quilt along Archives - Clever Chameleon Quilting

March 10, 2020January 19, 2024

Weeds, Frogs and a little Lunarcy

Little Arkaroola Frog colour board at Clever Chameleon

Everything grows like weeds after summer rain!

Including the weeds. This week we have been madly helping out with weed control around the Arkaroola village. It’s a crucial few days where the weeds are big enough to easily identify amongst all the beneficial plants, but haven’t started dropping seed yet. The window of opportunity is short, and for the Bindii is almost shut already.

Between that, and schooling, I have still managed a little sightseeing and a little sewing. It helps that we had a public holiday yesterday to get a few things done. I’ve got all my Lunar New Year animal appliqués cut out. And a flimsy sewn, ready to put them on.

And apart from the one, lonely boatman bug next to the frog in our colour board, there are no creepy crawlies in this week’s post. You might not have guessed it from last week, but there is actually a bit more to the Outback than bugs and flies!

October 3, 2019January 19, 2024

Once Upon A Story: Puss in Boots

Puss in Boots applique block by Dione Gardner-Stephen at Clever Chameleon Quilting

It’s Story Time Again!! Once Upon A Story…..

…. there were two hardworking and dedicated quilt bloggers, one at Seams to be Sew and the other at Clever Chameleon. Their names were Marian and Dione.

One day, Marian decided to go into the internet forest in search of quilt designers to help create a huge blog hop. A blog hop where there would be a free quilt block pattern at every stop, and lots of prizes too. The theme was to be Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes: Once Upon A Story.

Dione, who spends a great deal of time tending to posts in the internet forest, thought she’d like to be part of this gig. Like all good forests though, this one was full of big bad wolves who tried to deceive and eat her: distraction, too many choices, changes of mind, poor organisation…. But also like all good fairy tales, the heroes won in the end. After much deliberation, Puss in Boots was the pick from her list of favourite fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The block was made, the pattern written and the post is up. The Chameleon slayed all the big bad wolves and Dione lived happily ever after…..

Welcome to my stop on the Once Upon a Story Row Along!

June 18, 2019January 19, 2024

Rubber Duckie, You’re the One…… Colour & Inspiration Tuesday

Rubber duck sculpture colour scheme from Clever Chameleon — Created from a photo by Tonyluichung – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34933222

Rubber Duckie You’re the One…… You make bathtime lots of fun!….

Rubber Duckie, I’m awfully fond of yooooooo-ooooou!

Sorry, couldn’t help it…. I’ve been working on the next block for our Love with a Twist quilt along. No prizes for guessing that it’s a duck. And that I have done my appliqué in yellow and orange. 😀 And given myself a dose of “Rubber Duckie” earworm from Ernie of Sesame Street.

This set of thoughts also reminds me of the huge rubber duck sculptures by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman that brightened up cities all over the world between 2007 and 2017. They still make me smile.

I hope this post brightens up your inbox like a huge rubber duck in an international seaport! And also I hope you’ll pop over to the blog for a dose of Colour & Inspiration Tuesday and a sneak peek at June’s Love with a Twist appliqués. Psst… I plan to have the duck pattern ready for you on Friday.

April 14, 2019January 19, 2024

Love with a Twist Bonny Butterfly

Balloon Butterfly appliqué from the Love with a Twist series by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon

Small and Cute, that is our brief for April’s Love with a Twist

This month we have two smaller balloon animals to add to our Love with a Twist quilt along collection. But size isn’t everything and variation is key to keeping things interesting. Besides, our next two balloon critters are both super sweet, and I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I do. 🙂

Today we are going to meet Bonny Butterfly and later in the month, Toddling Turtle. These are the two options for the Block 8 position of the throw quilt size. Why Block 8 next? No reason, except I had them drafted in advance, and this month I am super busy with secret sewing and pattern writing, so I am being kind to myself and using banked credits.

Keep reading to collect your butterfly balloon pdf pattern and find out all the details for making the most of the next block of the Love with a Twist quilt along.

March 30, 2019January 19, 2024

Love with a Twist Graceful Glider Swan Balloon

Swan Balloon appliqué from the Love with a Twist series by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon

Autumn is here in Adelaide

The weather here has finally, finally turned. Autumn in Adelaide always gives us some of our very best, most beautiful and serene days, and it’s my favourite time of year weather-wise. It’s calm, gentle and soothing. The gliding swan of the weather world, perfect outdoors weather.

Of course, Autumn weather in Adelaide can hiss and spit too, like an enraged swan. Paul and I deliberately chose Autumn for our wedding many years ago, only to cop weather so bad it nearly cancelled our reception. In our wedding photos I am visibly white from cold. At the church, my bridesmaids hid in the bathroom to extract heat out of the hand drier….. But today we are thinking nice Autumn weather and happy swans. 🙂

And speaking of happy swans, the second option for Block 2 of the Love with a Twist quilt along is finally here. It’s my version of a really classic animal balloon shape. The balloon swan. Keep reading to collect your swan balloon pdf pattern and find out all the details for making the most of the next block of the Love with a Twist quilt along.