Welcome to the first day of the “Wish Upon A Star” Blog Hop
Carol at Just Let Me Quilt has organised for you a HUGE treat this week! A supernova of a blog hop, and it all kicks off today. Carol has rounded up 44 quilt bloggers to show you their star-studded sewing projects. Pieced stars, appliqué stars, star-shaped projects, big stars, little stars…. who knows what you are going to find on the Wish Upon A Star blog hop today? And, for that matter, every day this week until Friday! All sorts of fantastic creations, that’s what… and all of them with a star on them somewhere!
I get to help kick off this fun week of sparkly goodness today. And since you’re here, that makes it my turn to help you see stars. So, I am showing you a quilt I made for a very special toddler in my life. I made this quilt a while ago, but when Carol announced this blog hop, I knew it was time to share it on the blog. Designed especially for a little boy named Lucas, it is called “Three Wishes Monkey”.
Three Wishes Monkey – the thoughts behind the quilt
Three Wishes Monkey came about from my desire for the sweet boy in question to have the things that really matter in life. And those things are generally not things at all, but good relationships and great character. So I wished I was his fairy godmother and could grant him three amazing personality traits to set him up for life. But since I haven’t yet managed to get my fairy godmother’s licence, I had to settle for some quilted encouragement to develop his own character.
Three Wishes Monkey was designed in three parts
A Monkey
Lucas was born under the Chinese zodiac sign of the Monkey. This was really important to his mother, so it was a no-brainer for his quilt to feature a monkey. I spent the longest time drafting and re-drafting a monkey who I thought looked cheeky, happy, energetic and positive.
Three Wishes
The three wishes I chose for Lucas were “confidence”, “courage” and “kindness”. There were many things I could have chosen. But three wishes appears to be the going rate in most circles, and these three felt right.
A background to put it all on
I decided to do a colour graduation from dark green to yellow across this quilt to abstractly suggest jungle. Lots of blue sprinkled in suggests sky and sunshine filtering through the vegetation. I used the 4×4 Diamonds cutting die from Accuquilt to cut the pieces.
For the quilting I used vegetation and critter motifs similar to the collection I wrote up for you for the “Bugs in My Garden” quilt.
I really hope you have enjoyed my contribution to the Wish Upon A Star blog hop.
“….but I still have half a cuppa left…… what should I read now?”
Well, if you are new here as a Wish Upon A Star blog hopper, I hope you’ll stay and have a little look around Clever Chameleon Quilting. I have a growing list of free patterns and tutorials. If you do particularly like my monkey quilt today, you also might like my related project from last week: the Fairy Owl appliqué pillow. I certainly had wishes and stars on my mind when I was designing the Fairy Owl. Also you might like my free Beary Colourful Bears appliqué series – cheeky critters are pretty regular features on Clever Chameleon
Of course, also visit the rest of today’s Wish Upon A Star projects at these stellar blogs:
Moose Stash Quilting
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
Quilt In A Not-Shell
What About Rheema?
Sunlight in Winter Quilts
Life in the Scrapatch
Sew Many Yarns
Hazel’s Daughter
And you can find the host of the Wish Upon A Star hop at Just Let Me Quilt. Come back here tomorrow for a list of nine more quilters with Wish Upon A Star projects to share with you!
Explore a second fantastic Blog Hop this week!
Tthe Spring 2018 Art with Fabric blog hop also starts today! Alida at Tweety Loves Quilting has organised four days of art quilting fabulous-ness under the theme of “1+1=3”. I will be posting my quilted interpretation of this theme on Thursday. But don’t wait until then…… you can see the first four fabric art projects today! Just visit:
Janeen at Quilt Art Designs
Andrée at Quilting & Learning-What a Combo
Carol at Quilted Fabric Art and
Melva at Melva Loves Scraps
And finally….. don’t forget your invitation to the Chameleon’s weekly colour party for tomorrow! If you want to show off your latest quilt project in a casual fun setting, tomorrow’s the day.
Hmmm… I think the starry-eyed Chameleon is channeling his inner Elton John. Don’t worry. It’s just a phase. He’ll move on soon. See you tomorrow! 🙂
Oh wow, what a fabulous quilt. Love the name of it too, soooo cute
That is one beautiful quilt. Lucas will surely cherish it for life.
Love it! That happy cheeky monkey I’m sure brought smiles to Lucas.
What a great quilt. The background piecing really works as jungle feel and I really love that bit of sunshiny yellow sneaking in on the top right. Wonderful wishes for any child.
Your quilt is beautiful. I love the gradation in your background. Love it!!
Your monkey quilt and Fairy Owl pillow are just adorable!
Wow that is a wonderful quilt. Your monkey is awesome, the background just sparkles, and great wishes to bestow upon an up and coming gentleman.
This one is gorgeous, Lucas is one lucky boy!
He really is a cheeky monkey. Very sweet. Your wishes for Lucas are wonderful.
Great sentiment and quilt.
What a precious quilt and a cute monkey!
He is quite a treat!
There is everything to love about this star quilt…a cute monkey, beautiful fabric, and sweet words. I love this! Words of encouragement are a great idea to add to a quilt. Thank you so much for joining in this hop and sharing your star project. You made me smile and feel inspired today…you are star in my world!
That is fabulous and your monkey is adorable.
The monkey is cute and perfectly cheeky! You are seriously good at drawing applique animals!!! I’m sure it is a very well loved quilt xx
What a great little quilt! I love everything about this – your cheerful monkey, the quilting “secrets” up close and the words of encouragement. Such a wonderful piece!
Your little one is lucky to have an inspirational person like you in his life. Love the monkey and words to aspire to.
What a sweet quilt with the 3 wishes! Any child would love this and of course, be reminded of the awesome qualities he will develop. It’s a beauty!
Beautiful and fun quilt!! The monkey is perfectly cute. I hope Lucas gets his wishes.
OMG you drew the monkey?? He is perfect, so cute!!!
I have to tell you, you are my inspiration. I love applique and whimsy, and you have the best eye for both. This quilt is awesome and someone will treasure it for years to come. Likely more so many years from now, when he realizes the hidden message of encouragement from you! Incredible job here girl!
what a cute quilt! I’m in both hops too- phew!
Love the monkey for a baby, great quilt
Very cute! Wish I had some little ones to sew for.
Hi Dione! Oh, that would be so hard to select only three special wishes or qualities for your special boy, Lucas. And the whole idea and story behind this quilt is so heartwarming. I also hope to work on these qualities for our sweet boy, especially kindness. It seems like you can go so far in life with just some kindness shown to everyone – but alas, that is not enough. Courage and confidence are fabulous additions. Thank you for sharing this with us today!! Happy Monday! ~smile~ Roseanne
Three words, and a heap of wishes inside the quilt, this will be so loved and well used.
Adorable cheeky monkey! You’ll have to share a picture of little Lucas with his monkey quilt and to sleep with those wishes … how blessed he will be. Very sweet!
What a fabulous quilt… love the 3 wishes idea!
A truly adorable quilt and so much love included with it. That is a super background for the appliques. Thanks so much for sharing another terrific creative idea.
You are soooo Creative!! What a delightful lil’ Monkey!! Love the Three Wishes too! Lucas is a Blessed little boy…I know it will be a Treasure to him. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Dione, I expect nothing less from you, your work is always thought provoking, caring and YOU are always a shining light.
I don’t get in often but never leave disappointed! 🙂
Hugs from Hervey Bay. Qld.
Great quilt very eye catching colors ty for sharing… happyness04431@yahoo.com
Lucus is a lucky guy. That is adorable.
Love the quilt—fabric and wishes!
What a great monkey quilt and great words to inspire. Lucas has to be very, very special. Great job!
Your time was well spent! That is an adorable and gutsy monkey. Also that’s a lot of diamonds for the background–color gradation looks great!
Wonderful Monkey quilt with so much sentiment. Wishing on a star is perfect.
What a wonderful wonderful quilt. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE everything about it. the colors, the pattern, the words, the monkey… and the stars… Just Beautiful!!!
Gorgeous quilt – and I apprciate the thoughts and story behind its making…. how to pick just 3 personality traits? – those are great ones to strive for. Great drafting of the monkey – he sure does exude cheekiness, happiness, energy and positivity!
You’re monkey is just too cute!
I am really impressed by the background. Haw theses colors fit together!
and this is also a way to sew diamonds without the Y seams!
Thank you for sharing Lucas’s quilt. I love it.