Next week we will be back to normal. Maybe.

Digging for Pineapples color scheme by Clever Chameleon

Today I have chosen a picture of a pineapple on the beach from Unsplash.com. Why are there so many pictures of pineapples on beaches? I don’t know. It’s quite incongruous if you stop to think about it, yet we still think summer/tropical holidays when we see them. I have a reason for choosing this photo though. I’ll tell you in a moment.

Today’s colour palette is called “Digging for Pineapples”.

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Digging for Pineapples

The “Digging for Pineapples” colour scheme is yellow, orange, blue, green, aqua, teal and tan. These are fresh tropical summery colours, with a lighter feel than yesterday’s calorie laden colour palette, Ice-cream Tones. You can use lots of white with these colours to preserve the summer freshness. But they work equally well as a solid block of saturated colour for feasting your eyes on.

For example, here is the back of a quilt I made for my nephew a while back. I made it from a layer cake of 10″ squares of batik fabrics from Timeless Treasures Tonga Treats. The colours are just wonderful.

Quilt back in Digging for Pineapples colors
The back of my nephew’s quilt in “Digging for Pineapples” colours.
Child's quilt backing made from 10" squares
Child’s quilt backing made from 10″ squares
Mew and quilt
Of course. I am never allowed to photograph a quilt without my quilting helper

One of the prints in this series even looks a bit like pieces of pineapple!

But I digress a little. This week we are looking at fabrics that are available now from Quilt Sandwich Fabrics’ Etsy store. 

I made several mosaics from fabrics that I think capture the mood and colours of Digging for Pineapples. I won’t be adding any to the mosaic contest because there are already several mosaics that are similar to these up there and I have more ideas to try out yet…… but these combinations are lovely, and there is nothing stopping you popping over to Quilt Sandwich Fabrics and grabbing yourself pieces from these curated collections.

fabrics for Digging for Pineapples color scheme
Digging for Pineapples mosaic 1
Digging for Pineapples mosaic 2

Why I would love to make a Digging for Pineapples Quilt one day….

I told you there was a reason for choosing the pineapple on the beach photo. So here it is. It is a sentimental story from my family history, and has likely become better over the years with telling. I know it to go something like this.

Many years ago, when my dad was young, his family went to the beach for the day. His mother took with them a tin of pineapple for the family to share for dessert.  Thinking it would be nicer cold, she buried it in the wet sand to cool down. She marked the burial site with a stick and went back to enjoying the outing with her family.

However, when it came time to eat, of course the tide had come in and washed the stick away. Unperturbed, my grandmother thought she knew where the tin was buried , so she grabbed a spade and started enthusiastically digging in the sand. But to no avail. After a while, a gentleman who had been watching her, approached my grandmother and politely inquired why she was digging. She simply replied “I am digging for pineapple”. Apparently the gentlemen just gave her a look that he probably hoped was understanding and politely went on his way. Well, what could he say?!!

Of course, the pineapple was never found, at least not by my family. But the hilarity of the moment has lasted decades, and it was a story my grandmother told me several times. She has since passed away at the ripe old age of 99, and one day I would love to make a memory quilt of “Digging for Pineapples”.

What my Digging for Pineapples Quilt would be like

A Digging for Pineapples quilt would be a precious addition to my quilting story. I am thinking scrappy flying geese on white. The triangles can represent the spikes on pineapples and the act of digging. Of course, there would be 99 triangles. I think my grandmother would have liked the idea.

Digging for Pineapples color scheme by Clever Chameleon

Summer Crush Mosaic Colour Inspiration Week

If you want to follow my thoughts around the Summer Crush mosaic contest for the rest of the week, I will be adding the links here. 

On Tuesday we looked at the colours of Ice-cream Tones. Pinks and yellows, with a little brown and blue added for interest.

Flamingoes in the Pool colour scheme by Clever ChameleonOn Thursday we explored the light happiness of hot pinks and aqua in a colour scheme called Flamingoes in the Pool.

And on Friday, we got more grown up again with two colour boards – Hazy Days and Blood Oranges & Mint.

Hazy Days colour scheme by Clever Chameleon Blood Orange and Mint Colour scheme by Clever Chameleon

Credit

Today’s photo of the pineapple on the beach is from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. Credit is not required to use the photos, but I love to give credit where credit is due, and am always grateful to people who contribute to open source communities. So I would like you to know that this lovely photo was provided by Evi Radauscher via Unsplash. Be sure to check out her collection of photos on Unsplash.com.
Evi Radauscher

clever chameleon logo in blueFor colour inspiration for your quilts in your inbox weekly follow along by subscribing to this blog. Or follow Clever Chameleon Quilt Colour Inspiration on Pinterest and pin your favourite colour palettes to try later. 

P.S. If you would like to use Evi’s photo 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.