March is “Try a New Technique” Month for the Island Batik Ambassador team, and I’m feeling inspired!
Try a new technique?!! You’ll never likely have to ask me twice!! I have loooooong lists of quilty things I want to try “one day”…. patterns to make, gadgets to play with, embellishments and paints and markers and machines and .attachments and ……. and …… and……. and that doesn’t include the countless really cool things I have seen and forgotten along the way. “Try a New Technique” is practically my quilting motto!
Finishing a project I’ve started while trying a new technique…… now that’s a slightly different story….. but this month I am going to nail that one too. 🙂
Have you participated in the Toasty Teal mosaic challenge yet?
If not, you still have time. Why not spend a little quiet time this weekend just playing with colours for fun? If your pre-Christmas schedule is like mine you just might need a few moments for a coffee and some colour therapy!
This morning I have done exactly that. I started out with the idea that I wanted to do a really rich purple and teal colour board. As it turns out, I couldn’t find enough purple fabrics that I liked in Bobbie Lou’s Fabric Factory, so my mosaic evolved into this….. More teal and pink. But that’s ok.
Teal Magic!
Isn’t it fun? And pretty? And a little bit dark and mysterious, like a walk in the woods in late autumn? I’m calling it Teal Magic.
You know that I like to do things with a twist……
Do you want to know what made me pull this particular collection together? Well, as I was trying to create a purple and teal mosaic I discovered a number of fabrics that have disguised or hidden motifs in them. And I was transported into a world of childhood stories and fairytales – a feeling of mystique and intrigue. So I decided to pursue this mood, and while not everything that I found and loved fit into my nine final picks, I had a wonderful time exploring my memories and these fabrics.
In the end I chose these 9 fabrics for Teal Magic because:
the elephants and feathers reminded me of the story of Dumbo. When I was a kid I had “Dumbo” and “The Colour Kittens” on vinyl records, and I loved, loved, loved listening to those read-along stories. (The Counting Elephants fabric is by Dear Stella and Panache in Fresco is by Art Gallery.)
So, once I had the elephants and feathers, I had to have the leaf print called “Eek” by Free Spirit. There is a mouse hidden in those leaves!!! Timothy the mouse was Dumbo’s best friend. But there are also so many other literary and cultural connections between mice and elephants, I wouldn’t know where to start boring you with them. Insert your own favourite(s) here.
The hare from the Tortoise and the Hare story is included (I would have loved to add the tortoise fabric as well, but the colours didn’t do what I wanted, so eventually I had to let it go). This collection is by Free Spirit.
There are water droplets, lanterns and hidden butterflies to add to the mystique of this collection. These fabrics are: Water Droplets in Aqua by Me + You/Hoffman, Lively Lantern by Cotton + Steel, and Atlas in Amethyst by Free Spirit.
Finally, a good dose of unicorns and birds in the woods. Why is it that woods are full of magic? Then again I suppose,, why not? (The fabrics are Magic Folk by Michael Miller and Illusionist Vine by Art Gallery Fabrics).
Even though they didn’t make the cut, they are still amazing……
In the end there were still no pineapples or snails in my second teal collection, just like the first. Although I admit I was still sorely tempted on both counts. My daughter said I had to have the water droplets fabric, which in the end counted out the snails. Not that she was all that happy about that either…. Rachel, if you are listening, my 9yo wants 10 slots in the challenge, please!!!! lol.
And I am 100% taken by Stone Cold Critters by Free Spirit. Even though it didn’t fit. There are animals hidden in that design! Just too clever!
Your Turn
So there you have it. A little peek into my slightly dreamy state of mind this morning. Christmas is a time for reminiscing…. it is nice to slow down for a few moments and think back to some of the magic that touched my childhood, teal or otherwise.
Got a few moments to play? You can find the mosaic challenge instructions at Stitched in Color. And the fabrics at the challenge’s sponsor, Bobbie Lou’s Fabric Factory. You have until the 10th to have a play with making an ebundle of your nine favourites under the theme of Toasty Teal. You might even win fat quarters of them all. Good luck!
Just this once I am going to be Done. on. Time! Ha! Just to find out what it feels like! Welcome to My One Monthly Goal with Elm Street Quilts
Well, there is really only one thing to say about late November/early December if you have school age kids in Australia!!! But I suggest you plug your ears first! Here it comes…….. “Aaaaaggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!”
Thankfully, I believe the worst of the concerts and end of year break-up parties and special excursions and graduations and farewells and etc. etc are done with, and the end is in sight. School is out for the summer in a week’s time….. which will bring it’s own joys and challenges, but also hopefully, more sewing time. I really, really hope more sewing time. Because there are several projects I want/need to get on top of. Which leads me to…..
My One Monthly Goal for December
On the top of my list to finish for December is my Vanuatu Turtle Quilt. Here’s where we were at on the 24th of November.
Most of a quilt top
And this is where I need to get to by New Year. A completely finished version of this…..
Some background info in case you are new here….
This quilt is my project for the Splash of Color QAL at Busy Hands Quilts. A quilt along that encouraged everyone to choose their own project, as long as it fit the theme of black and white, with colour highlights. Then it was up to us to keep up with a set of deadlines for quilt construction milestones.
Currently the milestone on the table is to have a finished quilt top (flimsy). The whole way along I have been running down to the wire to get each milestone done before Myra’s linky closes. And of course, my current status is no different….. the opportunity to link up a finished quilt top will expire on Monday.
But I am getting there….. yesterday I added the first layer of the turtle appliqué. I was going to sew the appliqué down today but I like to machine appliqué with the batting under it. And the batting I rinsed out last night is not dry this morning…. of course after a record-hot Spring we had showers early this morning………
Anyway, I should be able to get the aqua appliqué layer sewn down tomorrow, and then once the red pieces are ironed on I am calling this flimsy done.
So that just leaves the finish line…… a completed quilt. The linky for finished quilts opens on the 2nd of Jan 2018. Technically I have until until the 15th Jan to be linked up. But, I hereby declare that I intend to have my quilt done by the 31st of December, thereby being ready BEFORE the last linky opens, rather than throwing my URL under the descending roller door of a rapidly expiring linkup, again! Can I do it? With OMG at my back, anything is possible! 🙂
Why such enthusiasm to get the Vanuatu Turtle Quilt done?!
Good question! Well, I need to put this quilt to bed (so to speak) so I can get on with some new exciting projects for 2018. Otherwise I fear it will end up on my UFO pile.
There are two things that I am currently planning for Clever Chameleon next year that are making me really happy just thinking about them. Both are BOM style projects that will be available for you to follow along with if you wish or to go back to over time. I hope at least one might appeal to you.
Exciting Project 1
The first project is a joint BOM quilt with Joy of “Days Filled with Joy”. We are going to be doing a skill-builder quilt. One that focusses heavily on techniques that you can use to texturise or embellish a quilt. We are still finalising the details, but I can tell you it will be a house block quilt and will start a little way into 2018 after all the New Year dust has settled. This one will be very informal and lots of fun. I’ll keep you posted as we get closer to launching.
Exciting Project 2
I am thrilled about my second big project for 2018 because it will complement my weekly colour board posts very nicely! It is the brainchild of Jen from Patterns by Jen, and involves a monthly Color challenge. This one kicks off on the 1st of January 2018, so not long to go now!
Jen is doing a colour challenge BOM quilt project, with free patterns and instructions available to you from her website. She has asked for a small group of quilt bloggers to support her by either making her blocks or something else in her colour of the month. I have opted for the second option and will be doing a Beary Colourful quilt. Twelve appliqué bears in Jen’s 12 colour challenge themes. Oh happy day! This one is making me wriggle with anticipation already!
I will be giving away the instructions for each bear each month on the same schedule as Jen. My aim is to get some of those scraps moving from my sewing room…… want to join in?! I’ll keep you posted on this project as it develops too.
If you would like to keep in touch with Clever Chameleon and the fun quilty ideas I find all over the internet, you can follow directly for email updates, or through Bloglovin’, Pinterest or FB. All your follow options can be found here. Thanks for your support!
About a month ago I signed up for the Splash of Color quilt along from Busy Hands Quilts. The rules mostly consist of a few deadlines for the quilt stages, and that the colours of the quilt are to be predominately black and white with colour highlights. Apart from that, the direction the quilt takes is up to each quilter.
The fabrics for my Splash of Color quilt inspiration.The colours in our Vanuatu bedroom.
Since that post, we have been back to Vanuatu to continue Paul’s humanitarian telecommunications research. While we were there I acquired more fabrics specifically for this project :). And some more inspiration. I decided to add a little greyed blue or teal to my splash of colour, thanks to the Vanuatu décor in our bedroom.
Here is my final pile of goodies to work from:
The white, grey and teal fabrics are from my stash here at home. The red and black fabrics are all from Vanuatu.
Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 25
The next challenge in the Splash of Color quilt along was to choose a quilt pattern. Well, I am not known for working to a quilt pattern. So I have opted to design as I go, as per usual. But I do have a basic idea of where I am headed. I am making a turtle quilt inspired by the tribal turtle motif on two of the original fabrics.
Turtle motif on fabric from Vanuatu
I have now designed my turtle appliqué. It is influenced by the turtle above, but also by a beautiful turtle batik I have in my collection. If you like batiks, you might recognise this fabric, its been around for a while.
Turtle batik fabric from Lunn Studios for Artisan Batiks from Robert Kaufman Fabrics
I actually started a quilt for my nephew two years ago inspired by this turtle batik, that I also intended to put a turtle appliqué on. But he got a monkey quilt instead. Long story for another day. But it s nice to be returning to the turtle idea. Perhaps I can knock off this UFO too.
My Turtle Appliqué Quilt Design Concept
Here is my turtle appliqué design:
My turtle appliqué design on a very basic rendition of a black and white background
It is quite likely that the quilt background will be significantly different from my quick diagram. The basic plan for the background of the quilt is to create 8×6″ finished blocks out of the black and white fabrics. Some blocks will be fussy cut 6″ squares. Some blocks will be created from 4″ and 2″ squares, with possibly some half-square triangles and/or pinwheels thrown in. I will decide on their overall layout at the end. Basically, I am going to give the free die that comes with the Accuquilt GO! cutter a whirl.
Then, the intention is to add a 1″ red border, and then an 8″ piano key border in black and white. It will finish at 66″ square and I will bind it in red. Or teal. Subject to mind changes, of course!
Where am I at?
Well, the sharing link for having the fabrics cut opened 10 days ago or so. So, you can tell I am a little behind schedule as usual. But the link is not closed yet, and I have my appliqué printed, traced and cut out, so all is not lost!
Turtle appliqué templatesHere are my turtle appliqué pieces. The teal fabric will be mostly covered by the red, so I bought a cheap Prima solid for this layer.
I actually have no intention of pre-cutting my black and white fabrics. I will do this as I create blocks. Not efficient if I was producing a quilt from a pattern, for sure. But it is the way I design quilts from scratch. So I am claiming that this QAL stage is done to my satisfaction. And I hope you will find my design process more interesting if I actually report it like it is rather than showing you just the end result.
If you would like to see the other projects in this quilt along, the original ideas links are found here. There were 14 projects joined up from the very beginning – there may be some late comers too if you keep an eye on the progress linkys. There is certainly a great variety, you are sure to see something that inspires you!
Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Colour resources for your next eye-catching quilt design
“Halo” and “Welkam” to my second Vanuatu edition of Colour Inspiration Tuesday! Actually it is a combined Colour Inspiration Tuesday and Everyday Quilt Inspiration post. Like last week’s regular slots, this post was largely pre-written in Australia due to uncertainty about how much time and internet I would have for blogging here in Vanuatu. But I have added some extra material to make this post also fit the 31 Days writing challenge I am doing. I hope it gels ok.
“Halo” and “Welkam” is pretty much the extent of my knowledge of the Bislama language. And “Tangkyu tumas” (Thank you very much). But thankfully English usually suffices here, the Vanuatu scenery is beautiful, and this week, the weather is superb. Just like today’s quilt inspiration colour board, Silhouettes at Sunset.
Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Silhouettes at Sunset
The “Silhouettes at Sunset” colour scheme is purple, orange, peach, grey, aqua, teal and super dark teal. Isn’t it amazing how the form of a dark silhouette brings out the colours in a sunset? This contrast is something that we should be aiming for in our quilt fabric choices too….. that is if you are after a bold, brilliant effect. (I am fully cognisant that sometimes subtle and low volume is the right choice for a quilt too…. I just personally usually prefer bright.) And isn’t it nice to be reminded that silhouettes don’t have to be black… any high contrast will be effective, in this case a dark shade of teal.
Silhouettes at Sunset evokes thoughts of warm tropical evenings and beach holidays. Perfect to celebrate a trip to Vanuatu, even if it is for work. Would you like to know more about the humanitarian telecommunications side of our family’s pursuits? When things get back to normal I would love to tell you more.
Anyway, back to the task at hand…. It strikes me that “Silhouettes at Sunset” is very much like the love child of “Sunset Wall” and “Another World Blue”. Two colour schemes from earlier editions of Colour Inspiration Tuesday.
So for my Colour Inspiration Tuesday quilt imaginings this week I have decided to see what happens when we colour the Cat on a Wall quilt design with the Silhouettes at Sunset colour scheme. Here is the original design in both parent colour ways.
And here are my new colourings. I also added in an eighth colour from the sunset photo – a rose pink. I only meant to do one re-colouring of Cat on a Wall, but I had to amuse myself on the plane to Vanuatu somehow!
Which do you prefer? One of the new ones or one of the originals? Or would you choose a completely different colour scheme for this quilt? Please tell in the comments below. 🙂
Credit
I really appreciate the talented photographers who generously donate their art to the world without strings attached. Today’s such photos are from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. Credit is not demanded but I give it anyway in thanks. Today’s featured photographer is Aldain Austria. Be sure to check out his collection of photos on Unsplash.
I hope you will tell me which your preferred colours are….
Before I go though, I had better add in some everyday quilt inspiration. This one is easy – there have been many “sunset and silhouettes” moments in my life that I have thought at the time would make great art. We are fortunate in Adelaide to get lots of great sunsets over the gulf.I distinctly remember one such moment when I was heavily pregnant with my second child. I was sitting on the beach, watching my husband and eldest daughter (2 years at the time) jump the wavelets, silhouetted against the setting sun. That is a moment that would definitely be quilt-worthy.
Anyway, here are some more recent silhouettes at sunset. These were taken the second night we arrived here in Port Vila.
Ships in harbour at sunset, Port VilaEnjoying the warm tropical waters.
And to finish off – your everyday colour inspiration board…..
See you for more Everyday Quilt Inspiration fun tomorrow. In the meantime, if you haven’t been following along, you can find the start of this series here.
P.S. On a completely different topic, I must tell you, the Art with Fabric blog hop is ON! It started yesterday (although that might still be today in your time zone…..) Anyway, my post on the hop is not until Friday 13, but there is a huge lineup ahead of me. Visit Tweety Loves Quilting to see the blog hop from the very beginning.
Here’s a sneak preview of my art piece…. it’s called “Remember to thank the Cleaner (Shrimp)”. It’s art with gratitude. 🙂
So, once I had the elephants and feathers, I had to have the leaf print called “Eek” by Free Spirit. There is a mouse hidden in those leaves!!! Timothy the mouse was Dumbo’s best friend. But there are also so many other literary and cultural connections between mice and elephants, I wouldn’t know where to start boring you with them. Insert your own favourite(s) here.
Finally, a good dose of unicorns and birds in the woods. Why is it that woods are full of magic? Then again I suppose,, why not? (The fabrics are Magic Folk by Michael Miller and Illusionist Vine by Art Gallery Fabrics).
In the end there were still no 
Your Turn
I will be giving away the instructions for each bear each month on the same schedule as Jen. My aim is to get some of those scraps moving from my sewing room…… want to join in?! I’ll keep you posted on this project as it develops too.
Here’s a sneak preview of my art piece…. it’s called “Remember to thank the Cleaner (Shrimp)”. It’s art with gratitude. 🙂